Sofidel

Introduction

When your finance team is responsible for overseeing how 7,000 employees spend for work, manual processes and inefficiencies can get in the way of strategic priorities.

That was the challenge for The Sofidel Group, a global leader in tissue paper production (you may recognise its brands, like Regina, from your local supermarket). Headquartered in Porcari, Italy, Sofidel operates across 17 countries in Europe and the United States, producing over 1.4 million tonnes of paper annually.

However, with a workforce spread across multiple locations, managing employee expenses was time-consuming and bureaucratic. Then, the company discovered Soldo. What started as a trial for tracking fuel payments quickly evolved into a broader solution for streamlining travel and expense (T&E) management. By automating processes and reducing administrative overhead, Sofidel freed up valuable time for its finance team to focus on strategic decision-making.

We spoke to Stefano Santoni, Senior Finance Process Controller, and Franco Baccelli, Country Finance Manager, about how they had transformed company spending at Sofidel using Soldo.

The challenge

Stefano and Franco had a major challenge to address: how could they make requesting funds, purchasing, and reporting expenses easier without disrupting how the accounting side already worked?

First, they examined Sofidel’s existing T&E process. The company used two solutions to enable employees to travel: petty cash and reimbursements.

The manager would receive fund requests. Then, employees would collect the cash they needed from the manager, in-person, and subsequently report each transaction as an expense. The other alternative was reimbursements, which required employees to spend their own money and complete an expense report at the end of the trip, before recuperating the money.

Both solutions were slow and inflexible. Urgent expenses were not included in the process, causing complications and delays. Additionally, manual reporting cost the company valuable time and resources. Sofidel needed a solution that would empower employees to spend what they needed to while giving the company’s finance teams visibility and control over spending.

The need

Sofidel needed to:

• Simplify the fund requesting process
• Phase manual expense claims out
• Stop uncontrolled expenses in its tracks
• Report expenses accurately

The solution

Sofidel worked with Soldo’s professional services team to:

• Set up pre-programmed payment cards that could help employees request funds, stay within budget limits, and see spending in real time.
• Establish clear spending limits with room for flexibility through auto top-ups that would prevent exceeding limits or stopping productivity.
• Create driver or vehicle cards for nomadic employees who travel more consistently for work.

The impact

Sofidel’s finance team now spends more time creating value and less time responding to potential financial setbacks. The business continues to grow and expand into new markets, while significantly reducing hours spent on manual admin.

Employees save as much as 20 minutes per expense claim and there is no longer a risk of moving cash to and from various locations.

“It used to be a constant coming and going to get and return cash, which thanks to Soldo is now over.” Stefano Santoni, Senior Finance Process Controller

Real-time data has also allowed the finance department to focus more intently on planning and strategic activities. Reporting has also become more accurate. Pairing Soldo with Sofidel’s exisiting account management systems has made insights more granular and specific.

An unexpected outcome of using Soldo? More control over decentralised expenses has improved – not detracted from – staff satisfaction because travelling for work no longer comes with the personal commitment of paying for company-related expenses.

The results of using Soldo have encouraged Sofidel to extend their implementation of the spend management tools. Stefano and Franco hope to introduce Soldo to their marketing department to help the team manage cross-border supplier payments.