How Creative CFO scaled smarter with Dext’s bookkeeping platform
Helping a tech-forward South African firm streamline bookkeeping, deliver better client service, and support professional growth.
Creative CFO is a South African-based financial consultancy that blends technology with accounting to deliver scalable, insight-driven services to its clients. A few years ago, the team realised that their invoice and document capture, as well as data extraction, processes were inefficient, error-prone, and failing to keep pace with their ambition for automation. They needed a solution that integrated with their accounting software, empowered their staff, and helped them offer a more efficient, tech-enabled service to clients.
Enter Dext.
Since implementing Dext, Creative CFO has experienced several benefits, including improved processes and productivity across the firm. Here are a few key takeaways:
- A significant reduction in manual data processing
- Improved team morale and job satisfaction
- Seamless integration with Xero and better client onboarding
- A tangible competitive advantage in the South African accounting space
About Creative CFO
Creative CFO provides financial management and consulting services to growing businesses. With a team of financial experts and software specialists, they focus on streamlining financial workflows and helping clients grow through powerful, modern tools.
Interviewees:
Mark Troy – Business Analyst, BCom (Hons) Management Accounting
Locia Kruger – CIMA Associate, BCom (Hons) Management Accounting
The Challenge: Inefficiency and low adoption with previous tools
Before Dext, Creative CFO used Hubdoc, a data capture tool that integrates with Xero. While the tool was seen as a ready-made fit, the team found it unreliable, unintuitive, and frustrating, particularly when rolled out to clients.
“Clients didn’t engage with it properly, and it didn’t suit low-tech users. There was no real confidence in its automation.” — Mark Troy, Business Analyst
Manual invoice processing, inconsistent data, and difficulty extracting meaningful insights were stalling the team’s efficiency. It was time to look for an alternative.
The Solution: A seamless, scalable workflow with Dext
Mark was involved in the early rollout of Dext at Creative CFO. It soon became clear that Dext was a far more intuitive solution both for internal use and with clients. And, as the team began to use the product more, they soon discovered additional benefits.
“Once we pulled the trigger on Dext, it just became more and more central to our work. It does exactly what it promises.” — Mark Troy
A firm-wide solution
Both Mark and Locia were keen to stress the application of Dext across the firm. For Mark, whose focus has shifted to software and workflow optimisation, Dext’s features – especially when combined with Xero – help him and his team create meaningful insights out of data.
Locia, who recently joined the firm, is perhaps closer to the product in a day-to-day sense and uses it to solve a range of bookkeeping tasks. Locia and Mark’s experiences of Dext show that it’s a tool for both micro and macro-level work.
“I love how it integrates with Xero so easily. Sometimes I'm in Xero, and the invoice doesn’t make sense. I just go to Dext, and I can see the original invoice, the original notes, and I can easily correct the invoice. It’s a seamless integration, and a seamless process.” – Locia Kruger
The impact
For Creative CFO, Dext is all about efficiency. From marginal gains to deeper, layered software integrations, Dext reverses the time the team would usually spend on manual, routine processes.
By automating recurring transactions and trusting intelligent data extraction, the team has freed up hours of work, especially when handling large volumes of invoices.
“Not having to read PDFs manually is a game-changer. That alone gives us a massive efficiency gain.” — Mark Troy
The wider impact of these efficiency gains ultimately improves their clients’ experience and opens doors to unknown territories. The team at Creative CFO prides itself on expanding its clients’ knowledge of financial systems and helping them implement them where necessary.
“Clients came for Xero and stayed for Dext. We’re trying to make the rest of their processes efficient and easy, and show them a better way to manage their operations. Dext is a big part of that process.” — Locia Kruger
The efficiency savings from tools like Dext also allow team members the time and opportunity to focus on their professional development. For Creative CFO, implementing the right technology is as much about professional growth as it is business transformation.
“If I hadn't had Dext, I wouldn't have been able to set myself stretch targets to get where I am today. Now, I'm running a team of data engineers and software developers. It’s a massive change, and a credit to the way our company works. We’re asked to find automation and efficiency in our workflows to allow us to grow professionally.” — Mark Troy
Competitive advantage in the South African market
Many firms in South Africa still rely on manual, paper-based processes. Against these, Creative CFO stands out with its deep tech expertise and the ability to help businesses implement products like Dext.
“Other firms still use printed invoices and paper trails. We’ve built a fully digital, organised, and scalable process.” — Locia Kruger
But there are also plenty of South African firms that have gone digital – so what does Creative CFO do differently? The key is exploring a software’s true capabilities. That could be asking questions, testing out new functionality, or sharing learnings with the team.
“Our competitive edge isn’t just using tools; it’s how deeply we integrate them into our service model. We're always pushing to see what the software can do for us. It’s something we do with Dext, and we’re now seeing the rewards.” – Mark Troy
Creative CFO & The Bigger Thing
At Dext, we know there’s far more to accounting and bookkeeping than data collection and manual entry. Firms like Creative CFO are strategic advisors, capable of empowering both their clients and employees to achieve big potential. Find out more about their services here.
It’s why Dext is built to be so much more than a data extraction tool. When you use our product and “push” to see how far it will go, the benefits are far-reaching, as the team at Creative CFO has found out. With this in mind, we asked Mark and Locia about how they use Dext and how it has helped them achieve their bigger thing.
“Without Dext, I wouldn’t have grown into my current leadership role. If I were printing out documents, going through them and manually highlighting information, I probably would have taken a lot longer to get where I am today.” – Mark Troy
“Dext helps me like my job more. I'm not stuck doing mundane, routine tasks. Accounting can be quite repetitive, but with tools like Dext, it’s faster and easier. I’m not frustrated, which means I can take on things that demand more time and brainpower.” — Locia Kruger
Conclusion
There’s no denying that, for Creative CFO, Dext is a complementary product, part of a much wider network of layered technology they use within their firm. But when it comes to efficiency, Dext is a standout bookkeeping app within its tech stack. Creative CFO treat Dext as more than a data extraction tool, and the range of benefits – from employee development to client satisfaction – is clear evidence of that.
Ready to spend more time on your Bigger Thing?
Join Creative CFO and the thousands of other firms that use Dext to find more time for the things that really matter. Start your journey with bookkeeping software for accountants to see how bookkeeping automation can empower your team, satisfy clients and take your firm from strength to strength.
