Founded in 1998, Mandala Creative Productions is a photography production company and agency that organises events in Italy and beyond, particularly in the world of fashion, both in Italy and abroad. Alessandra Tatriele, Executive Producer, together with her brother Chicco, has been using Soldo since its launch and has observed a radical improvement in their expense management.
By their very nature, event organisers such as Mandala Creative Productions need an extremely lean and flexible structure that can be adapted as required to the needs of individual projects, especially when the staff involved are a mix of employees and freelancers.
The needs of creative agencies
As in many other creative agencies, employees and external collaborators are usually given the cash they need to carry out their work within a specific project, from purchasing equipment for a shoot to travel expenses travel and entertainment expenses.
“There’s a lot of movement of cash, which comes with the risk of loss or theft, and above all it’s so hard to track”, says Alessandra. “Think about the fashion shows in Paris: from hotels to flights, restaurants to taxis, location rental to 100 metres of cable that suddenly become indispensable to the show’s success. I’ll just let you imagine what that means for creating an expense budget, managing the flow of money remotely and finally the task of accounting. It’s a nightmare!”
What changed with Soldo?
Introducing Soldo’s prepaid cards revolutionised the way that Mandala’s administrative team manages company expenses. Thanks to its intuitive platform linked to a user-friendly smartphone app and web console, you can “comprehensively monitor each outgoing, right down to a simple coffee”.
In fact, for each expense, a real-time notification is sent to the administrative team and the cardholder, who can attach a photo of the receipt or invoice or add specific notes items that will really help the work involved in reporting. What’s more, with Soldo they can transfer money between different wallets at any time free of charge, as well as set spending caps, deactivate the card when the project is finished and reactivate it at the start of the next one.
An approach that has improved relationships with staff
By using prepaid cards, Alessandra can calmly delegate any payment, because staff know they can always count on having the required funds to do their job well. “In the event of an emergency – and in our work an emergency is the norm! – they just need to tell me, and I can transfer money, in real time, from my wallet to theirs”.
Without a system like this, employees are forced to pay upfront from their own pockets, resulting in resentment and inconvenience if the money is not available. But with Soldo, “the final quality of the work has also benefitted: there are no delays, setbacks or hiccups. Everything runs smoothly, every outgoing is tracked and there’s no more stress around losing a receipt, making an expense impossible to account for, or of having to negotiate a payment afterward”.
Soldo, a valuable help even once the job is over
Through its extensive oversight, Soldo helps to keep exemplary order. “My life has become incredibly simplified. I can open a wallet for each new project, give staff the Soldo cards they need and monitor every expense in real time. My accounting has benefited enormously, which translates into saving time and money”.
And of course there’s also the security aspect: “A prepaid card protects us from the risk of spending beyond the funds available, as can happen with a traditional credit card. And this also helps me sleep at night”.
