About Ada
Brendan White
The Challenge
As a fully remote company who was adding new employees at a blistering clip, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Ada executives to coordinate on infrastructure projects and support the broader organization. “The volume of new tools and contracts coming through the door was significant,” said Brendan White, Senior Director of Finance at Ada. “Scale was a big factor for us,” he added.
Ada was already using a SaaS-buying service to help with commercial negotiations but knew it needed something more comprehensive that could support its end-to-end procurement process.
We manage contracts for high-growth companies around the world
The Solution
While Ada had a strong grasp on the renewals process for existing software, it was struggling with efficiently evaluating and approving new SaaS platforms. It was also looking for a technology partner that could help it bolster privacy, security and compliance protocols as it continued its rapid growth and eyed an eventual IPO.
Ada didn’t even have to conduct a formal evaluation of the Tropic solution before realizing it was the perfect solution for their rapidly evolving needs. White explains that Ada wasn’t looking for a company to replace their entire buying process, but rather a strategic procurement partner that could help them streamline their existing processes, keep internal stakeholders happy and deliver valuable outcomes.
It also helped that Tropic worked seamlessly with the company’s in-house procurement manager to facilitate the buying process.
“Procurement is changing,” said White. “It’s not just about negotiating discounts anymore or getting the best price. It’s about getting the right software and the operational intelligence that can help us make strategic decisions around tools and investments across the entire organization.” Tropic fit the bill on all those fronts according to White.
The Results
Since onboarding Tropic, Ada has been able to develop a robust and comprehensive process that gives them visibility into every aspect of their procurement operation.
“Everyone has been very impressed with the attention to detail and professionalism demonstrated by the Tropic team, from our account managers all the way up to executive leadership,” said White. “Tropic has been instrumental in helping us build a better procurement process.”
Moreover, Tropic’s commercial executives had immediate success in unlocking value from some of Ada’s biggest software contracts. “We saved $102,000 in just the first 6 months,” said White.
“Almost more than the cost savings though, the biggest value has come from Tropic’s ability to build a dynamic procurement process that can scale alongside our growth,” said White. “I don’t know how we’d support that kind of growth without Tropic, it’s really a no-brainer.”
