Stratify Frees Spotnana's Finance Team to Do Value Added Work

“Stratify helps me be more efficient. I now have extra time to collaborate cross-functionally and delve into operational topics rather than just focusing on numbers."
- Tina Lai, Finance Manager, Spotnana

Spotnana is revolutionizing the travel industry with its global Travel-as-a-Service platform and open APIs. By modernizing the infrastructure for the travel industry, Spotnana provides freedom, simplicity, and trust to travelers everywhere.

The finance team at Spotnana plays a key role in helping the company succeed. Financial forecasting, visibility, and efficiency are critical for the agile, informed decision-making that this fast-growing SaaS company needs. We spoke with Tina Lai, finance manager at Spotnana, about how Stratify has transformed her work.

Challenge: Working in spreadsheets was time-consuming and error-prone. Team lacked visibility.

Prior to using Stratify, the finance team relied on Excel. This meant wrestling with disparate data sources, version control issues, and, with so much manual work, the possibility of errors was ever-present.

The lack of real-time data made it hard to provide timely, accurate reporting to department leaders. “There was no single place where the team could collaborate, and lack of visibility made it hard for us to plan,” says Tina.

Solution: Single source of truth frees up time for more strategic work

Consolidating financial and workforce data into Stratify was an essential step that freed the finance team from data gathering and synthesizing that was previously so time-consuming. As a result, today Spotnana now has a single source of truth and a streamlined reporting and planning process. “With Stratify, all of our information is in one place. Everyone sees the same real-time data at the same time,” says Tina Lai.

Results:

Automated Reporting Saves Time and Supports Department Heads

Automation has drastically reduced the time the finance team previously spent on manual processes. Tina has created custom reports in Stratify that are automatically generated monthly or whenever needed.

Stratify gives Tina the flexibility to produce insightful reports that are meaningful to department leaders. “In Stratify, you can customize reports in different ways, different colors, different layouts–whatever works for your audience,” says Tina. “Stratify works like Excel, but it's better, because it already incorporates all of my data.”

Improved Accuracy

Previously, unnoticed errors in Excel were a constant worry. With Stratify’s configurable models, calculations are transparent, and data updates automatically, ensuring that Spotnana's reports remain accurate.

Freedom and Flexibility in Planning

Tina can now build a true bottoms-up plan.  “One thing I like about Stratify is that I can plan expenses by line item and roll up to a high-level view.” For example, Tina can provide details like a vendor name, contract period, total amount, or a consultant’s name, ID, and rates. She can plan headcount by department.  “That’s very different from big company solutions that I’ve seen, where you can only plan at a very high level. I like that I’m able to plan in detail in Stratify,” says Tina.

Spotnana is continually evolving their plan. The team can quickly modify planning assumptions in Stratify themselves and changes propagate throughout the plan.

Rolling Forecast & Headcount Reconciliation Are a Breeze

Among the finance team members using Stratify, Tina Lai’s focus is headcount and operating expenses. “I save a lot of time on headcount and OpEx planning," says Tina.

Workforce often represents 60% - 70% of a company’s total expense, so getting it right is critical. “We have a lot of new people joining Spotnana. In Stratify, I can take a look at planned headcount and immediately understand whether a position is a backfill, a net new planned headcount, or whether it is a position that is already in the budget. Department heads appreciate the headcount reports I produce in Stratify. They quickly understand where they are at, and they can plan better.”

On the OpEx side, Tina has visibility into vendor spend by department, the cost drivers, and can see expected future spend. Stratify holds so much detailed, real-time information that it is easy for Tina to produce a rolling forecast. “This really helps me understand variances vs budget,” says Tina.

A Strategic Advantage

Tina is now a true business partner. “Stratify helps me be more efficient," says Tina. "Now I have  time to collaborate cross-functionally, delve into operational topics and not just deal with the numbers.”

Stratify has been pivotal in Spotnana's journey, turning financial planning from a grueling task into a strategic advantage. The detailed, real-time insights provided by Stratify not only aid in accuracy and save time but also empower Spotnana to make timely, informed decisions.

As the company continues to grow, Tina and her colleagues look forward to exploring more features and integrations offered by Stratify. “I love working with the customer experience team at Stratify, and the product keeps adding new functionality. The whole team is great!”

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