“The management was immediately very enthusiastic about this solution,” says Martin Berghoef, Financial Coordinator at Stadsschouwburg Utrecht. “They were quickly convinced of the added value of Elari Cards. And that added value is definitely there.”
Did you know that Stadsschouwburg Utrecht doesn’t just use Elari’s digital invoice processing and contract management? Since June 2024, they’ve also been using smart payment cards for their employees. In this success story, you’ll learn why they chose this solution.
Curious about how Stadsschouwburg Utrecht achieves a maximum turnaround time of 10 days? Read more in this success story about Elari’s invoice processing software.
What Elari Cards bring to Stadsschouwburg Utrecht
Smooth implementation and flexible management
“We’ve been interested in smart employee payment cards since 2020,” says Martin. “The project was put on the back burner for a while, so I’m glad we were finally able to launch the cards in June 2024. Elari Consultant Anna provided excellent guidance during a smooth implementation. Now I manage the setup myself, and there’s plenty of room for customization so it fits our work processes even better. That’s nice. It always takes a little time to get used to a new way of working, but I’m hearing a lot of positive feedback.”
Avoiding advances and expense reports
“Above all, we wanted to get rid of advance payments,” Martin explains. “Employees naturally found that annoying. In any case, we had the goal of redesigning the expense report process. Many of our programming staff buy tickets to inspiration shows so they can improve our program. They then have to submit expense reports for all those tickets. Elari Cards has made that whole process efficient and simple. Expense reports are now the exception.”
How does the Stadsschouwburg handle expenses today?
Martin explains: “Employees who make a lot of purchases for the organization receive their own Elari Card. When they make a purchase, they can immediately take a photo of the receipt. They keep their records neatly updated, which is great. We currently have 13 active payment cards with options for both online and in-store purchases. From here, we’ll explore what works best for the future.”
How is working with Elari Cards going?
Happy faces among staff and budget managers
“Employees enjoy using the payment cards,” says Martin. “I therefore see the cards as a perk of working for us. This new way of working is much more user-friendly than paying out of pocket or asking another department if something can be purchased. The purchasing process is also much faster now. That’s a real relief for employees. Budget managers are also handling the approval process well. It all goes quite smoothly. I mostly see happy faces. Elari Cards are a great addition to the way we work. It’s definitely worth the investment.”
Easy online purchasing
Martin: “We have many productions for which we organize a supporting program, and we make purchases ourselves. All those online purchases are made using Elari Cards. It’s great that each card has a daily limit of 50 euros and that we can adjust this ourselves if needed. For an occasional large purchase, employees send me a message, and I’ve raised the limit within 30 seconds. That’s really convenient and opens up a lot of possibilities.”
“Need to raise a daily limit? I can take care of it within 30 seconds.”
Martin Berghoef, Financial Coordinator at Stadsschouwburg Utrecht
Operating virtually cashless
“It’s also great that, thanks to Elari Cards, we can now operate cashless,” Martin continues. “We made a conscious decision to do this. We want to minimize cash handling both internally and within the theater itself. We’re digitizing as much of the cash available for visitors on-site as possible. There is one cash machine in the theater where employees can withdraw exact change. At the end of the day, everything goes back into the machine. Fortunately, we don’t have little boxes with keys that have to be recounted over and over again.”
Simple application management
“I hardly have to do anything myself,” says Martin. “I just have to monitor the process. Everything is transparent in Elari, and many administrative tasks are automated. We’ve shifted from data entry to performing only verification tasks. Once the budget manager has reviewed the expenses, all I have to do is export the data.”
Want to learn more about what the Stadsschouwburg has achieved with Elari? Read more in this invoice processing success story.
Could Elari Cards lighten your organization’s workload?
Discover Elari Expense: a combination of smart debit cards and expense reporting software. Of course, just like at Stadsschouwburg Utrecht, this integrates seamlessly with Elari Purchase to Pay: procurement, invoice processing, and contract management software. Curious about what it’s like to manage all your expense flows in a single system? Request a no-obligation online demo and let’s talk.
