As Northflank grew from a UK startup to a global team of 30 across nine countries, cracks in its HR tech stack became impossible to ignore. 

"We were using Deel for EOR, a different payroll provider for the UK, another provider for a different country, plus a separate tool for expenses, it was all pretty messy," COO Chase Roberts said. Instead of focusing on revenue and product, he found himself draining time toggling between all the mismatched vendors.

We weren’t all that happy with Deel, it was pretty expensive for the EOR product and it didn't feel like payroll or HRIS was their core competency.

Chase Roberts

COO

The fragmentation created more than just inconvenience. As COO overseeing both go-to-market functions and administrative operations, Chase found himself drowning in operational overhead.

The impact was immediate and tangible:

• Payroll took 60+ minutes per run, and was projected to nearly double as the team scaled
• Costs inflated with Deel’s EOR services
• Operational risk increased with every new country added

Minimising non-revenue-generating overhead became critical to maintaining focus on growth and so consolidation became a necessity.

Northflank left its tangle of fragmented platforms and joined Rippling. As an organisation with EOR employees, contractors, subsidiaries, and headquarters staff across multiple countries, it was a complex set up, however, Rippling's partnership with Northflank transformed the implementation process.

The team provided daily updates, replied to emails at 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., and assigned both an account manager and a technical account manager to guide the rollout.

Chase Roberts

COO

The consolidation delivered exactly what Northflank needed: a unified platform that could handle their complex, multi-country operations while minimising administrative burden.

The product does what you’d expect, it simplifies payroll, HR, people management across different countries and it’s made our lives a lot easier because we have one tool for everything. I can’t overstate that.

Chase Roberts

COO

Beyond the operational benefits, Chase emphasises the people behind Rippling that set it apart: "Every single person I’ve interacted with at Rippling has been exceptional. They’re thoughtful, helpful, and genuinely care about making sure we have a good experience—even though, in the grand scheme of things, we’re not that big of a customer."

Northflank’s story isn’t just about cutting payroll time, it’s about reclaiming leadership focus, simplifying global operations, and building for scale.

• Payroll time cut by 98%: Processing time dropped from over an hour to less than a minute
• One HR system worldwide: Multiple vendors and duplicate processes were replaced with a single, unified platform
• Happier employees: AI-powered expense submission, clearer pay stubs, and intuitive time-off requests improved overall employee satisfaction
• Strategic focus shift: HR administration became largely automated, allowing Chase to redirect time and energy to go-to-market growth