How Navan fine-tuned travel and expense management for SoundCloud

Region

EMEA: Europe, Middle East, and Africa

Headquarters

Berlin, Germany

Company Size

Mid-Market (800-2,500 employees)

Industry

Media and Entertainment

Products Used

• Navan Business Travel
• Navan Corporate Cards
• Navan Expense
• Navan Travel Payments

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SoundCloud is a global music streaming platform that empowers artists to share and distribute their music directly to listeners. Founded in 2007, with headquarters in Berlin and offices in New York, Los Angeles, and London, SoundCloud connects millions of active users to both emerging and established artists worldwide.

As part of streamlining its operations, SoundCloud adopted Navan to unify its global travel and expense management, providing a seamless experience for both traveling employees and finance team members.

Before Navan

Before Navan, SoundCloud relied on a patchwork of different platforms and processes to manage travel and expenses. Each region had its own approach, from local booking tools to varied expense reporting systems, which became increasingly cumbersome with the company’s expansion. 

Over time, that fragmentation led to inefficiencies, made unified reporting more challenging, and slowed down internal workflows, particularly as SoundCloud expanded its global reach.

“With the growth of the company, we were looking for a way to unify our setup and streamline the processes across our regions,” explains Zeno de Cock, director of accounting at SoundCloud.

“

We needed a single solution that could handle the travel and expense needs of a global workforce, provide clear oversight into spending, and scale in step with our expansion.

Zeno de Cock

Director of Accounting

Why SoundCloud chose Navan

End-to-end solution

The objective of switching to Navan was to improve and simplify every step in the travel and expense workflow, and benefit both the accounting team and employees who travel frequently. 

For the accounting department, manual tasks such as reviewing receipts, coding expenses, and reconciling discrepancies were becoming more time-consuming, especially with the company’s growing headcount. 

Navan appealed to the company because, by consolidating all information into one system, it eliminates these repetitive tasks, creates a more streamlined approval process, reduces the risk of human error, and cuts down on administrative overhead.

“It was essential to make the processes lighter for both my team and for the employees who need to travel on company time,” says de Cock.

Positive user experience

Navan’s user-friendly interface and consolidated travel options also played an important role when selecting a new platform. SoundCloud wanted to give employees the ability to book flights, hotels, trains, and rental cars without having to jump between multiple platforms. 

The company also wanted expense reporting to become less of a chore by taking advantage of Navan’s automated receipt capture and real-time tracking of travel costs. 

With Navan, SoundCloud saw that employees would save time and experience lower stress when managing expenses, since the platform lets them stay focused on their jobs rather than juggling travel logistics. 

Unified reporting

Ultimately, SoundCloud was looking for an all-in-one solution to increase compliance with company guidelines, provide clearer and consistent data insights, and accommodate teams across multiple regions while setting up a lighter, smoother travel and expense workflow for everyone.

“

With Navan, we ensured that the accounting team can get the data they need seamlessly from the system.

Zeno de Cock

Director of Accounting

The Navan effect

Seamless user experience

With Navan, the entire traveler experience has noticeably improved. In just a few clicks, SoundCloud employees can now enter trip dates and preferred destinations, then browse a curated list of flights, hotels, trains, and car rental options that match their schedule and individual policies. 

Because the platform provides a comprehensive global inventory, travelers always find what they’re looking for, and many options fall within company guidelines right out of the gate, reducing the hassle of seeking approvals.

“For the traveler, it’s a very easy tool to use,” de Cock says. “You just open the app, enter your dates and destination, and you can easily filter and select the most convenient trip.” 

Navan’s corporate cards have also been a highlight, providing employees with a reliable way to cover on-trip expenses and avoid people having to pay out of pocket. “The cards work always, which is not necessarily a given,” de Cock says.

Operational improvements

One of the biggest advantages SoundCloud has experienced since adopting Navan is a dramatic reduction in administrative effort, thanks to the platform’s automated workflows. 

“75% of our transactions are now automatically pre-approved. That’s a huge benefit to my team,” says Zeno, since the new system cuts down on manual reviews and ensures smoother operations.

“Having proactive controls in place really makes a difference. My team can trust the system instead of relying on manual checks, which saves a lot of time — time we can now spend on value-added tasks.”

Beyond pre-approvals, the platform auto-assigns expense types based on spending category, increasing accuracy and saving time for employees. “When you go to a restaurant, the card will know where you are based on the merchant category and automatically assign the correct budget,” he adds.

These innovations also mean faster, more reliable expense processing for SoundCloud overall.

“

We no longer have to review individual expenses from many different people as they come in. We just check a couple of times a month.

Zeno de Cock

Director of Accounting

 Navan’s unified approach streamlines submissions and consolidates expense data into a single, easily reviewable system. 

By automating key steps and centralising approvals, SoundCloud’s accounting team can focus more on strategic tasks instead of getting slowed down by repetitive admin work.

Looking to the future

By continuously refining the administrative processes, de Cock hopes to enable everyone at the company to focus on higher-level, more strategic work.

Ongoing development and close partnership with the Navan team also remain key to future plans. “If Navan continues developing to the current standard, I’m a fan,” he adds, noting how essential ongoing innovations and product enhancements are to maintaining strong user adoption. 

With Navan, SoundCloud has laid the foundation for an integrated, scalable approach to travel and expense management that fosters alignment across all regions, reduces administrative overhead, and supports the company as it matures.