FABRICAI-TESTIMONIALS: BALANCO ACCOUNTING OY

Balanco Accounting Oy offers accounting and financial management expert services in multiple locations in Finland and Sweden. The company was founded in 2015 and has ever since grown steadily. 

Balanco’s goal is to do things differently by changing the traditional image of an accounting firm. Focusing on customer insights is at the heart of their business. Based on their many years of accounting experience Balanco has noticed how the accounting industry is undergoing a major digital transformation and how the transformation is only accelerating.

Balanco acts as a trustworthy partner for its clients, striving to break the industry’s entrenched practices. They don’t want to design services on the basis of the accounting firm’s own processes, but on the basis of supporting the client’s needs instead. In order to succeed in this as effectively as possible, Balanco wants to be at the forefront of the industry’s digital transformation. 

INCORPORATING AI IN PURCHASE INVOICE PROCESSING

During the spring of 2019, the company decided to become a pilot user of FabricAI’s artificial intelligence-based solution so that they can streamline financial management processes, says Balanco’s CEO Mikko Marttunen. FabricAI’s artificial intelligence handles purchase invoices automatically, freeing up the accountant’s time for other work.

We have a strong vision that in the future, the job description of an accountant will change to a more consultative and value-adding direction. The processes that can be automated must be automated, and in our perspective, the purchase invoicing process is a very clear process that can be easily automated with artificial intelligence, Marttunen states.

The time spent on processing a single purchase invoice drops from minutes to a few seconds with FabricAI’s automated purchase invoice processing. Artificial intelligence works reliably and handles invoicing accurately. According to Marttunen, the benefits are evident, especially when it comes to long purchase invoices.

FabricAI is a good fit for situations when our customers have large purchase invoice masses and those purchase invoices have a lot of lines – typically wholesale invoices, for example. Artificial intelligence frees up the accountant’s time by handling these large invoice masses, making the accounting accuracy even more accurate than that of a human. The risk of human error is reduced from the process.

BUSINESS BENEFITS FOR BOTH THE ACCOUNTING FIRM AND ITS CUSTOMERS

As Balanco focuses on supporting the customer’s business, Marttunen is pleased that artificial intelligence has enabled them to serve the customers better than ever.

The use of time in accounting has become more sensible, allowing the accountants to provide added value to customers now that they have more time to produce comprehensive reporting and evaluate the findings. 

Being more time-efficient also brings noticeable business benefits to the accounting firm.

When we are able to invest more in higher value-added products and services for the customer, the accountant will be able to do not-so-routine work. The customer is certainly willing to pay more for it than for repetitive routine work. 

Balanco wants to stay on the brink of a change when it comes to the evolution of the financial management industry. Naturally, they also want to invest in the skill sets and knowledge of their employees. According to Marttunen, FabricAI has also supported this approach.

With the time saved on purchase invoices, we have improved the skills of our accountants. We have been able to train them so that they can adapt more to this changing role that will be inevitable in the future. After all, it takes more than just me snapping my fingers at my employees and saying, “well, start doing this and that” in order to create real change. First, we need to change people’s mindsets and educate them and give them the tools to succeed.

COMMUNICATION IS KEY WITH FABRICAI’S ACCOUNTING FIRM CLIENTS

Balanco, which once started as a pilot customer, has been ever since satisfied with the purchase invoice automation and the continuous development of the product.

FabricAI’s automation is constantly developed forward. We have expanded the use over the last year, now that the minor development areas have been fixed in the software and it is only getting better all the time. We truly enjoy how the FabricAI team works with such a continuous improvement mindset. Our users are also being listened to for future development suggestions, which has been important to us.

FabricAI strives to focus on customer experience and to always take the customers’ wishes into account as well as possible. According to Marttunen, the provided service has been successful and stress-free.

Customer service has been good all along. Accessibility and listening to our input have been delightful. I feel that we are truly important and valued as customers. It is a good feeling to be a customer at FabricAI.

For Balanco, the deployment of artificial intelligence was painless. Marttunen reminds everyone that in the initial phase, the accounting firm will be required to participate more in order to reap all the benefits. After the beginning, the automation manages processes independently.

I had some doubts but the deployment went better than I had ever expected. Of course, it required us some attention but it was definitely worth it. It’s a delusion to think artificial intelligence is starting to grind and users don’t have to do anything. On the contrary: the more and better we take care of our own role in deployment, the faster we will benefit from the automation. Trust me, it is definitely worth it.

We at FabricAI know that a single artificial intelligence feature isn’t sufficient enough, even as it sounds sufficient to just have a new tech feature added to the process. 

That is why we have focused on creating an all-in-one solution for purchase invoice processing, that takes care of the entire process, by combining AI, our customer support, and a highly skilled team to support our customers. 

Automation helps streamline accounting processes and support businesses in ways that haven’t been possible before. We make sure you get the most out of your accounting processes. 

Contact us and we’ll show you how FabricAI can suit your company.