Unified Aviation

About

Unified Aviation, established in 2016, is a leader in the vertical aviation industry, offering a range of services including infrastructure development, event facilitation, and specialized training. With a focus on sustainability, safety, and innovation, they provide comprehensive solutions tailored to both current needs and the evolving landscape of the industry, including the emergence of Urban Air Mobility (UAM). Their experienced team is committed to delivering top-tier services to the clients, helping them achieve their goals while promoting a strong safety culture within the aviation industry. With offices in Dubai and Riyadh, Unified Aviation serves startups and established firms, emphasizing on quality and innovation.

The company's expertise in air mobility consulting and event permissions has made it a respected name in the industry. Unified Aviation is known for its commitment to bringing fresh perspectives and solving complex challenges.

The problem

Challenges in managing manual expense claims and petty cash

Before moving to Alaan, the employees at Unified Aviation were required to claim any company expenses manually or be given advance payments for events. The process was ver and time-consuming as numbers had to reconciled

Employees traveling internationally frequently paid for business-related expenses like accommodation, transport, and meals on their personal cards. These expenses quickly added up, creating a significant administrative burden. Since they were always on the move, consolidating receipts and filing claims became a tedious and long process. This situation also caused delays for the accounting teams, who struggled to process reimbursements promptly while verifying and reconciling numerous transactions.

In addition to this, the management was not able to accurately make assessments on company expenses allocated to particular projects or offices.

Mark Trotter, the Managing Director at Unified Aviation mentioned,‍

"Our accounting and finance teams were burdened with manual tasks, from reconciling employee claims to dealing with incomplete documentation and delayed postings. We urgently needed a solution to streamline the internal processes, enhance visibility, and improve efficiency across the board."

Unified Aviation wanted to become cashless, control its spend more efficiently and understand who was spending, how much, and where.

The solution

Replacing petty cash & manual reimbursements with an efficient and tech-driven expense management system

Unified Aviation decided it needed a spend management solution with a proven track record, and moved all its expenses to Alaan for three main reasons;

‍1. Instant issuance of corporate cards for employees with category control and spend limits

With the ability to issue corporate cards through Alaan within minutes, along with comprehensive spend controls such as daily/monthly limits and category-specific restrictions, employees were able to move away from using their personal cards for company expenses and directly charged all work-related purchases to the corporate cards.

After making a transaction using the Alaan card, they would snap a picture of the receipt, and Alaan’s AI scanner would extract all the relevant details like tax codes, VAT amounts, etc., and the expense was instantly and accurately recorded.

An employee from Unified Aviation added to that, saying:

“Alaan’s corporate cards have made it extremely easy for me to make business expenses. I no longer have to store receipts and wait for reimbursement claims till the end of the month.”

Mark also spoke about the convenience & the UX of the Alaan platform, adding that admins can issue and change card limits instantaneously to suit the business needs.

“We assign card limits based on the needs of the role now. For instance, our office assistant has a card with a daily limit of AED 100, which can only be spent on supermarkets. If he’s required to spend more, he simply sends a request through the Alaan app for additional funds, including an explanation, and an admin can instantly approve it, empowering the team on the ground.”

‍2. Centralized dashboard to view all expenses

Alaan's expense dashboard provided Unified Aviation with the much-needed overview to monitor company spending effectively. It enabled the finance team to view expenses by teams, categories, and projects in real-time, improving control and visibility.

This increased transparency helped the team in making more accurate budget forecasts and projections, ensuring that financial strategies are well-informed and proactive. This also enables the Unified Aviation finance team to assess any new spending or any anomalies and work to understand the reason and adjust or implement changes in a very dynamic way.

3. Sub wallets for different kinds of payments

The ability to create sub-wallets for crucial business payments was extremely beneficial for Unified Aviation. Mark mentioned,

“We created a sub-wallet specifically for different recurring government payments that had to be processed each month without delays and unlike traditional corporate cards, with Alaan, the payments were automated to process on schedule each month without any manual intervention which not only ensured that critical expenses were always covered but also provided an additional layer of financial control by segregating funds according to specific needs, preventing any complications and delays.”

The adoption of Alaan not only improved employee satisfaction by simplifying expense processes but also empowered finance & accounting teams to focus on strategic tasks rather than manual reconciliations. The shift to an automated system improved financial oversight and control, making the teams better equipped to manage budgets accurately, reduce operational costs, and respond more swiftly to financial challenges.

If you want to learn more about becoming a cashless business just like Unified Aviation – then book a demo today!