From four systems to one: how Studs turned finance into a growth lever
“Ramp Travel gives me the ability to set the controls I need, and employees the freedom and flexibility to book travel easily.”
SVP Finance, Studs
Most retail companies treat finance as overhead that grows with the store fleet. Studs treats it as leverage. The accounting team is small on purpose, instrumented to make every new studio faster to open than the last, and held to a simple rule: finance enables growth, it doesn't slow it down.
When a patchwork of four separate tools for cards, AP, reimbursements, and travel started getting in the way of that, Studs rebuilt the back office on one platform. The result is a lean team running one of the highest-leverage functions in the company, and a studio rollout that gets easier with every location.
Four disconnected systems, one finance team holding it together
Before Ramp, Studs ran finance on four disconnected platforms — one for corporate cards, one for reimbursements, one for accounts payable, and travel managed on the side. None of them talked to each other.
"Reimbursements were all over the place," says SVP of Finance Andrew Clarke. "Some people used corporate cards, others used personal cards and waited about a week to get paid back." Travel was a free-for-all, with no central system to book flights or lodging.
The cost wasn't just time. With visibility scattered across four tools, the finance team couldn't enforce policy consistently or close the books quickly — and Studs was about to start opening stores faster than ever.
One platform for every dollar — cards, bills, reimbursements, and travel
Studs moved cards, AP, reimbursements, and travel onto Ramp — collapsing four platforms into a single centralized, automated platform.
Rollout started with the biggest spenders: Studs’ apprentice program, which spends a lot on T&E, and its supply chain, which has significant shipping spend. “We moved those two first, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive,” says Andrew.
With Ramp’s flexible platform, Studs’ accountants can manage new and existing corporate cards with ease. “The ability to add a temporary or permanent credit card increase or decrease within seconds is so helpful,” says Andrew. Prior to implementing Ramp, the team would have had to choose between sharing credit cards with higher limits or requesting employees use their personal cards for corporate purchases. “Using Ramp makes it easier for our employees, and it makes it easier for us,” says Andrew. “And the fact that you can do it with the click of a button instantly is really helpful.”
Integrating various elements of expense management into Ramp has made it easier for the Studs team to see everything. Because everything from initial transaction to reimbursement is completed within Ramp, searching for transactions has become much easier. The company takes advantage of Ramp’s automated features, like automated coding for recurring invoices. “That takes 95% of expense reimbursement work out of business owners’ hands,” says Andrew. “They get it right once, then it’s right forever.” That, in turn, reduces the amount of time the accounting team needs to spend following up regarding various expenditures. “Those efficiencies really come with those correct inputs,” says Andrew. “Getting it right the first time saves the accounting team time.”
A leaner back office, a faster close, and a system built to scale with new studios
Since moving to Ramp, the close has gotten dramatically faster. "The process is so much more streamlined," says Andrew. "Working within one system means accountants don't bounce between expense reimbursements, credit cards, AP, and something else. It's all just there."
Integrating the company’s travel platform within Ramp has simplified processes for employees and finance team members alike. “It’s a platform that finds the cheapest alternative and finds the best flights for time and place automatically,” says Andrew. “You don’t need to do any invoice attachment, because it’s already done.” Not only does that improve the experience of booking corporate travel for Studs employees, it also gives the finance team peace of mind from a compliance perspective. “Automating the actual policy is really helpful,” Andrew says.
Ramp’s ability to showcase the low fares is just one example of the cost-saving opportunities the platform provides. “Ramp makes it easy to see where we can save on our expenses,” says Andrew. Ramp’s price insights highlight spend inefficiencies and make recommendations to optimize payment structures and utilize discount codes. “I think that’s incredible every time I see it,” says Andrew. Ramp’s ability to automatically identify cost savings is just another example of the time savings the platform offers.
The result of that time savings is more than just reduced frustration for Studs’ accountants—it’s also enabled the team to close its books more quickly each month. “We can get our numbers to the business to analyze what’s happening more quickly,” says Andrew. “We can actually see what’s happening and get visibility on business spend faster.” As a result, he notes, Studs has been able to keep its accounting team intentionally lean. “With Ramp, we can get things done quicker, and we can get things done with fewer people,” he says.
For Studs, that scale isn't theoretical. "Growing studios is our path forward," says Andrew. "We can't hire five new people every time we open five stores. We need to optimize headcount in the back office and grow the retail fleet as fast as we can. Consolidating everything into one platform makes that possible."
