Happy Work now manages its financial reporting without an in-house CFO
“When someone on the management team calls and needs figures, I just go and prompt for the information and bam, I’ve got a really comprehensive report to pass on.”
Happy Work is an Oulu-based growth company whose rewards platform makes it effortless for companies to celebrate and recognise their staff. COO Samu Keränen is responsible for finance too, though he doesn’t see himself as a finance professional. With Qaicu he now handles management team reporting himself. He estimates it saves him around 30 hours a month.
Starting point: reporting took time they didn’t have
Happy Work is growing fast, and for a long time management team reporting was hard for a company of its size. Gathering financial data for the management team and tracking the figures took time. It took financial expertise too, and a startup doesn’t always have enough of that. They tried many different software tools to fix it.
Samu describes himself as AI-native, not a finance person. Routine digging for information isn’t how he works.
“I’m not one of the most pedantic people in the world, the kind who’d bother opening the ledger every morning, clicking through the data and moving it across to Excel. I’m pretty AI-native already, and I expect the same flexibility and speed from software.”
The alternatives were too heavyweight
Happy Work tried several tools before Qaicu. A Croatian solution never got past the trial stage, because it couldn’t take in data from Procountor, the Finnish accounting system. They used a controller and CFO tool and BI tools too. These gave them automation and clear reporting, but they were too heavyweight for everyday work.
“The setup was far too time-consuming and specialised. They were really big projects that, in terms of cost and resources, don’t suit a fast-moving growth company.”
The solution: ask in your own words, get answers straight away
Happy Work tested Qaicu and supplemented it with its own AI tools, and the result fits the way Samu works. You get financial data out by asking, and the answers come at once. When someone needs figures, they’re there within minutes, with no report to wait for.
“It’s made things so much easier and taken the load and the stress off me. I can simply get the financial data out.”
The result: around 30 hours a month back
The time saving is measurable, but Samu points out that direct hours don’t tell the full story.
“In terms of direct time, it saves maybe ten hours a month. But when you factor in the stress, and not having to buy in work from outside experts, there’s a multiplier on top. I’d say for me it’s around 30 hours a month.”
What matters most is what that time is freed up for. Financial figures are a must in Samu’s role, but sales and product development are what drive a growth company forward. The less time goes on chasing figures, the more is left for those.
An honest observation: the benefit comes once you learn to ask
Samu points out that the benefit didn’t show from the very start. AI and prompting skills are still rare in Finnish workplaces, and getting started took a while.
“I struggled for a couple of weeks learning to use the interface and finding the creativity to ask the right things. Then I really started to see the benefit of the software. Once you learn to dig deeper with follow-up questions, you can get the financial data out of it. An absolutely massive help.”
Who Samu recommends Qaicu to
“I’d recommend it to scalable growth companies that don’t have their own CFO yet. Especially those that are clearly scaling their business and building something new. When you get your sales and financial data in one place, you see the benefit straight away.”