How Bob W combines cool accommodation with easy expenses

Easy and fast receipt collection

The biggest challenge we had before Spendesk was chasing expense receipts from our team. Every month, I had to remind everyone in the company that they needed to submit their bills.

There wasn’t a clear overview of which receipts had already been submitted, and which ones we were still waiting for. I would have to cross reference all of these bills with our accountants, and this was just manual labor.

It took me at least one day every month, and I would also have to remind the whole team multiple times per month. It was repetitive and time-consuming.

In our business, the average bill size isn’t that big. We were using Revolut before and had virtual and physical credit cards. A lot of team members paid small bills this way, so it was relatively easy for them to spend.

But there was no system to collect the receipts. Even if it’s only €3, you still need the receipt for accounting. So I was doing all this work for really small individual payments - sometimes only €0.50.

Nowadays, Spendesk does this manual work for us. We always have a track record of what’s been spent and which documents have been submitted. Employees are reminded to submit receipts, and I can see instantly what’s missing.

Smarter invoice tracking

We also had challenges around how invoices were paid. We would receive them by email, another team member would have to approve them, then I’d email them to our accountant to pay them. Already that’s manual human work that had to be done.

Because we didn’t have any formal approval system, we had to rely on all these emails back and forth. And we also didn’t have clear visibility over whether they had been paid. Our accountant knew, but other team members didn’t. And they’re the ones dealing with our suppliers.

Now we can see clearly which invoices have been approved. Any team member can check the status of their invoices. And we have a clear approval record, without having to send endless emails.

Finance processes tailored to Bob W

I really love the customer service with Spendesk, compared with companies like Revolut. With Revolut, there is no personalization - they’re already too large for that. So when they needed something from us, there was a set expectation and we couldn’t do anything to change that.

For example, in Estonia we use DigiDocs as a kind of digital signature. Revolut wanted to see our rent agreements in PDF format, but these don’t exist. So I couldn’t upload this important document to our file, and there was no easy way to complete the process.

Spendesk understands that small companies - or those in other countries - have different needs. I have a contact at Spendesk and can send them files directly. Everything is correct and very well done.

If I have a question, the communication is really clear. I can see all the previous conversations I’ve had with support within the app. But in Revolut, these are deleted after a few hours.

Satisfied external accountants

We use external accountants, and for them the system is also much easier. Of course, previously I was always the one looking for the missing documents, so that’s not such a big change for them.

But now they have a much clearer overview of which bills need to be paid, and when. Also, the integration between the bank and Spendesk is very good.

They have less accounting to do overall, because Spendesk handles recurring bills automatically. So once a payment is set up the first time, they don’t need to do anything.

They love the system.

Super simple setup

It was really easy to switch from Revolut to Spendesk. We had some people on the team who were used to the old system and not happy to change. I told them that there was nothing to worry about, that Spendesk is very intuitive. But they weren’t sure.

After just a few weeks, people were telling me that “this is the best system we’ve ever used.” I wouldn’t be talking to you if I wasn’t impressed. We’re all very happy.