Author: Natalie White

We sat down with Suzanne Gratch, VP of Finance at Blue J, to discuss her experience using Float. Blue J is a tech startup delivering a SaaS platform that helps legal and tax experts conduct research and analysis 100x faster. Something that Blue J and Float have in common is their shared goal of delivering a tech-powered platform that improves productivity while enabling teams to focus on higher value tasks. Here’s what Suzanne had to say about Float.

How long have you been using Float? What about Float made you choose us?

Blue J has been using Float since our launch in July 2021. I joined the company this past October and from the moment I started, I instantly loved how easy, quick and flexible it was to use. Before Float, we had a corporate card with one of the major banks and paid multiple vendors with it. When this card was compromised, everything changed for us. The time it took to first cancel the card and then reassign our vendors to a new card was more complicated and timely than we could have ever imagined. That’s when we really saw the value in a platform like Float. When we signed up, we were able to easily set up all our vendors on Float cards and even set spending limits for each one so we were never overcharged. But most of all, Float gave us the power to cancel our cards on the spot if anything were to ever go wrong. With the level of growth we have planned, it would be incredibly hard to manage it without Float. The platform allows us to do bigger and better things when it comes to managing our expenses and spending smarter.

What did spend and expense management look like before Float and how has it improved?

Before Float, we didn’t have clear visibility over our financials until month end rolled around. I recall getting these big Visa statements with all these charges and it was incredibly difficult to keep track of. I also found myself constantly concerned about fraudulent transactions. What made things even harder was that our corporate card was tied to a primary user. So if we ever had to dispute anything, it would be incredibly difficult because they would only speak directly to the primary user of the card, who was far removed from this process in general. This made it very difficult to both manage and distribute cards within the company.

“The platform really gives us more control and visibility from a finance department perspective. We now have quick access to key information to stay on top of our company’s spending and drive greater efficiency into our month-end processes.”

Today, we have full visibility of all the money coming and going out of the company at any given time. It allows us to extract and record data in such a simple way and really lets us forecast and budget better for the future.

I can now also designate accountability to certain departments and categorize cards based on vendors – for example, all purchases from the IT department go on one card with its own statement of purchases. This really helps us record the spend at the end of the month and distinguish where our money is going and who’s spending it.

Tell us about the security benefits that Float provides and what this means for you.

When our company was using traditional credit cards, I would only be able to log into the corporate bank account and view the transactions once a month – which was typically when our bookkeeper would go in and close the books. Now that we’ve implemented Float, I’m able to log in more frequently and see what’s happening on a daily basis. I have the ability to monitor transactions and resolve issues as they arise in real time, which has been a game changer. 

“Being able to set limits on specific cards makes for a great security measure because it eliminates fraudulent transactions and ensures that vendors aren’t overcharging or processing payment without permission.”

We have quite a few subscriptions and in the past – even when we’ve opted out – there have been additional charges that have gone through past the cancellation date. With Float, we have the peace of mind that this won’t ever be an issue again.

What is the positive impact that Float has had on the Blue J team?

Our team really enjoys the speed that Float allows for. If employees need a higher spending limit and submit a spend request, myself and our finance controller are now able to respond much faster. The Slack integration has made this process even more convenient. Float’s Slack integration helps us get things done faster and communicate cross-functionally about company spending in a much more efficient and seamless way.

“Float’s receipt management feature has also been helpful to ensure that everyone is compliant with our financial policies. It allows us to automate compliance procedures and really holds employees accountable to their spending.”

We also love the fact that we can pause cards after a certain amount of receipts are pending. Personally, I really enjoy this feature because I don’t have to contact employees myself. Instead, they are notified over time via text to submit their receipts and ensure they’re complying with our spending policies.

What is the best part about working with Float?

Float’s customer service is unparalleled. Personally, I’ve had a great experience communicating with Shawn. He is awesome and always ensures that I am up to speed with how the platform and its specific features work. When my predecessor left, he was really helpful getting me onboarded. Natalie has also been wonderful in training the Blue J team and being there to answer all our questions. Whenever we need something, Float’s response time is super quick! Their level of speed and dedication to customer satisfaction is unlike any other I’ve experienced.

