“Here to stay:” How AIRCO consolidated procurement, AP, and spend to gain control with Ramp

Michael Natsch joined AIRCO specifically to oversee procurement. When he joined, the company managed spend with various disparate platforms. “We used different tools for card management, procurement and expenses,” explains Michael. “We had just a few corporate cards floating around that were largely uncontrolled.” Michael didn’t personally have access to the company’s accounting software, so pulling data and conducting analysis was challenging. “The ability to strategically use our data wasn’t there,” says Michael. “It was tough from an allocation standpoint in our books, but it was also a large effort even to be able to see our year-to-date spend from our various sources.” Gaining some of that visibility and control prompted Michael and his team to find a new spend management solution. “As we started looking more into Ramp, the procurement applicability came up as well,” Michael notes. 

A platform that could provide solutions for corporate cards, bill pay, travel and procurement was ideal. Historically, AIRCO used a larger procurement platform that functioned, but ultimately was too large and expensive for the size and needs of the company. “We needed something more agile that could suit our current business needs a bit more closely,” says Michael.

AIRCO partnered with Ramp to consolidate its various spend solutions into one central, automated platform. “We’re now channeling all direct and indirect spend through Ramp,” says Michael. Those direct inputs range from industrial gases and chemicals to machine parts, laboratory equipment, subscriptions, and software. “We now have everything PO-backed,” says Michael. “Regardless if you’re purchasing a gas cylinder or engaging a marketing partner, everything has to have a PO.” AIRCO set up unique intake forms for their various types of purchases. Employees simply request what they need and Ramp seamlessly routes approvals to the right team based on pre-set criteria– automatically generating purchase orders for a smoother, more efficient process. 

“I was shocked at how easy it was to set up Ramp and get our end users to adopt it,” says Michael. “Our prior procurement platform took six months to implement, and it was a lot of labor. Ramp was so easy it was almost scary.” In less than a week, AIRCO had a fully functioning system. Within 2-3 weeks, the entire company was trained on Ramp.

By consolidating all spend into Ramp, Michael and his colleagues have gained the visibility and control they previously lacked. “The consolidation across all spend channels has been a huge benefit,” he says. “It’s allowed more visibility into spend across the board, but it’s also allowed uniform controls across company cards, bill pay, and T&E.” That centralization has given AIRCO the control and visibility it was looking for. 

That visibility has led to material time-savings, particularly on the bill pay side. “It’s helped cut down our AP and payments time by hours each week,” says Michael. “Before, having disparate systems that weren’t talking to each other was difficult for us, but now we have PO matching and visibility all in one easy-to-use interface. All of our payments go through Ramp, and that’s been huge for our team.”

As he looks ahead, Michael is eager to see how Ramp can continue to help AIRCO automate and simplify as it scales. “Your product team has been so fast on rolling stuff out,” says Michael. “The speed at which you address platform limitations has been hugely impressive, and it’s something we’ve loved to see.”

As AIRCO grows steadily, Michael anticipates it will eventually outgrow its accounting platform. “We want to make sure that whatever we move onto will be compatible with Ramp,” he says. “Ramp wouldn’t come into jeopardy -- it’s something that will be here to stay for the foreseeable, long-term future.”