The challenge

With an employee strength of 10,000+, Aerial Telecom's finance function plays a critical role in supporting vendor management, procurement, accounting, FP&A, and project-wise operational spending. However, most processes were heavily manual and fragmented across departments.

Employees routinely paid out-of-pocket for project expenses and later submitted reimbursement claims, creating cash flow challenges and administrative burden. Cash disbursements lacked structure and standardization, approvals took excessive time moving through disconnected systems, and finance teams constantly struggled with delayed receipts, slow turnaround times, and virtually no real-time visibility into spending patterns.

The absence of a centralized expense tracking system meant that budget forecasting was reactive rather than proactive. Month-end reconciliation became a dreaded multi-week process, with finance analysts manually chasing down receipts and explanations from field teams. Policy violations went undetected until audits, and duplicate payments occasionally slipped through the cracks. Integration gaps between procurement and finance systems created data silos that prevented strategic decision-making.

Supporting a 10,000-person organization with this patchwork of legacy tools and spreadsheet-driven workflows created unnecessary friction at every level. Aerial needed a seamless, cloud-native solution that could not only eliminate manual processes but also scale effortlessly with their rapid operational expansion and evolving compliance requirements.

The solution

After evaluating multiple providers, Aerial Telecom Solutions chose Tera’s UPI-based spend platform, powered by a mobile app that enables employees to scan and pay instantly—similar to GPay or PhonePe—but designed specifically for business controls.

The solution includes:

• Built-in spend limits
• Approval workflows
• Automated logs
• Real-time visibility for Administration and Finance teams

"We received a recommendation for Tera from our current bank partner, Axis, and got great feedback," said Mr. Parveen Kumar, Senior Manager – Finance at ATS.
"With Tera's robust technology and intuitive design, it became clear that we were partnering with the right team."

Every payment syncs automatically to the Tera dashboard, eliminating manual follow-ups for receipts, reducing cash handling, and consolidating all expenses into a single platform. Department heads can track by project, employee, or vendor, ensuring complete financial governance.

Measurable impact after implementation

• 88% drop in out-of-pocket employee spending
• Near-zero leakage, thanks to digital UPI transactions and audit-ready logs
• Audit time reduced from weeks to hours
• Faster decision-making with real-time visibility
• 95% reduction in reconciliation time, freeing finance teams for strategic initiatives

The results

Aerial Telecom moved from a slow, manual reimbursement model to a real-time, compliant, and highly efficient digital spend ecosystem. What once required multiple teams, emails, and follow-ups is now executed instantly through the Tera app.

"Our challenge was creating a system where employees could act independently but with the right guardrails. Tera gave us exactly the framework we needed," said Parveen Chauhan, DGM – Finance.

Finance leaders now enjoy:

• Centralized visibility across all projects
• Stronger vendor and operational spend governance
• Shift from reactive firefighting to proactive planning

The Tera app also enhances employee experience with easy access to budgets, policies, receipt uploads, and reimbursement requests—all in a few taps.

Employee experience

Employees value the scan-and-pay simplicity, removing the stress of using personal funds and waiting for reimbursements. With instant payments, zero paperwork, and transparent tracking, field operations are smoother and faster.

Adoption has been seamless due to the intuitive interface, with real-time notifications and automated expense categorization saving hours of manual work each month.

“Everything happens instantly now — no advances, no chasing, no waiting. We just pay through the Tera app and move ahead with our work.”