Blue J Secures Corporate Spending With Float

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.

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