Which fintechs would Santa use?
It’s that time of year again—a time of peace and joy, of indulgence and regret, a time when content editors everywhere roll out the most inane articles of the year. We are no different.
In the spirit of the holidays, we wanted to imagine a world where Santa embraced digital transformation. Which fintechs would Santa use to make Christmas Eve a little easier? Here’s what we think – from salary to fleet management, plus a few things in between. Let us know what we’ve forgotten by sharing on social media, and have a wonderful Christmas.
1. A fuel card for the sled
In just one night, Santa Claus and his faithful reindeer will travel more than 40 million miles, delivering gifts to the world’s boys and girls – well, the ones who have been nice. With an average distance of 200 meters between neighboring households, his cavalcade of nine little helpers must travel at 5-6 million miles an hour to get the job done in time for Christmas morning! That’s a bit of a workload for just 36 little legs.
But at least on the ground, wild reindeer only tend to travel between 30 and 40 miles per day, which means Rudolph and his crew will need some help. As far as we know, Santa hasn’t gone electric yet (range anxiety would be terrible if you were to cross the Pacific), so Santa will need some kind of fuel card to fill up his sleigh periodically. Assuming Santa’s sleigh has similar fuel economy to a Nissan Qashqai (and why wouldn’t we?), then he must make over 74,000 stops during the night.
Related reading: Find out how AtoB is replacing ‘prohibitively expensive’ fleet cards
2. Fleet management software
With such large distances to cover, it is important for Mr. Claus to have the right fleet management software in place. As we all know, Santa keeps all his sleighs at the North Pole, carefully tended by a team of loyal elves. So if something goes wrong in mid-flight, he can barely duck back for some impromptu maintenance.
Fleet management platforms will be able to calculate the most efficient route for Santa and his reindeer to take – and when you have a billion presents to deliver, every second counts! Most fleet management software will also be able to provide useful analytics, identify areas for fuel efficiency improvements and detect potential problems before they occur.
Related reading: Discover how telematics helps to improve insurance
3. Salary solution for the gnomes
There are almost 2.4 billion children in the world, according to Unicef. If we say that exactly half of these children have been nice, not naughty, then Santa’s workshop has to work overtime throughout the year to get every present ready in time for Christmas. In fact – assuming the elves enjoy 40-hour weeks, receive European-style holiday pay and are able to handcraft two toys every hour – Santa would need to employ around 35,000 elves just to get each toy made. time. That puts North Pole Inc. on par with the likes of Colgate, Westpac Banking and carmaker Kia.
When you factor in all the support staff needed for such a large workforce – cleaners, caterers, HR, IT, assembly line engineers and sleigh mechanics – it becomes obvious that Santa will need a pretty comprehensive payroll solution. For the sake of argument, let’s say that the North Pole falls under the jurisdiction of Norwegian labor law, where minimum wages tend to start at the equivalent of €16.50 per hour. Santa’s annual wage bill for the elves alone would be over €1.06 billion.
Related reading: Fintechs may allow elves to advance their wages
4. AR/AP solution for suppliers
So now we know that Santa’s 35,000 elves make 1.2 billion toys every year – more than five times as many as Lego! It’s quite an operation. But the North Pole is a barren landscape with few resources for things like timber or metal screws. So it stands to reason that the gnome’s workshop has to import almost all the materials used to make their toys.
That raises the prospect of an almighty supply chain headache—and we’re not just talking about the logistical challenge of getting bulk shipments to the North Pole. More suppliers means more ERP systems, more deduction codes and different terminologies. Let’s take an example. Santa pays his supplier for a shipment of one million bicycle handlebars, but some are missing or defective on arrival. Both Santa and his supplier have the correct deduction in their ERP system, but it may be called different things or have different deduction codes. Santa needs a robust and reliable solution that can help him, and his suppliers, reconcile accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP).
Related reading: See how Global PayEX automates AR and AP
5. A sled load with insurance!
The last thing Santa needs is insurance – and lots of it! In fact, the man himself has so many and complex requirements that we think it is better to go with an insurance broker. In fact, many insurance companies would balk at the thought of an old, unfit man jumping down chimneys in the dark.
But it’s not just personal injuries the Santa needs to be insured for. He would need car insurance for his sleigh, health insurance for his elves, pet insurance for the reindeer, building insurance for the toy factory, and maybe even professional liability insurance. After all, he’s likely to knock over a few things as he fumbles around people’s homes. Fortunately for a man with such extensive insurance requirements, the evolution of the insurtech space has made it easier and more convenient than ever for him to find insurance – or, as we suggested earlier, he could go with an insurance broker.
Related reading: Santa was able to streamline insurance by integrating with Cover Whale
