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Q&A: SOLDO
Q&A: SOLDO T
his month, in the latest in our series
of in-depth features looking at suppliers to the education sector, we are delighted to find out more about spend management platform Soldo from Natasha Gabriel, UK Regional Marketing Manager.
Tell us about Soldo Soldo is the flexible spend management platform. Over 30,000 finance teams use Soldo to improve how they manage company and employee spending. Our platform comes with a combination of
smart company cards, a mobile app for employees, and a web app for managers. You choose the amount that each card carries, your team uses them, and we take care of the rest. We automate the spending process from end to end, right up to accounting. Crucially, we work with companies of all sizes
and shapes. You can mould Soldo to your organisation structure, organise spending by different wallets, and assign responsibilities which mimic your hierarchy. You can also have cards for specific projects, with customised rules. Smaller businesses might benefit more from
saving time at the end of the month and a hand in curbing spend. Larger businesses will put our automated insights to good use. We adapt to each business according to their specific needs, including growth. It doesn’t matter how many people you hire or how many projects you have – you can organise your spending around this with Soldo.
How does Soldo help educational institutions save time and money? Soldo's flexibility as a spend management platform is ideal for the education sector. It offers a full view of all spending going on – such as classroom supplies, staff training, and building maintenance – all in one place. You can see where every pound goes, set your own spending rules, and save money as a result. In a recent survey, we found that over 84% of
employees are making work purchases at least a few times a month. And they use different methods, which makes tracking spend very challenging. On top of this,
over half said they relied on credit cards or out-of- pocket payments and reimbursements. This can lead to
unbudgeted purchases and departmental overspending, as costs are only realised at month- end. Our platform gives schools and universities a
real-time, accurate view of spending. It's easy to create separate budgets for each employee, faculty, function, department or institution. This helps them forecast, make spending decisions, and spot unnecessary or repeated purchases. For instance, facilities and school trips get a separate card, and you track what each one spends (and what's left on them). And it’s much easier for the people actual
making those payments. With the Soldo app, staff can capture receipts on their mobile and add spend data, on the go. Expenses are automatically assigned to the right budgets, and you can sync Soldo with your accounting software. Reconciliation happens in minutes – not days. This makes people happier, since no one likes to chase receipts or fill out lengthy forms. It can be set up that visiting teachers or
lecturers can have their own card. They don't have to pay out of pocket and wait for a reimbursement or collect cash every week to cover their costs. You stay in control by setting limits and location-, category-, or time-based restrictions. And when they leave, you assign the card to someone else, or disable it. Soldo frees teams and individuals of finance
chores, whilst empowering them. Finance teams don’t have to waste days each month reconciling predicted and actual spend. And seeing costs by category and time span give them clear, accurate insight – as well as better guidance for future spending and business decisions.
What are the main challenges for educational institutions when it comes to spend control? The effect of rising prices: Non-staffing costs have gone up 68% since 2002, and are set to soar even higher with inflation. Full spend visibility gives schools and institutions a chance to make the most of their budget whilst keeping it under control. Demand for transparency: Governing bodies,
regulators and parents want to know how institutions’ funds are being used. For the Higher Education sector in particular, a drastic rise in fees has also made students more interested in this. Keeping an accurate, detailed account of all spending is a step towards transparency. And this isn't possible with a manual process. Staff overspending: Many institutions have
different funding sources and use several spending methods. Over half rely on corporate credit cards or reimbursements, which are challenging to keep tabs on. And when you think about the number of departments and employees spending institution funds, staying on budget is ever harder.
Can you give us an example of how a UK educational institution has used Soldo? Plymouth College of Art (PCA) is an independent Higher Education provider specialising in the fields of art, design, and media. We spoke to their
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www.education-today.co.uk
How secure is the Soldo platform? We use a 'security by design' approach. This means we follow international standards and best practices for security. Security is crucial to us and a big part of our offer. Soldo is regulated by the Financial Conduct
Authority, the Central Bank of Ireland and the European Banking Authority. We are also a MasterCard principal member, so card issuing doesn't involve a third party. We know what it's like to be audited under the
most rigorous standards, time and time again. It's why we are compliant with PCI DSS Level 1, ISO/IEC 27001, and ISO 9001. Our quality management system also complies with international standards. Across our platform, we ensure security is a
priority. We use Advanced 3D Secure (3DS) and enhanced fraud protection. We also include Secure Customer Authentication for multi-factor authentication on online payments, to make them safer. On a practical level, our advanced controls and
card rules allow you to define who spends what and where. If a card gets lost or stolen, you can disable them instantly. And no one has to pass around card details again, putting your main account at risk.
usoldo.com/education September 2022
Finance Director about the pain of managing over 70 corporate credit cards, and he told us how he implemented smoother spend processes with Soldo. Managing PCA’s spending through Soldo saves
their team a huge amount of admin work, without needing to chase staff for missing spend data. And because the platform has made it so much easier to manage different budgets, they now have around 100 individual, prepaid cards using our system. Knowing where their funds are being spent
and being able to stay in control has given PCA’s finance team peace of mind, and more time on valuable tasks. “To survive as a college, we can’t have people-
heavy processes. We have to be lean and mean, we have to be efficient. We have to be innovative” Mark Taylor, Director of Finance, Plymouth College of Art For more information please see:
soldo.com/plymouth-college-of-art/
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