Elastic Achieves 21% Savings and Global Visibility with Navan

Region

NORAM: North America, EMEA: Europe, Middle East, and Africa, APAC: Asia-Pacific, LATAM: Latin America

Headquarters

San Francisco, California & Amsterdam, Netherlands

Industry

Tech

Products Used

• Navan Travel Payments
• Navan Business Travel

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Elastic, a leading B2B technology company with dual headquarters in the Netherlands and San Francisco, creates search, security, and observability solutions to help organizations harness the power of data. With a global workforce of frequent travelers, Elastic needed a streamlined travel solution to modernize operations, enhance employee experience, and provide stronger financial visibility.

Before Navan

Prior to adopting Navan, Elastic’s employees booked trips on their own, often using personal credit cards, and later submitted expenses for reimbursement. 

While this process gave travelers flexibility and allowed them to collect hotel and airline loyalty points, it created significant challenges. The company had no consolidated view of bookings or expenses, and disjointed spend made it impossible to negotiate airline or hotel discounts.

Additionally, the lack of visibility into where employees were traveling created safety concerns. And employees in certain regions were hesitant to pay for travel up front, creating friction. As Elastic scaled, it became clear that a centralized, company-wide solution was necessary.

“

We wanted something cutting-edge and easy to use, and Navan delivered.

Akhil Katarya

Senior Director, Head of Global Strategic Sourcing

Why Navan

When evaluating solutions, Elastic compared top providers in the corporate travel management space. What set Navan apart was its intuitive, modern user experience. Unlike legacy systems, Navan offered a sleek, user-friendly interface that impressed both executives and employees. “Our executives at the time felt the available tools were outdated and wanted something more modern,” recalled Akhil Katarya, Head of Sourcing at Elastic. “We wanted something cutting-edge and easy to use, and Navan delivered.”

“

Navan has streamlined our workflow, allowing us to focus more on strategic initiatives rather than manual administration.

Abhishek Gombi

Strategic Sourcing Lead

Results with Navan

Navan has completely modernized Elastic’s travel program, transforming a manual process into a single, centralized system. Now, 95% of all bookings are made through the platform, providing a single source of truth for both travel activity and spend. Travelers enjoy a user-friendly platform and a seamless mobile app, which has led to a 97% customer satisfaction (CSAT) score. Navan’s features, including guest invites for new hires and a group booking tool for offsites, have proved invaluable, while built-in policy controls help ensure compliance.

For the sourcing team, having visibility into spend has been a game-changer. The ability to easily analyze spend patterns, hotel utilization, and out-of-policy trends has empowered them to negotiate more effectively with vendors. The result: a savings of 21% on hotels. “Navan has streamlined our workflow,” said Abhishek Gombi, manager of travel sourcing, “allowing us to focus more on strategic initiatives rather than manual administration.”

Conclusion

By partnering with Navan, Elastic traded fragmented, manual processes for a modern, centralized travel program that combines a great employee experience with organizational efficiency. Now, thanks to broad employee adoption, stronger vendor relationships, and improved visibility, Elastic can scale its travel program globally and strategize for even greater growth in the future.