Financial Transformation on the Rails: A smooth ride for Stadler with Yokoy
- Last updated: December 11, 2023
Head of Customer Success, Yokoy
Stadler, a renowned Swiss railway rolling stock manufacturer, is dedicated to building reliable and safe trains that are tailored to customer needs while providing optimum comfort to their passengers. Headquartered in Bussnang, Switzerland, Stadler maintains a presence in 15 locations for production and components, and with over 80 service locations worldwide.
In their pursuit of financial excellence, Stadler embarked on a transformative journey with Yokoy.
Company overview
Bussnang, Switzerland
14’000 employees
19 entities live
12’588 users
Mobility
Yokoy Expense, Pay, Lodge Card
Challenge: Getting off track with manual expense management
Stadler’s paper-based expense management simply wasn’t cutting it. Employees and the finance team alike were dissatisfied with the process that simply failed to fullfil the requirements of managing high volumes of expenses that all needed to be validated and approved in an efficient and easy way. It was time for a new digital expense management tool.
After a trial with a promising provider, management decided to pause further implementation based on user feedback. Problems included insufficient user-friendliness, a lack of collaboration in spending processes, frequent manual intervention, and an overall lack of user-friendliness.
Solution: A tool so intuitive, even a child can use it
Stadler embarked on a new approach to spend management, convening a committee comprising IT, HR, finance, and production representatives across the company. Their aim: to implement a holistic solution for streamlining and automating business travel accounting, ensuring smooth data flow among the numerous ERP systems, a complex endeavor considering Stadler employs several distinct ERP systems only within its Swiss entities.
After reviewing a shortlist of seven expense management tools, Yokoy emerged as the clear frontrunner ahead of other bigger, more established players in the market. Simplicity and ease of use stood out for Kerstin Bejić, who noted, “We needed a tool that was easy to use and didn’t require any training, so I let my 8-year-old son try Yokoy. He was able to use it right away without any instructions.”
"We needed a tool that was easy to use and didn't require any training."
Beyond its user-friendly functions, Yokoy distinguished itself with its innovative approach and strong commitment to a close partnership. The collaboration between Yokoy and Stadler led to the expansion of the pay module, including the introduction of the Lodge Card.
This enhancement allows employees to efficiently manage all flight-related payments through a single lodged card, greatly simplifying the accounting process for Stadler’s finance team. This marks the inception of Yokoy’s comprehensive travel package, streamlining the travel experience for both employees and finance personnel.
Impact: Fast-tracking spend management with Yokoy and third-party integrations
Yokoy Expense has revolutionized Stadler’s expense management, which now runs like clockwork. “We hardly receive any support tickets from employees anymore. And as an admin, I can readily solve most of them myself.”, confirms Bejić.
Stadler’s finance teams now operate 3.5 times more efficiently than before, making a tangible impact on the business.
“At the beginning of the project, we worked with our partners at Travelbrain to formulate a business case. We came to the conclusion that the cost of each manual expense report was around CHF 120. But with Yokoy, we’ve seen a remarkable turnaround with an average estimate of around CHF 20 per expense report.”
This corresponds to an impressive cost saving of 83% through process automation.
increased process efficiency
cost savings through automation
Moreover, Stadler has harnessed the power of third-party collaboration to its advantage. Utilizing the ERP connector enables Yokoy to achieve full automation in calculating and posting payroll taxes, seamlessly incorporating the 3-month rule in Germany.
