Yahoo’s journey to a more intuitive T&E program with Navan

Industry

Professional Services

Products Used

• Navan Business Travel
• Navan Travel Payments
• Navan Expense

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Technology company Yahoo is transforming how it operates, bringing AI, automation, and more intuitive experiences into both its products and business operations. As part of that work, the company saw an opportunity to modernize travel and expense for its global workforce. With employees traveling for client meetings, offsites, training, and onboarding, Yahoo wanted a T&E experience that could reduce manual work, give employees time back, and provide greater visibility for the teams managing the program. Just as importantly, Yahoo wanted a technology partner that could continue innovating alongside the company.

Before Navan

Yahoo was looking for a modern platform that could bring travel, expense, auditing, and reporting into a more connected experience. The goal was to make everyday processes simpler for employees while maintaining the visibility, controls, and compliance required for a global program.

AI and automation were also important considerations. Yahoo wanted technology that could reduce repetitive work and create a more intuitive experience, while giving finance teams better information and tools to manage the program.

On the expense side, a separate auditing tool added manual steps for employees, sometimes delaying expense submissions and resulting in late fees. Managers also had limited visibility into expenses after approval.

Yahoo wanted to improve the user experience without sacrificing the controls and compliance its finance team required. A unified platform that connected travel and expense was essential to that goal.

Those priorities led Yahoo to Navan.

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Bringing travel and expense together on one platform has made the experience much easier for employees because the two work seamlessly together.

Beth Burke

Senior Director of Accounts Receivable

Why Yahoo chose Navan

Yahoo selected Navan for its ability to bring travel, expense, auditing, and reporting together in one platform, while using AI and automation to create a more intuitive employee experience. Since going live in February 2026, Navan has become Yahoo’s platform for employees who need to book business travel, submit expenses, or request reimbursement.They now enjoy a much more streamlined process for booking travel and submitting business trip expenses.

“Bringing travel and expense together on one platform has made the entire experience much easier for employees, because the two sides work seamlessly together,” said Beth Burke, senior director of accounts receivable at Yahoo.

Employees have responded positively to the more personalized experience. Instead of starting with a blank expense report and filling in every field, Navan uses automation and AI to identify what information is needed and directs employees to take the appropriate action.

“Our travelers really love the more user-friendly environment,” said Burke. “Navan steers them to exactly what they need to supply instead of having to start an entire report from scratch.”

The difference is especially noticeable when employees submit lodging expenses. In the past, itemizing a hotel stay in a separate expense platform could take five to 10 minutes. In Navan, itemizing is not required, so the process takes about a minute, according to Katherine Glasnapp, senior manager of global expense reporting and corporate cards at Yahoo.

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Navan turns a five-to-10-minute lodging expense task into a one-minute process.

Katherine Glasnapp

Senior Manager, Global Expense Reporting and Corporate Cards

A partnership built for a fast launch

Yahoo went live with Navan following an accelerated implementation of around three months. With an ambitious timeline, the Yahoo and Navan teams worked closely together to keep the implementation moving and ensure the program launched successfully.

Following the launch, the two teams partnered closely, sharing feedback, testing new functionality, and identifying opportunities to improve the experience for employees and administrators.

Since the launch, Yahoo has participated in two of Navan’s beta programs to test and refine new functionality. That collaboration has extended to testing new AI-powered capabilities. 

One of them, Receipt Inbox, helps prevent duplicate payments by reminding employees to wait for an American Express transaction to load before submitting a receipt as a cash expense. The other, Suggested Responses, helps Yahoo’s auditors respond to employees more efficiently by recommending accurate, frequently used messages.

“We’ve been really happy with the partnership,” said Burke. “Working closely with Navan, we’ve been able to remove some of the pain points and roadblocks for our traveling employees and expense team.”

Improving visibility and control

Navan has also changed how Yahoo manages approvals and spend visibility. Yahoo also wanted to give managers greater ongoing visibility into expenses beyond the approval process.

With Navan, managers have gained ongoing visibility into current and historical expenses without needing to approve every transaction. This lets them monitor spend as it happens and gives them more information to support financial oversight.

Yahoo has also maintained its compliance controls through Navan’s built-in policies, flags, and rules. “We wanted to improve the user experience, but also maintain compliance and control over the process,” said Burke. “Navan helped us do that.”

Navan has also strengthened how Yahoo’s travel team works with Corporate Security to support employees traveling around the world. When risks emerge in a particular geography, the teams can more easily identify affected travelers, communicate warnings early, and restrict travel to destinations when needed.

 “Navan’s ability to restrict destinations and provide specific messaging to travelers is a huge game-changer,” said Mesquit. “We’re a global company with global travel, so staying on top of duty of care is really important.”

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We’re a global company with global travel, so staying on top of duty of care is really important.

Tom Mesquit

Global Travel Manager

Building a foundation for continued transformation

Yahoo’s travel and expense transformation is already delivering a more intuitive experience for employees, and more visibility for the teams managing the program. By connecting travel, expense, auditing, and policy controls in one platform, Yahoo is reducing manual work while maintaining the oversight required for a global program.

The work also reflects Yahoo’s broader transformation, bringing AI and automation into business operations in ways that make everyday experiences simpler and more efficient.

The Yahoo team summarizes its experience with Navan in three words: intuitive, forward-thinking, and partnership. 

For companies considering how to modernize their own travel and expense programs, Burke suggests allowing ample time for thoughtful planning and implementation, but her opinion is clear: “We would recommend the move to Navan.”