Companies often associate SaldeoSMART primarily with accounting. This is understandable, since expense documents, invoices, account assignments, importing data into the accounting system, and working with accounting data are a very important part of the entire process. But this system should be viewed more broadly—as a platform that can streamline work and also lighten the load for subject-matter experts, expense approvers, department managers, budget owners, and senior management.
Time at a company rarely disappears in one specific place. More often than not, it gets scattered across repetitive tasks: separate Excel spreadsheets, manually posting documents, searching for invoice information, asking the accounting department questions, and checking for approvals in emails. Management also wastes time waiting for data until after the month-end close. Individually, these tasks may seem minor. On a company-wide scale, however, they create a real burden that takes away from people’s time for substantive work, analysis, and decision-making, regardless of their role.
When used effectively, SaldeoSMART can free up that time. Not simply by “having the system,” but by making proper use of automation, AI, tasks, budgets, document classification, consistent data, and synchronization with the accounting system. The greatest value is realized when a document isn’t just stored in the system, but begins to provide the information needed by various people within the company.
SaldeoSMART should not be closed in accounting
Accounting is, of course, one of the most important users of SaldeoSMART. It relies on accurate data, descriptions, ledgers, journal entries, information about business partners, and the ability to forward documents to the financial and accounting system. But an expense document isn’t just a matter for accounting. Before it reaches the accounting department, it usually pertains to a specific department, project, order, budget, contract, delivery, or business decision.
If a company uses the system only at the end of the process, it still wastes time earlier on. A subject matter expert describes the document via email, a manager approves the expense outside the system, someone prepares an additional summary, and the accounting department later puts it all together. In this model, SaldeoSMART is present, but it doesn’t relieve the company of work as much as it could.
A well-implemented system should integrate different perspectives. A subject-matter expert sees and describes precisely those documents that pertain to their area. The approver receives specific information. The accounting department works with better-prepared data. Management can view costs, statuses, and budget utilization in advance. Everyone has access to the information needed for their role, rather than just a random part of the process.
Excel should be used for analysis, not to save the process
Excel is a great tool, but in many companies it’s starting to serve as a workaround for the process. The team compiles cost reports manually because the documents lack a consistent classification system. The company analyzes budgets in spreadsheets because the data in the system isn’t assigned to specific dimensions, projects, departments, or MPK codes. Management only receives the information once someone has collected, verified, corrected, and sent it.
This doesn’t always mean that the company needs another report. Often, it means that the data should be generated earlier and in a more organized manner. If a document is properly described during the workflow stage—assigned to the correct category, budget, project, or person in charge—subsequent reporting doesn’t have to start with manually organizing the data.
In practice, the difference is enormous. Instead of creating separate reports every month, the company can use the information that is generated as it works with documents. Excel can still be used for analysis, but it doesn’t have to be the place where data is manually re-entered.
The accounting department saves time when it doesn’t have to reconstruct information
One of the most common areas where time is wasted is when the accounting department has to deal with information that should have been generated earlier in the process. The accounting department checks what an invoice is for, who approved the expense, and which project the expense should be allocated to. They look for comments in emails. They answer employees’ questions about the status of a document or a payment, or prepare summary data.
With SaldeoSMART Expert properly configured, many of these tasks are eliminated from daily work. A document goes through a process in which a person familiar with the cost fills in the necessary information, the person in charge approves the expense, and the data is forwarded in a more consistent format. The accounting department still maintains control over the accuracy of the accounting entries, but it no longer has to spend as much time reconstructing the context of the document.
This is especially important when there are a lot of documents or when the accounting department handles multiple companies, departments, or clients. Every manual correction, every question, and every instance of re-entering data may seem minor—until it happens hundreds of times.
AI is helpful when it has good data and a well-defined process
The AI features in SaldeoSMART can significantly reduce manual work. They can assist with document classification, provide data suggestions, speed up data entry, and help with repetitive tasks. However, it’s important to view AI pragmatically, without treating it as a magic solution.
AI works best when it is fed well-structured data. If the system contains arbitrary categories, inconsistent descriptions, disorganized contacts, or fields that users don’t understand, the system’s suggestions won’t be as valuable as they could be. Automation and AI do not replace a well-designed process. They enhance it.
That’s why, when implementing the system, it’s a good idea to first organize your workflow: document types, categories, workflows, roles, tasks, dimensions, budgets, and the data needed by both the accounting department and subject matter experts. Only then can AI begin to help with what really takes time: the repetitive task of describing documents, classifying similar costs, and reducing the need for manual data entry.
The best result isn’t that the system “does everything for people.” The point is that people shouldn’t have to manually perform tasks that the system can reasonably suggest or prepare.
A good implementation involves combining functions in the right way to form a coherent whole
SaldeoSMART offers many capabilities, but simply knowing the features isn’t enough. In practice, the most important thing is understanding how these features interact with one another. AI needs good data. Synchronization with an accounting system requires consistent glossaries and account assignments. Budgets make sense if documents are tagged at the right time. Tasks work well if they reflect actual responsibilities. Reports are useful if the data isn’t random.
That’s why a successful implementation isn’t about launching everything that’s available. It’s about selecting and configuring the elements that align with a specific company’s way of working. The process will look different in an accounting firm, in a group of companies, in a design firm, and in an organization with a complex budget and approval structure.
Implementation experience clearly shows that the greatest savings are realized not when a company “has a system,” but when the system begins to process data in a way that is understandable to users and useful to the organization.
SaldeoSMART automation saves time when used company-wide
The biggest change begins when SaldeoSMART is no longer viewed as a tool exclusively for accounting. An expense document passes through many roles: someone understands its context, someone describes it, someone approves it, someone analyzes the budget, someone makes a decision, and the accounting department processes it in accordance with accounting requirements. If any of these people work outside the system or access the data only after the fact, the company loses much more than just a few minutes per invoice.
When used effectively, SaldeoSMART integrates these steps. It reduces the need for manual journal entries, additional reports, inquiries to the accounting department, waiting for data, searching for information, and tracking approvals outside the system. Automation, AI, tasks, budgets, synchronization, and consistent data then begin to function as a single mechanism that lightens the load on people in their day-to-day work.
Because saving time isn’t just about getting an invoice through the system faster. The real savings come when a company has less manual work, less repetition of the same information, and faster access to data it can use to get things done.
Want to see where SaldeoSMART automation can save you even more time?
We help companies and accounting firms implement SaldeoSMART in a way that truly lightens the workload for employees in their day-to-day tasks.
We analyze processes, organize data, and configure workflows, tasks, budgets, automation, AI, and integrations with accounting systems so that information is available faster, more consistently, and without unnecessary manual work.
Schedule an implementation consultation with Hakon Software. We’ll analyze your company’s document workflow, identify areas where the process is inefficient or lacks transparency, and show you how to integrate accounting, operational, analytical, and supervisory tasks into a single, streamlined process.
Start with a conversation.
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Editor’s Note: This article was prepared by Hakon Software based on the company’s own implementations, case studies, and the team’s experience. AI tools assisted us in organizing the material and editing it, while Hakon Software is responsible for the substance, content verification, and publication.
