Jordan Sabhlok is co-founder and COO of AYP Consulting, an HR and people operations consulting firm. As a services business, labor is both their biggest cost and their primary revenue driver, which made the inability to see true profitability in real time an operational blind spot they couldn't afford to keep ignoring. The following is a testimonial from Jordan about AYP's custom operational cost app built in Rippling.
At AYP Consulting, every new engagement used to come with an uncomfortable question nobody could fully answer: are we actually making money on this? The data existed, somewhere. Across spreadsheets, CRM, CSAT tools, and Rippling — to start. But none of it talked to each other, and pulling it together in real time wasn't realistic. By the time any picture of profitability came together, the deal was already done.
The problem: A business running on spreadsheets and gut feel
As a consulting firm, AYP's operational math is straightforward in theory. Track how the team spends time, compare it to what's being billed, and you know where you stand. In practice, it was anything but.
During the sales cycle, profitability was a guess. Without visibility into labor costs and utilization as they happened, quoting accurately was hard. Forecasting was harder. And when a customer asked a question that required pulling numbers together, the answer wasn't fast. It was manual.
Leadership needed to see resource utilization, margin, and customer satisfaction in one place. Employees needed visibility into their own time and performance. Sales leaders needed a live pipeline. None of that was possible from a single source of truth.
The tools available could each do something useful on their own. But none of them fit AYP's exact business logic, and none of them connected in a way that made the data reliable or current.
“A lot of spreadsheets. A lot of disjointed data sources...every single file kind of had a different blend of it. We also had people-related data stuck in our reporting system. It ultimately became very clunky and not really real-time data.
The solution: A custom data ecosystem that connects everything
Late one night, it became clear just how much was possible inside Rippling. That realization was the starting point.
The result is a custom data ecosystem built on six interconnected custom objects: time tracking, sales records, CRM data, CSAT survey results, performance data, and compensation. Each feeds into the next, creating a live model of the business that updates as work happens.
Step 1: Bring all the data into one place — Pulled third-party CRM and CSAT data into Rippling via API, alongside native employee, time, and payroll data. Rather than exporting and reconciling across systems, everything now lives in Rippling as the single source of truth.
Step 2: Build role-specific views for every persona — Three app personas for time tracking. Three for operations. Employees see their own hours and bonus progress. Managers see utilization by resource. Leadership sees P&L margins, project timelines, CSAT scores, and sales performance — all in one place, all current.
Step 3: Automate the operational details — PTO requests automatically update forecasted availability, so time tracking stays accurate without anyone touching it manually. The system handles the routine stuff so the team can focus on the work that actually requires their attention.
“I like the path that we're going with custom apps...building more and more into Rippling so that it is our data analytics tool. We've been able to pull in different sources of data from third party systems, our CRM data, CSAT data...We're able to answer questions faster. We're no longer just guessing.
The impact: Data-backed scaling
Sales response times and deal closures are now roughly three times faster than before. And with more data being built into the model every week, that number is only expected to improve.
That's what happened when guesswork got replaced with a reliable source. With real-time breakeven calculations and labor cost data available during the sales process, the team can now respond to customer questions the same day. Proposals that once required manually pulling from disconnected tools are now backed by live numbers, which translates directly into faster closes and stronger customer trust.
The impact goes deeper than sales velocity. Compensation decisions are now grounded in actual performance data rather than instinct. Customer satisfaction scores sit alongside utilization and margin figures, so the question of whether AYP is actually delivering value has a real, visible answer at any given moment.
No more profitability blind spot — AYP now knows its breakeven point before signing a deal. Sales cycles are shorter. Proposals are more precise. Customer trust is stronger.
Smarter decisions at every level — From compensation to project resourcing to customer delivery, every decision is backed by data that's current, not data that's two exports old.
A foundation built to grow — The custom object architecture was designed to expand. As AYP takes on more customers and more complexity, the model grows with them.
“Today, we're three times faster in responses or closure of sales. My expectation is in the next six weeks, we'll probably do another three times faster because we'll have more things built out, more data, and more confidence in what we're saying.
Want to explore what a custom solution could look like for your team? Reach out to your account manager to connect with Rippling's FDE team.
Disclaimer
Rippling and its affiliates do not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide or be relied on for tax, accounting, or legal advice. You should consult your own tax, accounting, and legal advisors before engaging in any related activities or transactions.
