CLIENTS

How Smartec Automated Finance and Project Management with Zoho Books Professional

OVERVIEW

Smartec, a global leader in IT Life Services, replaced outdated manual processes with a fully digital, automated system using Zoho Books Professional. With the expertise of Febno Technologies, Smartec moved from Excel sheets to a centralized platform for finance and project management.

The solution introduced custom fields, customized templates, and an innovative workforce tracking method that enabled Smartec to manage one of its biggest challenges — accurately costing external daily wage labourers. By digitizing operations, Smartec gained efficiency, real-time profitability insights, and compliance readiness while laying a scalable foundation for global growth.

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Project Overview:

Key Takeaways

  • Complete migration from offline spreadsheets to Zoho Books Professional.
  • Multiple users with role-based access rights, enabling secure collaboration.
  • Custom fields and templates built to match Smartec’s internal workflows.
  • Innovative workaround tracked external labourers accurately within plan constraints.
  • Financial reports and project profitability analysis delivered instant visibility into costs and margins.
  • Transparent, audit-ready records designed to support Smartec’s global growth.

Executive Summary

Headquartered in Dubai, Smartec provides automation, networking, security, and IoT solutions that help enterprises operate smarter, greener, and safer. While the company delivers advanced technologies to clients, its own internal operations were run entirely on Excel — slowing down projects, hiding true labour costs, and creating compliance risks.

Partnering with Febno Technologies, Smartec implemented Zoho Books Professional to digitize and streamline operations. Customized workflows and project templates ensured a perfect fit, while a task-based innovation allowed Smartec to track external daily wage labourers and their costs within the Professional plan.

The result was a complete transformation: efficient processes, accurate project costing, real-time reporting, and a scalable system for global growth.

Problem Statement and Key Challenges

Despite being an innovation-driven company, Smartec’s internal processes revealed significant gaps:

  • Manual operations: Finance, project costing, vendor management, and expenses were all recorded in Excel sheets. Duplication, errors, and delays were routine.
  • Workforce costing issues: Smartec relies on external daily wage labourers for many projects. Labour records were tracked manually, making it difficult to:
    • Allocate labour costs accurately to projects.
    • Track profitability of each project.
    • Identify if a worker had been rehired on another project.
  • Limited visibility: Project and financial reports were not available in real time, slowing down strategic decisions.
  • Scalability concerns: As Smartec expanded its service portfolio and client base, Excel-based processes became unsustainable.
  • Compliance risks: Manual records left gaps in audit readiness, raising risks for a global IT leader.

Evaluation of the Problem

Febno Technologies carried out a detailed analysis of Smartec’s existing processes. The evaluation focused on:

  • Identifying bottlenecks in Excel-based workflows across finance and projects.
  • Understanding the critical requirement to track daily wage labourers per project — including costs, working hours, and re-engagement history.
  • Mapping audit and compliance gaps caused by manual entries.
  • Reviewing Zoho Books Professional’s capabilities against Smartec’s requirements, identifying where custom fields, templates, and workarounds could bridge the gaps.

This assessment confirmed that Zoho Books Professional could not only digitize operations but also be adapted to manage Smartec’s unique workforce tracking needs within the constraints of the plan.

Proposed Solution

Febno Technologies, designed and implemented a tailored solution using Zoho Books Professional to digitize Smartec’s operations and eliminate reliance on Excel.

  • Online migration: All financial and operational workflows moved from offline Excel to Zoho Books Professional’s centralized online system.
  • Role-based access: Multiple users were set up with specific access rights, ensuring secure collaboration across finance, project management, and leadership teams.
  • Custom fields and templates: Project fields and report templates were designed to mirror Smartec’s internal processes.
  • Workforce tracking workaround: Each external labourer was represented as a task within projects. Their working hours and daily wages were recorded directly, and rehiring across projects became instantly visible.
  • Financial and project profitability reports: Automated reports delivered accurate financial statements and project-level profitability analysis, giving management real-time insight into costs, margins, and performance.
  • Finance automation: Vendor payments, expense tracking, and reconciliations were streamlined.
  • Audit readiness: Customized reports ensured transparent, compliant records.

Implementation

The rollout was completed in a phased approach to ensure minimal disruption:

  • Duration: Within 3 days, Smartec shifted entirely from manual Excel to Zoho Books Professional.
  • Bottlenecks: Workforce tracking within the Professional plan was the key challenge. Febno solved this with the task-based innovation, turning a limitation into a success story.
  • Customization: Every project template was customized to match Smartec’s reporting and execution style. This allowed project managers to adopt the system quickly without relearning their workflows.
  • Training: Smartec’s accounting and project teams were trained to use Zoho Books efficiently, ensuring smooth adoption.

Results

The implementation of Zoho Books Professional revolutionized Smartec’s operations by replacing outdated manual processes with a streamlined, digital system.

  • 100% digital transformation: Manual Excel-based finance and project management replaced with automated workflows.
  • Accurate workforce costing: External labour hours and wages directly tied to projects, eliminating hidden costs.
  • Profitability at a glance: Real-time dashboards empower management to make fast, data-driven decisions.
  • Efficiency unlocked: Automation reduced repetitive manual tasks, freeing teams to focus on strategy.
  • Compliance confidence: Transparent, audit-ready records safeguard Smartec’s global operations.
  • Future-ready foundation: Flexible system built to scale with Smartec’s services and client base.

With the expertise of Febno Technologies and the power of Zoho Books Professional, Smartec successfully modernized its entire financial and project management framework—shifting from manual spreadsheets to a smarter, automated, and scalable system that drives efficiency, profitability, and growth.