AMAROK is an award-winning, industry-leading perimeter security solutions provider that helps its clients protect their property, people, and profits. As the Director of Accounting, Becky Crow oversees the finance team’s day-to-day operations and all of the ins and outs of AMAROK’s financial system.
Challenge: Out-of-policy spend resulting from legacy expense and travel solution
Before Center, AMAROK relied on a legacy expense and travel solution for expense reporting. With corporate cards that didn’t link to that system, there was minimal control over travel expenses. Since there were no requirements for booking business travel—even though a company-sponsored platform was available—employees would book trips through a preferred personal channel while using their company card to pay.
“We didn’t have a required centralized travel booking platform. Employees used company-issued cards to book, and [this meant we] lacked visibility into where our employees were staying and if they were keeping within our policies.” —Becky Crow, Director of Accounting, AMAROK
For Crow, life before Center meant “Almost no visibility into employee compliance with policies. We would discover their compliance or noncompliance after they submitted their expenses, which could be weeks later.”
Solution: One platform to streamline spend and boost travel compliance
It was clear AMAROK required a solution to gain spending control and increase compliance. As Crow and her CFO evaluated options, they found the ease of use, centralization, and real-time visibility they were looking for with Center. Plus, the customization capabilities were a huge draw for Crow, who explained, “The other solutions had limited flexibility. We wanted something very configurable because our ERP system does not play nice with other applications—we needed something customized for us.” The team at AMAROK also appreciated first-class support at every step, and Center was quickly implemented. Crow shared, “Ultimately, we decided on Center for two reasons. It was very customizable; Center is a very configurable platform while the others had limitations.” The second reason Crow attributes to the final decision? “The awesome communication we received from Center throughout the process.”
“Our dedicated deployment manager guided us throughout the entire process and helped us configure Center in a way that would talk well with our ERP system. She had answers for everything that we asked, and she was always very responsive.” —Becky Crow, Director of Accounting, AMAROK
Impact: Control, visibility, and increased compliance for travel spend achieved
Now, with Center, the finance team has immediate visibility into policy compliance, and AMAROK employees can see whether it is within or outside compliance while making travel bookings—and easily double-check to confirm. Crow explained, “ I often get questions from employees if it’s okay to book out of policy because it’s flagged that way. On top of improved policy compliance, the finance department at AMAROK appreciates how Center’s no-cost solution has helped return sizable funds to the budget while enabling the team to process transactions considerably more efficiently:
“Since implementing Center, we’ve saved nearly $300,000 per year in platform costs alone for travel and expenses. And now, we’re able to reconcile 4,000 transactions in just one day—before, it was a four-day process.” —Becky Crow, Director of Accounting, AMAROK
After having Center for nearly two years, the finance team has seen a remarkable change with visibility into expenses and employee travel. Crow shared, “I always hear positive feedback from our users,” before elaborating, “Our managers have great visibility into their team spend and can see immediate transactions—including travel purchases—within the expense reporting platform.” Since implementing Center, AMAROK has seen many benefits, including:
- Visibility and control over business travel: Now employees use Center to book trips and can quickly identify what is in or outside of policy.
- Reconciliation from 4 days to 1: Since implementing Center, AMAROK can now reconcile 4,000 transactions in one day—previously, it was a four-day process.
- Tremendous savings on travel platform costs: AMAROK has saved nearly $300,000 per year in platform costs alone for travel and expenses.
- An expense platform employees love—including for booking travel: Now, travel booking through Center means employees feel supported while traveling and that reporting is easier for the finance team.
For Crow and her team, one of the most significant benefits is that “all of the information comes over automatically,” which makes her job reporting expenses for travel so much easier. The other? Employees “love using Center to book travel, which means we have increased policy compliance with all the visibility and control we need.”
“Center has a comprehensive travel inventory, which makes booking travel easy, and employees feel very supported while they’re traveling. I would recommend Center because it’s simple to use, easily configurable, and we’re well supported with every transaction.” —Becky Crow, Director of Accounting, AMAROK