Cognite Transforms Travel Operations and Eliminates Daily Friction With Navan
Results
20%
Travel savings
4.5/5
CSAT
83%
Mobile adoption
Region
EMEA: Europe, Middle East, and Africa, NORAM: North America
Headquarters
Arizona, US
Company Size
Small and Medium-sized Business (1-800 employees)
Industry
Tech
Products Used
- Navan Business Travel
Founded in Norway, Cognite is a U.S.-headquartered industrial AI company with 700 employees that serves major industrial operators globally. As the organization expanded its international operations across multiple markets, travel became essential for client implementations, collaboration, and business development. But the company’s legacy travel management system created friction for its tech-savvy workforce and limited visibility into travel spend and patterns.
Before Navan
Cognite faced a fragmented travel management approach that created operational challenges. Employees used a mix of Amex GBT and unmanaged booking through platforms like Google Flights.
“No one really owned the travel programme,” said Håkon Bjerke, Chief Strategy Officer, explaining the lack of centralized management. “We had inherited Amex GBT from one of our associated companies, but it never got properly adopted or managed within our organisation.”
This fragmented approach left Cognite with no oversight of where employees were traveling, creating security and duty of care concerns. “We had no overview, no insight into how our employees were travelling or where they were at any given point in time,” said Håkon. “Security incidents, duty of care — we had no visibility into any of that.”
The traditional systems were particularly problematic. The outdated interface and phone-based support frustrated employees, who refused to use the managed system and preferred to book through consumer platforms. “It was not going well,” said Håkon.
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“We had inherited Amex GBT from one of our associated companies, but it never got properly adopted or managed within our organisation.”
Håkon Bjerke
Chief Strategy Officer
Why Cognite chose Navan
After Cognite evaluated its options, the necessity of a modern alternative became clear.
“As a next-generation technology company, it goes against our principles to rely on outdated, last-generation tools,” said Håkon, explaining the core reasoning behind the decision to change.
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“As a next-generation technology company, it goes against our principles to rely on outdated, last-generation tools,”
Håkon Bjerke
Chief Strategy Officer
The company needed a travel solution that aligned with its technological standards. As Håkon explained, “It had to be cloud- and app-native. It needed to look and feel as good as any product we build ourselves, and it needed to be frictionless for our employees. We wanted them to focus on what we actually hired them for, not on making travel bookings.”
Cognite signed with Navan in 2024 and went live quickly after implementation.
The Navan effect
Rapid implementation and integration
The onboarding process exceeded expectations for an international deployment spanning two countries.
“It was excellent,” said Håkon. “The API integration with our HR system was straightforward; we got all our travel policies configured, and we had dedicated customer support walking us through every step of the process. We were up and running in a few weeks.”
Immediate cost impact
The results were immediate and substantial. The company achieved 20% savings on travel, demonstrating Navan’s ability to optimise travel spend through better supplier relationships and intelligent policy compliance.
User experience and adoption
The platform’s 83% mobile adoption rate reflects its intuitive design, whilst customer satisfaction scores of 4.5/5 demonstrate strong user approval.
Enhanced operational visibility
Navan delivered the kind of data visibility Cognite had been missing with its previous solution.
“Now we have complete visibility into where our people are traveling and how many are on the road at any given time — which is critical for duty of care and ensuring our employees’ safety,” said Håkon. Real-time reporting capabilities have improved decision-making processes across the company’s international operations.
Policy management and flexibility
The platform’s policy engine streamlined compliance while maintaining necessary business flexibility. Clear approval workflows for out-of-policy bookings help ensure business needs are met and costs can be controlled.
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“Now we have complete visibility into where our people are traveling and how many are on the road at any given time — which is critical for duty of care and ensuring our employees’ safety,”
Håkon Bjerke
Chief Strategy Officer
Future Looking ahead: Built for growth
As Cognite continues to expand its international operations, Navan is providing a strong foundation for future optimisation and growth.
The company will also be implementing Navan Travel Payments to eliminate the need for employees to pay out-of-pocket for business travel expenses. “Our employees won’t have to pay out of pocket and wait for reimbursements anymore,” said Håkon. “That’s going to be excellent.”