How Affogata saves money and builds trust with Mesh

Industry:

Customer Intelligence

Location:

San Francisco, CA

Employees:

50

Hours saved with Mesh:

40

About Affogata

Affogata is an AI-driven consumer insights platform that collects millions of customer feedback data points from the open web such as niche forums, review sites, app stores, social media, and internal sources like ticketing systems and chats. It analyzes and sorts the data to deliver actionable insights to all teams in the organization: from product teams and customer-facing teams, all the way to the C-suite, so they can make more data-driven product decisions and measure their impact. World-leading brands use Affogata today to better understand their audience, to get customer insights that gain them a competitive advantage, to identify trends, and to have one-on-one conversations with their users.

We spoke with Ran Margaliot, COO and VP of R&D at Affogata, about how using Mesh has helped him gain visibility into the company’s spending, get control over how much is spent, and save hours of time every month.

What were the challenges you faced?

“The biggest challenge I faced was lack of visibility,” says Ran. “Everytime I wanted to know how much we were paying a service provider, I needed to login to the supplier, summarize all invoices and do tons of manual work.”

Many service providers also charge on a per use basis, so there wasn’t an easy way to track how much employees were using services and running up subsequent charges.

Ran also wanted to ensure that his employees were able to purchase necessary services, but they would often have to jump through hoops or wait for a long time to get approvals.

“I want my team to be focused on bringing value, not on procurement processes or payments,” he says.

How did Mesh address those challenges?

With Mesh, Ran and his team have full visibility into what is being spent and where. The advanced controls allow him to manage company expenses thoughtfully. By eliminating cash purchases and employee reimbursements with virtual cards, it’s clear where every expense is coming from.

The purchase approval process also runs much smoother now that they use Mesh. Employees no longer need to wait ages for necessary purchases to be approved, and spending limits are easily controlled.

“Mesh helps us with this,” Ran says. “Approval processes are clear and budgets are clear, so everything moves faster.

How has monthly close improved since adopting Mesh?

“Mesh saves me hours and hours a month,” Ran says. “Things move faster now because I’m not reluctant to give more credit because of visibility.”

In addition to saving him time, Ran is able to see the company’s overall spending much more clearly. Before using Mesh, he had to go through invoices manually to see how much Affogata were paying for a particular service and the lack of visibility meant he didn’t notice increased rates from vendors.

Now, he can easily find that information with a couple of clicks.

What do you like most about using Mesh?

Ran’s favorite feature on Mesh is simple: “The ability to generate a virtual credit card for literally everything.”

As for feedback from his team, it’s been really positive. They say that approval processes move much faster now, and they are enjoying the visibility they get by being able to see every transaction being spent from their budget.

So, what’s his parting advice for other companies? “Move all your expenses to Mesh.”

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