Spendesk is one of the tools that will allow us to scale.

Scalable spend management for growing teams

A common struggle that fast-scaling companies face is a loss of efficiency, control, and visibility as new hires increase and expenses rise. In order to succeed, it’s vital that day-to-day tools can keep up with the company’s growth.

Spendesk’s tools help finance teams scale up with minimal effort. Using software automation, Silverfin can significantly ramp up hiring efforts and more expenses without having to change or add a thing to the platform–saving the company time and money.

Smooth travel spending

Business travel is a constant headache. Companies need to be clear about how employees can spend money, with a clear travel policy in place. It’s also hard for team members, who often have to use their own money and then wait for reimbursement. 

This is one of the key reasons Lola loves Spendesk. “Our HQ is in Belgium, we’re in the London office here, and we also have an office in Copenhagen. Spendesk definitely makes traveling very easy. I don’t need to worry about spending my own money. I know that I already have a budget in place that I can spend from, and I don’t need to worry about when the company is going to pay me back. So traveling and using Spendesk is very easy.”

And it doesn’t only make Lola’s life easier when she’s the one traveling. 

“That’s the biggest impact that Spendesk makes on my job. With a lot of new people, they do actually travel in week one. So the fact that they can have a Spendesk card and they don’t need to worry about when they’re going to get paid next, in terms of being able to survive their first month. We’re able to cover the cost of that, and nothing comes out of their pocket.”

“That’s very important for us. That’s the biggest impact Spendesk has had for us.” 

An easy way to manage subscriptions

One classic issue for many modern companies is handling the countless online subscription payments being made each month. These are made by different teams with different budgets, and keeping track of all these payments is a significant struggle. 

According to Tom, Silverfin doesn’t have that problem. “When I think about visibility and reporting within Spendesk, the subscriptions part is very handy for me. As a SaaS company, we use lots of other SaaS services. Everybody needs a tool, and suddenly we have hundreds of them.”

Since Spendesk tracks every payment in real time, it’s easy to see who’s using what, and when the purchase was made. 

“Spendesk allows me to get a quick overview of our subscription tools, and also limit the budgets. It brings insight, and it brings more control on one of the biggest overhead expense aspects of our company.”

“In terms of accounting software, we use Xero. Xero connects perfectly with Spendesk, so that’s really helpful. There’s also a perfect sync for our back-office software. It’s really key for us as a finance team that we have that connection ready-made.”

Saving the whole company time

Expense reports are a serious burden on finance teams and the rest of the company. That’s how it was at Silverfin, according to Tom.“Before Spendesk, people were entering expenses in a Google Sheets template, capturing pictures of receipts, and then trying to add that to the expenses sheet. To be honest, I felt sorry for them.” 

So what’s changed? Everything. “These days, people can just spend as they go and capture a picture with the app. They don’t need to ask for approval for any small expenses. We have a trusted budget that they can spend. So on a daily basis, both in terms of efficiency and freedom and trust, we’ve been able to take a really big step forward.”

That’s a big benefit to the average employee, who no longer has to fill in expense reports. But it’s even better for the finance team. “Within the closing process, we can reduce the workload from half a day to an hour or so. When it comes to expense processing, and when I look at the user, they could easily spend half a day a month to fill and grab their expenses. Now it’s not a ‘to-do’ in the monthly agenda anymore. I think that’s a good achievement.”

Scalable spend management for growing teams

The biggest goal for Silverfin is to save time. Whether that’s in the onboarding process or day-to-day, it’s vital that tools can keep up with the company’s growth. 

“When you’re a fast-scaling company, lots of people have requests, lots of people need funds, lots of people need to expense or need to spend. Suddenly, you lose efficiency, you lose control, and you have a lack of visibility.” 

That’s why it’s essential to have tools that scale easily. 

“Spendesk is one of the tools that will allow us to scale. We can add people, new expenses, and expense volume, without adding anything to the back-office because it’s that far automated. And it still keeps us in control of things. Previously, we would’ve had to have a full-time expense processor sooner or later. So that definitely would not have been a good situation.”

Thanks to Spendesk, that isn’t a problem.

Easy onboarding for new employees 

As a growing business, Silverfin is constantly welcoming new employees. For many businesses, introducing team members to new tools and software takes significant time. But not for Silverfin.

As Tom explains, “onboarding new people is important. It’s part of their enjoyment of joining Silverfin. It’s the first touchpoint.” Lola agrees. “As soon as we have a start date for a potential new employee, we start to think about onboarding. We ensure that we have all the systems ready - emails, etc. We have machines as well. Everybody’s able to work from day one.”

Getting new employees started with Spendesk is essential. The sooner they’re up to speed, the quicker they can start handling expenses properly. “Spendesk is plain and simple,” says Tom. “You add an account and request a card, and it arrives in the mail a few days later. Then, you’re ready to go.”

A comfortable fit

Like many tech-focused companies, Silverfin wants to work with other businesses that have the same attitude. And for Tom, Spendesk fits the mold. 

“I appreciate that, with Spendesk, I can feel the same vibe as us,” says Tom. “It’s also a scaling company, fun, with a high speed of reply and quality of reply. If there was something that didn’t exist yet, it’s all about ‘how can we fix it?’ If something wasn’t really clear, it’s very supportive and agile.” 

This relationship helps Silverfin to do its best work. And when it needs help, Spendesk is there. “The customer support experience is really good. You’re to-the-point, fast in reply, and that’s exactly what we need because we want to move forward quickly. It definitely helps if you’re on the same page and the same level of work.”

“No nonsense, very to-the-point, and very efficient. That’s the same company culture that we want to aim for, and it’s definitely helpful.”