Navan and SolarWinds Empower a Global Workforce with Tech-First Mobility

Region

NORAM: North America

Headquarters

Austin, Texas

Industry

Tech

Products Used

• Navan Travel Payments
• Navan Business Travel

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As a global leader in IT management software, SolarWinds builds the vital observability, monitoring, and service management tools that keep the digital world running smoothly. Operating a complex international footprint with employees spread across 24 countries, the Austin, Texas-headquartered company relies on a fast-moving, highly technical workforce to support its clients on the ground. 

For SolarWinds’ field teams, sales divisions, and solutions engineers, seamless corporate travel isn’t a luxury — it’s an absolute business necessity. 

Before Navan

Before Navan, SolarWinds’ travel program was heavily siloed by region because the company’s legacy tool was not a true global platform. This fragmentation caused severe headaches during travel disruptions, as the legacy TMC outsourced after-hours care to a limited third-party vendor. “Typically, when we had to reach out to them, it was an emergency, and we didn’t always get good results from that,” said Patricia Noland, the company’s global travel manager.

Furthermore, the previous vendor’s mobile app was clunky and completely lacked chat functionality — a major flaw for a tech-centric workforce. “The mobile app is very important to us because we’re a company of IT geeks,” said Noland. ”Our employees would rather chat with somebody or handle it themselves than having to call to fix the problem.” This lack of mobile capability forced Noland to stay chained to her desk to manage the program: "I always had to be near my computer,” she said. “If somebody needed help, I had to get on my computer to assist them.”

“

I am an army of one. If there is an issue, I can easily go on my phone to fix the problem. I am able to not worry about being tied to my computer because I can do everything on the mobile app, which is amazing.

Patricia Noland

Global Travel Manager

Why SolarWinds Chose Navan

To resolve these mounting friction points, SolarWinds sent out an RFP looking for a modern, tech-forward partner. Navan stood out by directly answering the specific needs of both SolarWinds’ travelers and its one travel administrator — and ended up powering a complete launch in under 3 months.

Navan offered SolarWinds:

• A true global platform: Navan’s centralized, unified system could support employees across 24 countries, eliminating regional data silos and fragmentation.
• An app-first, tech-centric experience: Navan’s robust mobile app featured intuitive self-service tools and direct chat functionality. This allowed tech-savvy road warriors to easily manage or change itineraries on the fly, without having to make phone calls in noisy airports.
• Unmatched administrative mobility: Unlike legacy systems, Navan provided full administrative functionality directly within the mobile app. This capability enabled Noland to untether from her desktop computer, giving her the freedom to manage approvals, grant exceptions, and resolve travel emergencies from anywhere in the world.
• All-in-one capabilities: Navan’s native ability to scale from simple transient travel into complex event management — and eventually integrate real-time expense tracking — made it the perfect long-term fit for SolarWinds’ evolving global program.

Transforming the World Tour Event Experience

SolarWinds’ travel footprint is heavily driven by major regional marketing initiatives, including annual world tours spanning dozens of global events. Historically, managing these group movements required manual spreadsheets and tedious back-and-forth negotiations with venues.

By leveraging Navan’s specialized events platform, SolarWinds modernized this process from the ground up. Instead of tracking fragmented hotel links, Navan allows SolarWinds to centralize parameters so employee bookings automatically map to the main room block and central bill card. “Not having to create a spreadsheet to send over to the hotel is going to be huge for us,” she said. Eric Bauer, VP of Global Solution Engineering, added: “I’ve used Navan’s group travel feature functionality at another company with great success, because it’s much easier to share, plan, and schedule things. It simplifies the process of who’s coming and who’s going.”

“

Knowing the inventory is quite solid has been very positive. We’ve never had an issue where a hotel we were looking for wasn’t available or wasn’t at least listed as being possible to book.

Eric Bauer

VP of Global Solution Engineering

Unified Control and App-First Flexibility

Navan has successfully bridged the gap between modern travel expectations and the rigorous demands of global tech professionals by offering extensive inventory, intuitive search filters, and immediate text support. This user-friendly approach has driven an outstanding 4.8/5 CSAT rating and a +63 NPS, proving that the platform is a massive hit with the company’s road warriors.

“The ability to perform almost all of the admin functions on the mobile app is an absolute game-changer,” said Noland. “I am an army of one. If there is an issue, I can easily go on my phone to fix the problem. I don’t have to worry about being tied to my computer because I can do everything on the mobile app, which is amazing.” 

The Road Warrior Perspective: Flexibility and Massive Inventory

For high-frequency travelers like Eric Bauer, Navan’s search capabilities and extensive options have completely transformed how his global engineering organization navigates the travel experience. The platform allows power users to bypass generic search results and pinpoint exactly what they need to stay productive.

“Personal experience-wise, I like the flexibility,” said Bauer. “I travel enough, I know my routes, I know the flights that I like, and I can be very granular in what I pick.”

Beyond customization, the sheer volume of available options ensures that SolarWinds’ global teams have to make compromises. “The search function is comprehensive and lets you see everything that’s available — then you can filter by airline, time, and price. “The flexibility has been fantastic,” said Bauer. ”Knowing the inventory is solid has been very positive. We’ve never had an issue where a hotel we were looking for wasn’t available or wasn’t at least listed as being possible to book."

Future with Navan

For SolarWinds, streamlining travel management is only the first milestone. The ultimate objective is to eliminate the traditional 90-day delay on travel spend data. By expanding their partnership with Navan to include full expense integration and a virtual card program, SolarWinds is positioned to transition from a reactive tracking model to a proactive, real-time budgeting ecosystem.

Thanks to Navan’s unified platform, capable of scaling alongside SolarWinds’ global IT infrastructure — from day-to-day client visits to massive international marketing events — the company has built a travel program that matches the agility of its own software. Navan has proven that even with a lean administrative team, giving tech-centric employees the right digital tools can turn corporate travel from a logistical bottleneck into a major competitive advantage.