Platinum Heritage Gets the Best of Both Worlds With Pluto

Platinum Heritage is known for providing authentic yet luxurious desert safari experiences. 

This case study discusses how Platinum Heritage improved spend management within six months with Pluto’s hybridization of cash and corporate cards.

It has the flexibility of spending cash and visibility of card spend.

Christopher Anthony, Global Business Controller

Introduction

Platinum Heritage is a leading provider of desert safaris and camps in Dubai. Their desert safaris authentically showcase different periods in Dubai's history to provide exclusive, luxurious experiences.

They have earned recognition for their commitment to authenticity, receiving prestigious awards such as the World Travel Award for the Middle East's Leading Desert Safari Company. 

With plans to expand into Saudi Arabia, Platinum Heritage continues to uphold its mission of providing unforgettable desert experiences while preserving Dubai's heritage. 

Petty Cash and Corporate Cards Lacked Real-Time Visibility  

As the company grew, its petty cash transactions increased substantially. Even when it tried replacing petty cash with corporate cards, there was a lack of real-time visibility.

With petty cash, the growing number of transactions resulted in an increased administrative burden. The operations teams had to maintain an imprest system and manually manage receipts, including storing, recording, approving, and reimbursing expenses.

Contrarily, with corporate cards, the company received the bank statement at the end of the month. This meant that expenses were being checked and not approved. Also, with a single card being used by everyone, it was difficult to track each function’s expense.

We wouldn’t know until the statement turned up at the end of the month what had been spent and where.

Christopher Anthony, Global Business Controller

How Pluto Provided Both Real-time Visibility and Flexibility 

Platinum Heritage wanted an enhanced spend management system—reduced cash transactions and increased real-time transparency. 

Pluto helped it achieve these goals within 6 months with the following solutions:   

Physical and Virtual Corporate Cards

Unlike traditional business credit cards, Pluto corporate cards not only helped minimize cash transactions but also provided real-time visibility. 

Instead of a shared business card, Platinum Heritage could issue unlimited budget-controlled corporate cards that facilitated detailed insights. They no longer had to track or second-guess who spent what, where, and why. 

We can go into an individual card user spent and see exactly how the money was spent effectively in real time.

Christopher Anthony, Global Business Controller

WhatsApp Receipt Capture

Pluto also helped simplify and improve visibility on the accounting and receipt management process.

Earlier, the team religiously collected the receipts and waited till the end of the week to process them. However, with Pluto, each transaction triggered a WhatsApp notification, reminding employees to upload the receipt then and there. These receipts were directly attached to the respective expenditures on the platform, making it easier to track and report from a single platform. 

It simplifies things phenomenally because it’s easier to just take a photograph of the receipt before you even fold it up and put it into the wallet.

Christopher Anthony, Global Business Controller

Digitized Petty Cash Management System

From handling thousands of cash expenses manually to getting all the information on a single platform, Pluto simplified petty cash management.

Before Pluto, the team collected all receipts and managed an imprest system which became an administrative burden. 

After Pluto, employees were issued dedicated corporate cards. In this way, the team could track the expenses in real time. Moreover, WhatsApp integration prompted employees to upload receipts for each transaction, simplifying the accounting system. 

Platinum Heritage successfully created a digital petty cash system. 

Rather than waiting until the end of the week to collect enough receipts, you can actually see the money as it goes.

Christopher Anthony, Global Business Controller

No More Debate Between Petty Cash and Corporate Cards

Platinum Heritage wanted to reduce cash usage and replace it with card transactions for enhanced transparency. It was looking for a solution to track money with ease. 

Pluto not only proved to be a better spend management tool but also provided a sweet spot between petty cash and corporate cards.

It provided the flexibility of cash without taking away the control and visibility cards offer. And unlike cards that fail to give complete context in real time, it helped them track the what, who, where, and why of expenses. 

In a nutshell, Pluto revolutionized spend management for Platinum Heritage with increased visibility of the cash spent. 

We haven’t had a single transaction that when it’s received and gone through the approval process that we’ve said, oh my god, that shouldn’t have been spent.

Christopher Anthony, Global Business Controller