Toluna simplifies travel and expense across 23+ countries

Region

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

Headquarters

London, UK

Industry

Professional Services

Products Used

• Navan Business Travel
• Navan Travel Payments
• Navan Expense

Previous solutions

Egencia, TravelPerk

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Toluna is a global market research company that combines deep expertise with a technology-driven platform to deliver everything from self-service studies to full-service solutions. The company has approximately 2,500 employees across more than 23 countries, with major operations in the United Kingdom, United States, France, the Netherlands, India, and Romania.

With sales and research teams accounting for roughly 70% of the company’s travel spend, business travel plays an important role in keeping Toluna connected with customers and supporting on-site research projects.

When Toluna’s Chief People Officer Michaël Masset took ownership of travel and expense, he inherited a fragmented programme that had been under review for some time. Having previously used Navan, he saw an opportunity to simplify the experience for travellers while giving Toluna greater visibility and control.

Before Navan

Toluna’s travel programme reflected the company’s growth through mergers and acquisitions. Different parts of the organisation relied on different travel providers, including Havas, Perk (formerly TravelPerk), and Egencia, while expenses were managed separately through spreadsheets.

The fragmented setup made it difficult to understand the true cost of the company’s travel programme.

Expense management created another layer of complexity. Employees completed finance-created Excel forms, scanned them, and sent them to a shared services center for processing. Reimbursements could take more than a month, and managers lacked a consolidated view of their teams’ travel and expenses. The process worked, but it left Toluna without the global visibility, speed, and simplicity it wanted.

“

Having one tool including travel and expense is a great asset.

Michaël Masset

Chief People Officer

Why Toluna chose Navan

For Masset, one of Navan’s biggest advantages was the ability to bring travel and expense together in a single platform.

Toluna also wanted a solution its team could configure and adapt without relying on lengthy external processes. With Navan, Michaël found that policies and controls could be adjusted quickly, reporting data could be easily exported, and the organisation could manage much of the configuration itself with support from its Navan account team.

Implementation was another differentiator. Based on his experience deploying Navan at multiple companies, Michaël values the platform’s straightforward implementation process and the ability to roll out travel, expense, and corporate card capabilities together rather than through a series of complex phases. “Navan is very easy to implement. When they say it’s eight weeks, it’s eight weeks. The Navan team was there to support us,” shared Michaël. 

Just as important was the partnership behind the technology. Michaël highlighted Navan’s ongoing investment in both its platform and its people, noting that customers continue to receive hands-on support after implementation.

The results: greater savings, visibility, and traveler satisfaction

Since moving to Navan, Toluna has gained a consolidated view of its travel and expense activity, making it easier to understand spending and adjust policies as business needs change. That visibility has translated into measurable savings, including 41% savings on flights and 34% savings on hotels.

Michaël also points to Navan’s dynamic hotel recommendations and rewards as an effective way to encourage cost-conscious traveller behavior. “I really believe Navan Rewards is the best way to drive employee behavior. It’s helping us to reduce costs,” explains Michaël.

The employee experience has improved as well. Toluna initially encountered some resistance to changing tools, but sentiment improved as employees became accustomed to the platform and experienced a simpler process and faster reimbursements. Toluna now has an Net Promoter Score (NPS) of +41.

For expenses paid personally by employees, what previously could take more than a month is now typically resolved within approximately a week, depending on manager approval. Employees can submit expenses directly from their phones, while Toluna can track where each expense sits in the approval and reimbursement process.

Navan has also made it easier for Toluna to adapt its travel programme. When the company recently needed tighter travel controls, Michaël worked with the Navan team to update policies in roughly an hour.

That flexibility is especially valuable for a global organisation. As Toluna expands, it can configure new countries and accommodate different reimbursement requirements — including direct reimbursement or payroll-based processes — without rebuilding its travel and expense programme from scratch.

“

Navan is really a disruptor in the travel and expense industry, supported by AI technology with a great vision.

Michaël Masset

Chief People Officer

Toluna’s future with Navan

For Toluna, Navan has transformed travel and expense from a fragmented collection of providers and manual processes into a unified global programme.

The company now has stronger visibility into spend, faster employee reimbursements, more control over travel policies, and measurable savings across flights and hotels.

For Michaël, the combination of technology, flexibility, and customer support is what differentiates the experience. “Navan is really a disruptor in the travel and expense industry, supported by AI technology with a great vision,” he said.

As Toluna continues to evolve globally, Navan gives the company a travel and expense foundation that can evolve with it — without sacrificing ease of use or service.