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According to the peer-to-peer review site G2, we are the expense management platform with the highest ROI on the German market. On average, finance departments are 5x more productive with our software solution. In this blog post, we show what that can mean in practice using our own finance and HR departments as examples.
What our software solution promises
Before we take a detailed look at how we use Circula internally, let's revisit our product promise: Primary business processes such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or Human Capital Management (HCM) have been largely digitized for years. However, this does not apply to accounting and payroll processes that involve employees.
According to the Expense Management Survey 2023 by Center , about a third (32%) of the companies surveyed – and 38% of the large enterprises surveyed – still manage their expenses using a combination of Excel spreadsheets and manual procedures. The result of this bureaucracy is a massive waste of time and demotivation.
This is exactly where our software solution comes in: Our co-founders Nikolai Skatchkov (CEO of Circula) and Roman Leicht (CTO) founded Circula with the goal of reducing bureaucracy and supporting employees in doing their best work. To this end, we develop intuitive and user-friendly tools that simplify financial processes and help companies work more efficiently.
How we use our expense management platform internally
For this blog post, I spoke with various Circulators, including our Finance Lead Paul Seifert, our VP People & Culture Karen Lindner and our Partner Relations Manager Dominik Wendland. They explained to me how they use our software solution in their departments and the benefits they gain from it.
The leading platform for expense management
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How our travelers benefit from automated travel expense reporting with Circula
For colleagues like our Partner Relations Manager Dominik Wendland, who travel frequently, transparency in expenses is not just a matter of convenience, but also of security and efficiency. Dominik explains: “Circula is with me practically all day, from booking to reimbursement, and makes my travel expense reporting stress-free.”
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Can you walk us through a typical day in your team and explain how Circula is integrated into your daily work and which time-saving features are most important to you?
“Sure! A classic example is booking and handling business trips. When a business trip is planned, we book the hotel and train directly via the browser and immediately save the booking confirmations in Circula. In the evening on the couch, I can easily retrieve the invoices and upload them into the system. It’s super quick and easy.”
Are there any other features you would like to highlight?
“For example, we often use FreeNow for trips to our Circula partners, which we can then easily share into the Circula app – all with one click. Invoices can be uploaded and saved directly in the app. Our credit cards make the whole thing even easier, as expenses are automatically linked and directly traceable for the finance team. This saves us from having to ask whether an expense is reimbursable, and everything is handled in an audit-proof manner.”
How does our software solution affect the productivity of the Partnerships team, particularly regarding manual tasks and the error rate in travel expense reporting?
“Circula helps us enormously, especially in reducing manual tasks. Many companies still have to collect receipts and manually transfer them into Excel spreadsheets later. This process is, of course, extremely tedious and prone to errors. For us, the Circula appWe can capture receipts in real time using our smartphones and assign them automatically. This saves us an incredible amount of time and effort while reducing our error rate.”
How our finance department works much more strategically with Circula
For our Finance Lead Paul Seifert, Circula is an essential building block of our financial strategy: “We’ve essentially built our department around the product,” says Paul. It starts first thing in the morning: as soon as our employees incur an expense, it is automatically captured in Circula and, once approved by the respective manager, forwarded to the finance team: “This way, we only process what has already been approved,” Paul explains.
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Can you walk us through a day in the finance department and explain how Circula is integrated into your workflow?
“Every day, there are new expenses that are automatically captured in the background and sent to the respective managers for approval. Our team only reviews what has already been approved by the manager and then completes the process through to accounting and reimbursement. Features like automatic receipt matching and the accounting interface save us a huge amount of time. Another example is Circula credit cards: recurring expenses like software costs run through the system smoothly and efficiently.”
How does Circula impact your team’s productivity?
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“An important example here is the error rate. Receipts are almost always submitted completely and correctly, and if everything is in order, we can approve expenses promptly without any issues. Our error rate is near zero, which significantly simplifies and accelerates the process.”
How does Circula integrate with your existing financial tools?
“Very well. Circula has a direct interface to DATEV, which makes data transfer fast and easy. Expenses and credit card transactions flow directly into the accounting system, and for benefits, there is a special export for the payroll module. This makes our lives easier and reduces the effort required for manual entry.”
What feedback do you get from your team members about our software solution?
“The feedback is consistently positive, especially from new employees. I think that’s also because the barrier to using Circula is very low—many find their way around without any problems after just one day. The ease of use and the intuitive user interface are particularly well-received.”
What role do you think Circula plays in your long-term financial strategy?
“Currently, we mainly use Circula to analyze past transactions, but our software solution has great potential for the future. Circula is becoming increasingly valuable for budget and financial planning, for example in accrual-based budget planning and forecasting. I see a lot of potential for it to provide helpful insights for the planning level in the future.”
How our HR department uses Circula to develop its benefits strategy
For our HR department, it is crucial to manage benefits clearly and effectively while making them attractive to talent. Our VP People & Culture, Karen Lindner, has therefore been using our software solution internally from the very beginning. This allows us to offer our employees benefits that fit their lifestyles and preferences well. We currently offer our Circulators:
- Over 100 EUR monthly meal allowance
- Mobility budget
- Urban Sports Club membership
- Internet allowance
- Referral bonuses
- 1,500 EUR learning and development budget
- Remote work
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What steps is your team taking to ensure a high adoption rate of Circula among all employees?
"We focus on involving all employees from the very beginning, for example by presenting it as part of the onboarding process and giving brief explanations during team lunches. This helps the tool quickly become part of their routine. Our internet allowance is particularly interesting for many newcomers, for instance. This feedback helps us identify which benefits are in high demand."
Can you walk us through a day in the HR department and explain how Circula is integrated into your tasks?
"We welcome our new hires once or twice a month. During these times, we set up new accounts for these employees in the Circula app and can provide them with access credentials and benefits within just a few minutes. The Circula dashboard is also an important tool for us to gather information for our quarterly meetings. This allows us to measure the usage rate of our benefits, which is currently around 96% (as of November 2024). We also communicate regularly with the finance team. For us, budget planning and the optimization of net salaries is a cross-departmental task."
How does Circula influence your team's productivity?
"Circula simplifies our work tremendously. Most tasks, such as creating and removing accounts or assigning benefits, take only a few minutes with our software solution. For payroll preparation, for example, we log in once a month, download the benefits report file, and forward it to our external payroll provider."
What has been the internal feedback from our employees who use Circula benefits, and are there any specific features they find particularly useful?
"The feedback is consistently very positive. Our Circulators especially appreciate the simplicity and the added value that our tool provides, such as the Meal allowance, which is very well received. New hires coming from other companies are often surprised by how intuitive and straightforward Circula is. In our employee surveys, we regularly receive praise for the benefits offered."
What role do you think Circula will play in supporting our long-term HR strategy?
"The dashboard already provides us with key insights that we use for our strategic planning. By regularly analyzing the data, we can identify trends and develop our benefits in line with actual needs. With these insights, our HR team can engage in strategic discussions with the leadership team and make informed decisions regarding employee retention and satisfaction."
What advice would you give to HR professionals considering a benefits management tool?
"I would recommend first getting clear on the goals of your benefits strategy and taking the company context into account. It’s best to start with the benefits that reach the most employees and provide the most value, such as mobility budgets or meal allowances. It is important to communicate the benefits clearly and motivate employees to use them—whether during onboarding, on the intranet, or through regular updates. Circula makes this process truly simple and efficient."