About Blue J

Blue J leverages the power of artificial intelligence and legal expertise to help you conduct better research and analysis, test the predicted outcome of any scenario and gain the insights you need to succeed.

We sat down with Heather, Nerva Energy’s financial controller, to talk about the company’s Float experience. Nerva Energy delivers real-world solutions that improve indoor air quality, maximize energy performance and decrease greenhouse gas emissions for commercial real estate and public sector markets. In 2021, what started as an accidental find, turned out to provide a solution addressing various pain points for different divisions within Nerva Energy. Here’s what Heather had to say.

Q1: When did you start using Float and why did you choose us?

We’ve been using Float since August 2021. We have dozens of technicians in the field and the way that we were managing expenses was incredibly inefficient. From technicians racking up our credit cards to never submitting their receipts on time, it all became unmanageable, especially as our team grew.

“When our VP of Energy Engineering saw an ad for Float, he immediately asked if this is something we should consider exploring. And here we are seven months later!”

Q2: Are there any particular Float features that have been extremely useful to the team?

From a finance team perspective, I would say managing the pool of money is a great feature, and also the ability to manage various merchants has been helpful. Float gave us added capacity for other functions in finance. The time we save makes a huge difference.

“We set up all the merchants that we know are applicable to a certain GL Code in Float so that every time the system sees say Burger King, it automatically assigns it to the correct GL account we have set up for that spend category.”

The ability to take a photo of your receipt and upload it immediately is extremely useful for our technicians. Before Float, it would typically take us about a month to reconcile the previous month. And most of that time was spent chasing people down for receipts and getting clarity on what they were spending on. It took the finance team away from more important tasks. Today, reconciliation is much faster – we have full visibility into what employees are spending and they can now instantly submit copies of their receipts upon every purchase. 

Q3: You grew from eight to over 40 employees. Did you have Float during this growth period?

Luckily, we had Float before too much growth took place. You know, if you’re trying to manage paper receipts with eight people, that’s one thing. But when 16 people come in and give you an envelope full of receipts that need to be sorted through, things can get really complicated. Today, we have 35 field employees using Float on a daily basis. We have hundreds and hundreds of transactions a month, which is why this platform is so huge for us. To go through that many receipts would be impossible.

Before Float, we used standard credit cards that were branched off to multiple users – but everything was still fed back into the main credit card. We had roughly four or five of these cards floating around and one technician from each crew was responsible for collecting the receipts from employees and submitting them to finance with an expense report. As we started growing, we knew a better solution was needed – that’s where Float came in.

Q4: What is the best part about working with Float?

The best part is that our employees always have access to company funds to pay for their daily business expenses. For example, sometimes I get calls because an employee has gone to a rental company and gets hit with a massive deposit fee. If their Float card limit isn’t high enough to cover that fee, I can simply top up their card from my laptop in minutes. It’s quick for myself and for them, and they never have to dip into their own pockets while on the job. At Nerva, we believe that when you’re a part of a company, they should be able to support you with your needs. So it’s really important for us to make sure that our technicians have access to corporate funds to do their work efficiently. Thanks to Float, we can deliver on that.

“The number one reason I would suggest other companies implement Float is because it’s a big timesaver. The team is very helpful, quick to reply and also very open to suggestions from their users on ways to improve their features.”

This really shows that they care about our success and the experience we have with their platform. Although our introduction to Float was an accidental encounter, our organization couldn’t be more grateful. I’m optimistic that anybody who wants to save time and manage their paperwork would find that Float is a big help.

About Nerva Energy

We are a team of award-winning energy advisors with decades of real-world experience, helping raise awareness for industry best practices and innovative technologies that improve energy performance and drive sustainability.  As Canada’s fastest growing energy advisory firm, we deliver real-world solutions that improve indoor air quality, eliminate energy waste and decrease GHG emissions.