2018: Year in Review

It’s very easy to be so caught up in the moment, and planning for the future, that you lose track of how far you’ve come. This is especially the case in a fast-growing global organization like ours. As a result, I try to take time at the end of each year to reflect on our achievements over the previous 12 months. It’s incredibly helpful to appreciate the results that our collective hard work has delivered.

This past year has been a momentous one for Chrome River, and I suspect that in a few years, when we look back through our history, 2018 will be seen as pivotal in our evolution.

From a sales point of view, we have seen incredible growth, not only in revenues and the numbers of new customers, but also in their size and scale. We are excited to welcome ExxonMobil as a customer. As my friend and co-founder Dave Terry likes to remind me, “we now have 50 percent of the Fortune 2 as customers.”  We also welcome a major new customer in Germany: technology and services giant Bosch. Added to this, we were selected by some of the biggest names in sectors as diverse as agrochemicals, automobiles, consulting, education, financial services, law, and manufacturing.

Related: How I Did It: Chrome River Customers Share How They Let Business Flow

Our global footprint also saw some very significant and exciting growth this year. In response to increasing customer and market demand, we set up our first presence in continental Europe. Chrome River Germany now has team members in sales, marketing, implementation and support.  They are, of course, an extension of our well-established team in the UK.

Just as exciting was our move into Asia. Chrome River’s technology is now more readily available to Indian organizations thanks to a new relationship with our partner Yatra - one of the country’s largest consumer and corporate travel agencies.

On the product side, we’ve also seen great strides over the past 12 months. Our INVOICE processing solution is now available on the same mobile-first, responsive web platform that our EXPENSE customers love and rely on.  Chrome River’s expense management software also saw dramatic new features and enhancements. Our OCR capabilities have undergone a major upgrade, so submitting out-of-pocket receipts is even easier and reliable than before (and in more languages). 

Of course, external recognition of these efforts is always welcome, so we’re delighted to have been recognized for our solutions, our growth and as an employer. We were recognized by the International Business Awards with a Gold Stevie award for the best business application for our EXPENSE solution. Our continued high growth was also recognized with our seventh appearance on the Inc. 5000, a feat achieved by just 3.8 percent of the companies on the list. Finally, and personally gratifying for me, is recognition by Comparably of Chrome River as one of the best employers in the country.

While the achievements of our sales and product teams may be the most high-profile for Chrome River, that doesn’t diminish from the critical importance that every single member of our team plays in the company’s success. Our implementation, support and customer success teams ensure our customers have a world class experience from go-live and throughout their journey with us. Our operations team keeps Chrome River’s systems up and running for our customers and our team. Our engineering team keeps us in a leadership position.  And… our sales, marketing, HR and finance teams who all play a vital role in delivering our solution to more and more delighted employees around the world.

As we start this first week of the New Year, I’m deeply appreciative of the incredible hard work of our team, as well as the support of our partners and, of course, our customers, who continue to trust Chrome River with one of their most critical business systems to let business flow.  I’m excited to see what 2019 will bring Chrome River and thank everyone for their role in making Chrome River the company it is today.