RainFocus Invests in Procurement Automation, Saves 25% and Transforms SaaS Buying

About RainFocus

RainFocus is a next-generation event marketing platform that captures and analyzes data to execute better events and conferences.

The company’s software platform simplifies event registration, content management and exhibitor activation across physical, virtual and hybrid experiences—all from a single dashboard.

Today, leading Fortune 1000 companies use the RainFocus platform to manage a range of events, from small virtual meetings to complex global in-person conferences.

The Opportunity

RainFocus has been experiencing hyper growth over the past eight years. Two historic thorns in their side were software procurement and spend management—problems that snowballed as they continued to scale.

Brandon Bailey, Vice President Strategic Financial and People Operations, was juggling many responsibilities between Finance and Human Resources, two critical functions at any company. Along with his other responsibilities, he uncovered a spend management problem and opted to tackle the procurement issues directly due to its strategic importance to the business.

Bailey first dug deeper into RainFocus’s purchasing processes. An investigation with his internal Security and Information Technology teams revealed a number of unnecessary or duplicative software purchases. Many purchases were made on personal credit cards and expensed back to the company. That meant the company didn’t have a clear picture of purchases being made. Additionally, Bailey described larger software purchases as, “more painful than a root canal.”

The bottom line: Before Tropic, RainFocus had limited visibility, process, or strategy around its SaaS buying activities. Since the rapidly-scaling startup’s small team was already stretched thin, they needed to find a solution that would save time by offloading much of the purchasing process while also ensuring they were getting the best possible deals.

The Solution

With Tropic’s help, RainFocus has radically transformed its SaaS buying strategy—saving more than 25% on its software costs and more than 500 hours over the course of the year. Compliant purchasing processes now happen in days or weeks instead of months.

Looking into his options, Bailey learned that Tropic’s all-in-one procurement platform could handle the headache of complex software buying and deliver compelling ROI through a major cost savings, among other things.

After a few discussions with the team, he proposed the use of Tropic to his CFO. They both immediately saw Tropic as a more systematic and scalable approach to software buying than “the wild west” everyone knew. A key selling point for Bailey was Tropic’s support in the negotiation process. Previously, RainFocus employees bought their own software and called the shots on their teams’ products and services— often purchasing duplicating solutions by owning licenses on multiple competitors like WebEx, MS Teams, Google Meet and Zoom.

The Results

With Tropic’s help, RainFocus has radically transformed its SaaS buying strategy—saving 25%+ on its software costs and 500+ hours over the course of the year. Compliant purchasing processes now happen in days or weeks instead of months.

For a small startup, finding tools to help busy team members buy well is critical. “Without Tropic, procurement would’ve come to a screeching halt at RainFocus because of limited internal personnel,” Bailey said.

Bailey was impressed by how comprehensive Tropic’s software platform was—but he was equally impressed with his account manager. Tropic’s prompt, personalized support has equipped RainFocus to scale quickly without sacrificing strategy.