How Rockbot Gained Visibility, Control, and Speed in Reimbursements

Rockbot is an Oakland-based digital streaming media company helping businesses transform on-location experiences through curated music, TV, and digital signage. Their platform powers dynamic in-store content for customers, ranging from small, local businesses to national brands, delivering real-time control and brand consistency.

Over the last decade, the business has experienced significant growth. As it scaled, Marylu Vasquez-Tagle, Operations Manager at Rockbot, began seeking a solution to provide more control and compliance across the entire expense process.

The Challenges

Before adopting Fyle, Rockbot used Brex to manage corporate card spending, which worked well for handling pre-approved purchases.

However, it fell short regarding managing reimbursable expenses, enforcing spend policies, and providing end-to-end visibility for the accounting team.

Personal Expenses Went Untracked

While Brex effectively synced credit card transactions with the existing bookkeeping system, it didn’t address the growing complexity of Rockbot’s reimbursable expenses. Employees who used personal cards for travel or purchases had no streamlined way to submit receipts or get approvals, and the accounting team was left sorting through manual submissions.

Manual Processing of Reimbursements

Reimbursable expenses were processed manually through the payroll system, which had limited capabilities for expense management. Classification of those expenses into the right GL accounts was handled by the accounting team line by line, which was a time-consuming process and increased the risk of errors and delays.

Lack of Structured Approval Process

The absence of an automated, structured approval process was a major concern. Reimbursements were processed without appropriate managerial oversight.

Lack of Policy Enforcement

Despite clearly documented expense guidelines, Rockbot experienced challenges in ensuring compliance. Employees had acknowledged policies, but there was no way to enforce them within their existing system.

Limited Integration with ERP

Although Brex credit card data synced with ERP, the payroll system’s reimbursable expenses did not. This required the manual mapping of each line item, including GL codes, classes, and projects.

The Transformation

Rockbot needed a solution that would meet the following needs:

• Handling both reimbursable and credit card expenses
• Policy enforcement
• Multi-stage approval workflows
• Automated integration with ERP

They found the perfect fit in Fyle.

A Centralized Hub for Reimbursements

Users can track company expenses made on personal cards by syncing them with Fyle.

They can choose to submit receipts via text message, Gmail, Outlook, or Fyle’s web/mobile app. Fyle automatically matches receipts to the right expense entries, eliminating manual tracking.

For the finance team, automated reminders ensure that employees stay on track, leading to the timely submission of expense reports.

Streamlined Approval Flows

Fyle’s multi-stage approval workflows ensure that every expense has proper visibility.

Approvers can track unsubmitted expenses and send reminders to nudge employees toward timely report submissions, and the finance team has visibility into complete audit trails.

Built-in Policy Control

With Fyle, Rockbot could enforce soft and hard policy rules across departments. The system now flags overspend in real time, prompting users to revise their claims or provide explanations.

Additionally, with Fyle Copilot, an AI-powered assistant, the team is able to ask questions, flag non-compliant expenses, and track top policy violators and spending trends by department, project, or expense category. This enhanced visibility has improved accountability.

The Outcome

• The time spent on the month-end close decreased from 8 days per month to 5 days with Fyle.
• 100% of policy violations are now flagged before they reach the accounting team.
• Multi-stage approval flows reduce friction for finance teams and employees alike.
• Expenses now flow seamlessly throughout the billing and payments systems.