Snap drives fast adoption with Navan

Region

NORAM: North America

Headquarters

Santa Monica, California

Industry

Professional Services

Products Used

• Navan Business Travel
• Navan Expense
• Navan Travel Payments

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With employees traveling around the world to meet customers, attend conferences, and support Snap’s business, the company needed a travel and expense experience that was simple for employees and easy for finance teams to manage.

By consolidating travel, expense, and corporate cards on Navan, Snap replaced manual processes with automation, improved visibility for managers, and gave employees a platform they were eager to use from day one.

Before Navan

Before Navan, Snap managed travel and expenses on two different platforms. The disconnected setup created the most friction for expense management processes. 

“Our previous platform required a lot of  manual work to get your expenses reimbursed  or submitted,ˮ said Amy Smeriglio, senior  manager of financial operations at Snap. For Smeriglio and Marlon Carredano, accounts payable lead, that  meant spending significant time tracking receipts, following up with employees, and waiting for expenses to be submitted and approved. 

Snap also wanted to improve the travel  experience. With employees frequently traveling  for customer meetings, conferences, and team  events, customer service and access to more  white-glove travel support were important  requirements in the evaluation process.

Why Snap chose Navan

Snap was drawn to Navanʼs ability to bring  travel, expense, and cards together in one  connected platform. Instead of managing  multiple systems and manually reconciling  information across them, the team could  manage the full travel and expense program in one place. 

The connected platform also gave Snap greater visibility into card transactions and reduced the need for manual payments across currencies. Rather than waiting for employees to submit expenses, transactions could flow into Navan automatically, giving Snapʼs finance team earlier insight into spending. 

The simplicity of the employee experience  became clear during the evaluation process. When a Navan team member made a purchase and demonstrated how quickly the transaction appeared in Navan, the Snap team immediately recognized the benefit. 

“That visual helped us see how simple Navan would be for our employees to use,ˮ said Carredano. “And it has been. A lot of our travelers have told us how easy Navan is.ˮ

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A lot of our travelers have told us how easy Navan is.

Marlon Carredano

Accounts Payable Lead

A phased implementation built around Snap’s timeline

Snap launched Navan in phases, beginning with travel and following with expense — a rollout that was designed around Snap’s internal financial calendar.

Travel went live approximately 90 days after implementation began. Although Snap had originally planned to launch later in the year, employee excitement during an onsite meeting led the team to move the launch earlier.

“We were going to do a November launch, but we ended up pulling it into the last week of October because people were like, ‘But can I have it now?’” said Smeriglio. 

Expense followed in early February, after Snap’s year-end financial systems freeze was over. The implementation involved a close collaboration between Snap and Navan’s customer success team. The teams met frequently throughout the setup process, coordinated employee communications, and organized live training sessions for employees in locations including Santa Monica, London, and India.

Employees embraced Navan from day one

Snap’s employees did more than adopt Navan quickly — they began looking for the platform before the official rollout was even complete.

“We had launched it and hadn’t told anyone, but people found out and just started booking things,” said Smeriglio. During live training sessions, employees began booking travel in real time, reinforcing how intuitive the experience was.

“It was immediate,” said Carredano. “When we went live, we had people already booking.”

The platform’s ease of use helped drive strong adoption without requiring extensive training or instruction. Employees quickly understood how to book travel, manage expenses, and see transactions flow automatically into Navan.

“I think we have a really good adoption rate in Navan, and in part that’s because the tool is easy to use and self-explanatory once you’re in there,” said Smeriglio.

Employees also responded positively to having travel and expense in one place. Rather than preparing traditional expense reports, they could see card transactions appear automatically, reducing manual work and making the process more timely.

“When they started seeing their expenses fly through, they were pretty excited,” said Smeriglio.

Snap employees also appreciated being able to use the same Navan app for personal travel. The familiar mobile experience made it easy to manage flight notifications and personal bookings alongside work travel, while Navan Rewards gave employees an additional reason to engage with the platform.

“That’s another perk that employees really like — that you can book your personal travel on the same app,” said Smeriglio. “And I’m also using the same app to track the status of my flights and other logistics issues.”

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That’s another perk that employees really like — that you can book your personal travel on the same app.

Amy Smeriglio

Senior Manager of Finance

Automation gives Snap’s finance team time back

For Snapʼs finance and accounts payable teams, one of the most meaningful changes has been the reduction in manual expense management. 

With card transactions flowing directly into  Navan and the ERP, Smeriglio and Carredano  spend less time chasing receipts, monitoring  submissions, and following up on approvals.  Smeriglio estimates that employees are  spending significantly less time submitting  expenses, while the finance team has saved  hours each month. 

“It saves Marlon and me a lot of time,ˮ said  Smeriglio. “Previously, waiting on people to put their expenses in, or get things approved  — we spent a lot of time on this during every  month-end close. So weʼre saving hours each  month with Navan.ˮ

The additional time has created room to focus on higher-value work. “It did free up a lot more time for me,” said Carredano. “We’re not chasing down employees for receipts or submitting reports. Everything is in there as soon as a card is swiped, and it makes it a lot easier for both of us to focus on forecasting and other tasks.”

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Navan is bringing AI capabilities to travel and expense.

Marlon Carredano

Accounts Payable Lead

A more modern way to manage travel and expense

Snapʼs experience with Navan has transformed travel and expense from a manual, fragmented process into a more automated and employee-friendly program. Employees adopted the platform quickly, finance teams reclaimed time, and managers gained visibility into travel activity and spending. 

Smeriglio recommends that companies considering a similar change take advantage of Navanʼs connected platform across travel, expense, and cards.

“Thatʼs really the beauty of Navan,ˮ she said.  “When travel, expenses, and cards are all linked together, thatʼs when it works the best and when you get the full advantage of the automation.ˮ