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About the client
SDA is a service company specializing primarily in development for SaaS products and marketplaces. It has offices in Ukraine and Tallinn and has been working with clients from more than 20 countries since 2019.
Number of employees: 30
Offices: Ukraine, Tallinn
Period of use: 16 months
What prompted the search for a new solution and what were the needs
There were several problems. First of all, there was a rather large number of different tools (about 10) from which it was necessary to extract, transfer, recalculate and consolidate information on a variety of processes. From project management and HR, to the most painful - finance and salary payments, including bonuses, taxes, sick leave, and more.
Secondly, the issue of maintaining all project information was a major concern. Clients, tasks, ratings, tracking, and everything else. At that time, we kept it all in different Google spreadsheets, each department had its own, and it looked frankly bad. Plus, it was quite time-consuming to bring it all together and calculate the profitability of, for example, an employee or a team.
The third key point is financial analytics. We used a fairly popular service for financial management, which was quite simple and had its advantages. But when it came to the breakdown by project and the formation of various in-depth reports that could be delved into, unfortunately, my eyes were bleeding. And the formation of a normal PNL for each project, EBITDA and everything else was really inconvenient, basic and not as detailed as one would like to see.
What tools were used at the time
In total, we used about a dozen solutions, and from time to time we tried something new, so it's probably impossible to remember all of them at once. But the main ones were:
Excel spreadsheets for project management and financial calculations
Finmap for some financial tasks and report generation
Invoiless for invoicing
Brainy HR for the HR department
TopTal Tracker for time tracking
Jira for project management
Notion as a knowledge base and various information
How the system search process went
It was actually quite difficult. Because we realized that choosing an ERP is a long-term process, there are not many options suitable for our market, and each had its own pitfalls.
At first, we had an idea to switch to Odoo. Because there is omnichannel and we could raise it ourselves, there is some flexibility in customization, and it is on the radar. But I started collecting feedback, met with friends who have Odoo customized for IT companies, and realized that it was almost the same as 1C. It was more like a crutch, not very nice visually, and in general, I didn't really like it.
Then we thought about writing our own system for us, because we are programmers, plus we need to put the bench somewhere, so why not. But after doing the math, I realized that it would be more expensive to do this, plus it would be a chore to manage the process, support it, and change the people in charge. Plus, I've already learned from other people's experience and know that most companies try to do something of their own, most of them fail, and others eventually just grab their heads because support constantly requires resources and it becomes even harder to move somewhere else.
So I decided to ask my friends and in the chats of the business communities I belong to, and someone suggested that there is such a tool as ITFin. I looked at it, it looked interesting, so I arranged a meeting with you, then took demo access, figured it out, and decided to move to you.
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How the integration went
The integration was not entirely straightforward, and the entire process took us about 4-5 months. After all, we immediately decided to transfer all the data for the last 3 years from all previous systems. Tracking, clients, employees, candidates, salaries, payment histories, and all financial data. Because I realized that if we are choosing an ERP, we need to collect all possible information in it and see the whole history. That's why there were many moments when there were some reporting gaps, so some work was done to collect and bring all the information in order. Plus, we did certain processes in our own way, and we had to adapt them to your standards. Not that it was difficult, but it took some resources. I am grateful to the support team for the templates and instructions, and for their prompt involvement and assistance, which speeded up the process.
What results did you get after switching to ITFin?
Payroll.
What I like the most and what immediately paid for the system is the calculation of payrolls. Because for us, paying salaries was just a huge pain. We had to collect data, upload all the hours, then upload the flights for each project, take into account bonuses, bring it all together and calculate. In addition, not all the information was complete at the time, and we constantly had to check with managers, reconcile, and so on. That is, it was most inconvenient that all this was done by hand, and I know for sure that a large number of companies do the same. Now all the information on people, flights, projects, clients is already collected in one place, it is fully loaded when I need it, and the email itself is done in 4 clicks.
Invoices
Invoices in ITFin are a blast. Before that, we had to upload hours from Toptall, then go to Invoiless and create 2 accounts there to be able to receive payments from both the individual entrepreneur and our Estonian company. And it was not very convenient. Now we already have all the tracking and ratings in the system, plus the FOPs, the company, and cash accounts at the same time, so we can quickly generate an invoice. And the fact that you can add or subtract hours when creating an invoice is a very useful feature.
Reconciliation of salary and sick leave
Now all employees have the opportunity to see information about their accruals and understand exactly how much they have worked, how much they should receive, how much they received last time, and so on. And if they have any questions, they can ask them before the payments are made. We also set up automatic notifications, so they receive notifications with a breakdown of the accrued amount after each payment. This removes a certain amount of chaos, questions, and adds clarity and understanding. I also like that sick leave and vacation requests are made in the system, saved, and pulled up in the payroll, and it doesn't need to be calculated manually. Before that, people didn't understand how many days they had already spent, how many days they had left, and how it would affect their salary. And a nice thing with the calendar, where everyone can see when birthdays and holidays are coming up, when the company has working days and when it doesn't.
Roles and access to data
Now it has become easier for me and the entire management to manage the information that people should and can see by certain roles. First of all, it is convenient, of course, with financial information, and I personally feel more comfortable when I can give access to it myself. Someone can just see it, someone can edit it, someone can make suggestions, and someone can't see it at all. Also, for example, we can write a certain product description, and I understand which people will see that description at a certain stage and which will not. And it's also convenient that I, as a manager, can log in under each person and see how they see certain information, and change it if necessary.
Onboarding
Onboarding has become easier, and the process itself has become clearer, more structured, and faster. We have created boards with onboarding stages, checklists, and a knowledge base, so all information about this process is now stored in one place, which is convenient. Before that, we kept something in Notion, something on Google drive, something in Excel, which created some chaos. It's also convenient that for each checklist or stage, you can appoint responsible persons, both from management and employees, assign certain actions, and you can track the entire process, who is at what stages, and who has done what work on onboarding.
To summarize, we are satisfied with the solution. Of course, there are no perfect systems and everywhere has its own specifics and peculiarities, but we have closed a lot of painful and resource-consuming issues for ourselves, primarily in finance, project management and HR. We also added systematicity and clarity to the company as a whole. So I can safely advise others to try it for themselves.
Oleksandr Shubin. CEO OF SDA