Luno — Vendr Case Study

Introduction

Luno is a digital wallet and cryptocurrency exchange company serving over 10 million users across the globe. The company allows crypto investors to use their local currency to purchase cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and more. They promise a secure, compliant, and transparent process for buying, selling, and holding cryptocurrencies. Luno is headquartered in London and has over 600 employees worldwide.

The Challenge

Even in well-run procurement organizations, there’s always room for improvement and savings. Luno’s purchasing team, comprised of Byron Cowie (Head of Reporting and Control), Simon Fishley (Head of IT Operations), and Dean Battersby (Treasury & Operations Associate), had built a fairly successful software procurement workflow over two years, conquering a few of the hurdles common to growing companies.

For instance, the team had experienced issues with visibility and shadow spend early on and took time to gain better control of the purchasing and renewal process. Simon brought on a stack visibility tool to help, and felt confident things were on the right track. But even with a relatively conservative stack of 150 SaaS tools, the need for better administration of contract review and renewals was pressing.

Byron suggested looking at Vendr. Even with a SaaS management tool in place, the combination of negotiation support and cost savings was compelling. They took a demo and immediately saw the opportunity.

“The value proposition was really good,” Simon said. Enthusiastic about a better process and more savings, the Luno team agreed that trying a year of the service was worth the investment and signed on with Vendr in 2021.

The Solution

The Luno team took a thorough approach to bring Vendr online. The first order of business was to conduct a detailed financial review, which helped ensure all data and contracts had been captured.

“We surfaced spending in credit card statements, various general ledgers in the accounting system and employee expense reimbursement tools to be sure nothing was slipping through the cracks,” Byron said.

Taking the time to conduct the review created a solid foundation for a well-oiled renewal process. With the full context of their stack available, Luno could effectively leverage the negotiating power of Vendr. The team began relying on specialty buying experts from Vendr for deal support and took advantage of pricing data for large deals processed internally. With the time saved, they turned their attention to rolling out Vendr to the whole company. Luno publicized Vendr extensively in Slack channels and other internal communications to spur interest, while Dean spearheaded the education process.

He created a knowledge base for new users in the company’s project management systems and intranet to answer common questions about preparing the intake form (for both renewals and new software purchases) and navigating Vendr. He also served as the main point of contact for questions, ensuring every user could feel comfortable and confident moving forward with the new process. This approach helped users gain confidence in the system and use Vendr proactively. “We now see people act on the renewal as soon as it comes up in the inbox,” Dean said.

“Vendr’s advances just speak for themselves.” Even users who were initially skeptical of using outside procurement have embraced the ease and results Vendr has to offer. For the reluctant few, Dean suggested trying a parallel process, allowing the stakeholder to see the difference in time savings and outcomes.

“Pretty much every time, Vendr did it better,” Dean said. This proof-in-the-pudding approach convinced even seasoned buyers of the value of having a partner to take on negotiations.

The Result

The cost savings of partnering with Vendr exceeded every expectation set going into year one. In the first year, Luno realized savings of over $200,000. Over the course of two years, Vendr’s negotiation and deal support have saved the company $1.8m on SaaS.

“Vendr is useful for small businesses that aren't able to hire a specialist person for procurement because you can outsource a lot of that work, but it's also useful for large businesses, as your renewals become a lot more complicated,” said Byron.

The benefits extend far beyond those impressive cost savings. With their enthusiastic approach to onboarding stakeholders to the intake process, Luno now consistently achieves its “90 days in advance” renewal standard. This leverage gives them access to better pricing, more favorable terms & conditions and consider alternatives in the tech stack with sufficient time on hand. It also gives teams back valuable time in the day to drive higher-value organizational change.

Team members have invested those saved hours in impactful ways. For instance, Luno’s InfoSec team has integrated Vendr into a robust, automated third-party onboarding process that ensures every net new and renewing purchase meets security and legal requirements before proceeding.

This project and its impacts have been especially important, as Luno’s position in an emerging finance space demands a high degree of trust in handling sensitive information. With a well-defined tech stack, a solid and secure intake process, and support from Vendr’s buyer and CSM team, Luno is well-positioned to scale its business and enjoy continued savings and success in its procurement practice.