Overview
Echidna Walkabout runs nature tours across Australia, with staff regularly working in the field. Before Budgetly, the business relied on a manual bank-card process that was slow to manage day-to-day and gave finance little control over how funds moved between people.
After implementing Budgetly, Echidna Walkabout gained a simple, flexible way to allocate spend to the right people at the right time, move card access between staff as roles shifted, and cover essential purchases like vehicle hire without staff ever needing to reach for a personal card.
Challenges
Before Budgetly, the spend process created friction for both operations and finance. The biggest challenges were:
- Manual bank-card process: The existing approach was cumbersome and hard to manage day-to-day.
- Hard to allocate spend to field staff: Getting funds to the right person at the right time was not simple.
- Operational friction for essential purchases: Field staff sometimes needed to use personal cards for things like vehicle hire just to keep tours running.
What was at stake
Without a better process, the team risked:
- Ongoing operational delays when staff needed to make essential purchases on the road.
- Lower control and visibility over card usage as tour activity scaled up.
Why Budgetly
Scott had seen Budgetly work well in other tourism businesses and recommended it for Echidna Walkabout. The fit was clear: field-based teams need flexible access to spend, and finance needs strong back-end control. Budgetly delivered both.
The solution
Getting started was straightforward, and the team adopted the system quickly.
Budgetly helped Echidna Walkabout:
- Allocate funds simply across the team, especially for staff working out in the field.
- Move card access between people as roles and needs changed.
- Use flexible Visa cards to streamline spending across the business.
- Remove the need for staff to use personal cards for key purchases like vehicle hire.
Results
1) A smoother field spending workflow
Allocating funds and moving card access between staff made it easier to support day-to-day operations without bottlenecks. Field staff could act quickly, and finance kept visibility over every transaction.
2) Vehicle hire made simple, no personal cards required
Using Budgetly cards for vehicle hire removed a recurring pain point. Staff no longer needed to put essential purchases on their own cards and wait to be reimbursed.
“Streamlined everything remarkably.”
— Scott, Echidna Walkabout
3) Support rated 10/10
Scott rated the support experience as fast and consistently helpful.
“It has been high end. Super high end. Anytime you want something the answers come. I don’t think it took even 24 hours. 10/10.”
— Scott, Echidna Walkabout