C-IN agency saves millions of crowns a year thanks to SmartFP booking system
The event agency Czech-IN, mainly known as C-IN, has been working in SmartFP since 2018. They started with invoice approval functions, gradually added modules for HR and a booking system. Today, thousands of people register for their events through it. Annually, the system saves them 8 jobs and has saved them during lockdown thanks to completely digital processes.
The flow of paper documents was hard to follow, it was time to go digital
Event agency C-IN’ s journey to SmartFP began in 2018 when they solved problems with paper invoices. The document approval process began to lag as invoices were physically circulating around the company. As a result, they were getting lost, getting stuck with different people, or not getting to the accounting department, who had to search for them.
“We recognised that it was time to optimise the process and transfer the invoice circulation to electronic form. When we were looking for a solution, we had discussions about SAP or various CRMs, but found these systems too robust and costly to customize. In the end, we were recommended SmartFP by other companies,” says Tomáš Maxa, Managing Partner at Czech-IN.
C-IN had the following requirements for the solution:
- setting the approval process according to their needs,
- the possibility of setting the roles and responsibilities of different people in the approval process,
- approval deadlines and notifications,
- data export and reporting,
- access from anywhere.
“We already had the module for invoice registration and approval ready in 2018, so we only modified it for C-IN according to their approval workflow. As a result, the finished system was available within 2 months of being contacted, including testing,”says Dalibor Nemec, founder of SmartFP.
The contribution of SmartFP to C-IN in four points:
- Thanks to the Reservation System module, 8 administrative jobs will be saved.
- The Invoice Approval module has accelerated the approval processes several times.
- Employees can also access the system from home or in the field.
- New modules and customizations are ready in the system within 2 months including testing.
SmartFP has accelerated approval processes several times and invoices are no longer lost
C-IN’s requirement was that the invoice approval process should be the same as before, only in an online environment. Previously, the process was that when an invoice came in, the receptionist would place a physical copy of the invoice in the inbox of the manager in question, who would pick it up, approve it and send it on.
Today, invoices are sent to a special e-mail box, where the system retrieves them and moves them to the approval process. Depending on which department the invoice relates to, the system assigns it to the first approver. An email notification alerts the approver to the document for approval. Once the person approves it in the application, the system forwards it to the next employee in the process until it finally reaches the accounting department.
C-IN now handles the circulation of received and issued invoices via SmartFP. The system is connected to the Pohoda accounting system. Thanks to this, for example, they can see in the invoice register in real time whether a document has already been paid.
“We ask our clients about other systems and tools they use in the company. We can link them to SmartFP so that data is transferred automatically and no one has to overwrite it or check that it is still up to date.” adds Lukáš Pavlík, SmartFP project manager.
In the invoice register, people from the finance department can also quickly see who has which invoice. The approval process is faster and digital invoices cannot get lost. In addition, they can find a complete history of document circulation, such as exact times, in the system:
- when the invoice arrived,
- when she got to the project manager,
- when he approved it
- or when accounting got it.
A major and unexpected advantage of the system became apparent in 2020: “When the first lockdown started, we kissed our hands that we introduced the system years ago. We wouldn’t have been able to work with paper invoices in the home office, whereas SmartFP’s online environment has changed virtually nothing for us.” Tomáš Maxa recalls.
SmartFP gradually expanded to include modules for HR and event booking
We like to say that the SmartFP system is a jigsaw puzzle of different applications, from which the client chooses only the ones he needs for his work. And C-IN is proof of that. After the successful implementation of the invoice approval module, they decided to add other modules to the system according to their current needs, namely:
“The addition of the HR module came out of the same need as invoice approval. Previously, we had been recording attendance and all employee records in excel spreadsheets, which was unorganized, difficult to track and increased the administrative burden.” says Tomáš Maxa.
Every time a request came from C-IN to add another module, we had it ready to use within 1 to 2 months, including testing.
Employees record their attendance from anywhere
Thanks to the HR Manager module, C-IN’s HR specialists can deal with the following issues in one place:
- Employee records (for each person, they keep records of wages, type of time, salary growth, etc.),
- recording and approving leave,
- statements of work for clients,
- attendance or OHS agenda.
“Our employees have unlimited home office opportunities, and because we host congresses and conferences, many of them work in the field. So it’s essential that they can manage their attendance and other agendas from anywhere, such as from their mobile phones at a conference. With SmartFP, this works seamlessly. They can register their attendance with a few taps,” says Tomáš Maxa.
In the SmartFP booking system, they plan events for tens of thousands of people
SmartFP’s booking system works as a web application through which participants register for events organised by C-IN, whereby:
- the web interface for registration is integrated into the C-IN website, but they can also place it on the website of the client for whom they are hosting the conference,
- Participants choose extra services such as refreshments in the system,
- the system is connected to a payment gateway, so that participants are immediately redirected to pay as in a classic e-shop.
The main benefit of the booking module is the reduction of the administrative burden for the C-IN. Previously, participant registrations were handled via email, which would now require triple the administrative staff.
“We are organizing ever larger events, currently one for tens of thousands of people. If we took registrations via email, we would need 12 people full time just for this agenda. Our salary costs would go up by millions of crowns a year. Thanks to SmartFP, we manage everything with a team of four people,” says Tomáš Maxa.
The booking system also includes an administrative part, where C-IN keeps track of all registrants. They can easily create reports from it for the client and see all the necessary information for organizing the event, such as current availability or specific food requirements, in one place.
“Each of our clients may have different requirements for a booking. That’s why it’s great that SmartFP is an easily customisable system and in most cases we can adapt it to the client’s needs ourselves. For more specific types of events, we can then contact the SmartFP developers in a timely manner and they can modify the system within a few weeks.” says Tomáš Maxa.
C-IN uses the following solutions in our SmartFP modular system
SmartFP has simplified the operation of the C-IN agency module by module
The SmartFP system has completely changed and streamlined the operation of the C-IN event agency. ,,The company is a typical example of our client. They started with one module, and when they needed to simplify other processes, they got in touch to add new features to the system. In SmartFP, this is no problem. Moreover, once users have mastered one module, they can easily learn to use all the others – because they have the same logic.” Dalibor Němec describes the advantage of the SmartFP modular solution.
In addition to the benefits of the individual modules, C-IN also appreciates the system as a whole. “I like the fact that the system is simple, clear, easy to modify and has only the functions that we will actually use for our work. That’s one of the reasons we didn’t want to go for a more robust ERP system. It would have overwhelmed us with features we wouldn’t have used,” evaluates Tomáš Maxa.
They plan to continue to expand SmartFP with new modules. For example, they are currently considering the Travel Orders module as well as the employee evaluation module.
We believe that SmartFP will simplify processes for you too. Tell us what you do in your company and we’ll figure out how to make it easier for you.