How One of Sri Lanka's Largest BPO Firm Cut Bookkeeping Time by 67%

The Staffing Crisis That Forced a Rethink

Rigor Consulting is not a small firm. Founded 11 years ago in Colombo, it has built a reputation as one of the largest BPO and bookkeeping operations in Sri Lanka. The company serves 35 monthly bookkeeping clients across restaurants, hotels, jewelry businesses, and manufacturing, with a team of 10 bookkeepers processing everything from system generated invoices to handwritten receipts.

But Sri Lanka's post recession labor market broke the old model.

"They are very volatile. Some people, they want to stay for maybe six months maximum. They won't stay for a particular place."
Nishantha Kulasuriya, CEO, Rigor Consulting

Over the last two to three years, a wave of migration to European and Gulf markets drained the country's bookkeeping talent pool. The bookkeepers who remained were more expensive, harder to retain, and often less reliable than before.

"The quality of work compared to before is very reduced now. They are not responsible sometimes. This is a pain point for anybody in Sri Lanka."
Nishantha Kulasuriya, CEO, Rigor Consulting

Nishantha sits on local business association boards, and the complaint is universal: you cannot find and keep good bookkeepers in Sri Lanka anymore. Hiring is expensive, retention is unpredictable, and every departure restarts the training cycle from scratch.

Looking for Something That Actually Works

Nishantha explored AI tools before Tofu, but nothing stuck. Some required high upfront investment. Others were not user friendly. The cost benefit math never worked for a Sri Lankan firm operating in local currency.

"People came and proposed some different tools but I'm not convincing. It's not user friendly or maybe sometimes the cost is not there. The initial cost is high. With Tofu, the initial investment is zero, so it's very easy for us to switch."
Nishantha Kulasuriya, CEO, Rigor Consulting

The zero barrier to entry changed everything. No hardware, no installation, no large upfront fees. Just connect QuickBooks and start scanning.

The Handwriting Problem, Solved

One of Rigor's most challenging clients is a jewelry business. The owner issues every invoice by hand. Handwritten supplier documents had been one of the firm's biggest data entry headaches for years.

"That is the most difficult client. He's using a handwritten document for his invoices. That was the only pain area. But now it's quite comfortable. Tofu has taken it up, so it's fine."
Nishantha Kulasuriya, CEO, Rigor Consulting

What used to require manual deciphering and painstaking data entry now flows through Tofu's handwriting recognition engine like any other document.

Three People Became One

The numbers tell the story better than any feature list. Before Tofu, Nishantha assigned three dedicated bookkeepers to handle three specific client accounts. After onboarding those clients to Tofu in December 2025, one person now handles all three.

"I allocated three people for these three clients before. I reduced into two people now. One person can handle these three clients."
Nishantha Kulasuriya, CEO, Rigor Consulting

That is a 67% reduction in staffing requirements for those accounts. The freed up capacity means Nishantha can take on new clients without the hiring math that used to block every growth conversation.

Adoption Without Friction

One of Nishantha's concerns was whether his team could actually learn the platform. That worry evaporated quickly. His lead processor, Ume, picked up the system and is now handling scanning, folder organization, and uploads at speed.

"I never thought my people would pick up like this fast, but they did. The system is very simple. They understand the language. It's a very same process, repeated task."
Nishantha Kulasuriya, CEO, Rigor Consulting

Nishantha deliberately limits access to one or two trained operators rather than spreading it across the whole team. His reasoning is strategic: he wants to understand each person's capacity precisely before scaling further.

From 560 to 5,000

Rigor processed 560 documents through Tofu in December 2025, their first month. January hit 800. By March, Nishantha expects to reach 2,500 as two new clients come online. And by May through July, when Sri Lanka's financial statement season kicks in, he is targeting 5,000 monthly documents.

"May, June, July will be a good month for you all because we are starting to do these financing statements. Manual driven companies come and dump their documents. In that scenario, yes, we have a lot of requirement."
Nishantha Kulasuriya, CEO, Rigor Consulting

The seasonal surge of annual clients bringing boxes of documents used to mean temporary hires and overtime. Now it means more uploads to Tofu.

The Long Game: Efficiency Over Price Increases

Nishantha's strategy is deliberate. He is not passing Tofu's cost to clients. Instead, he is absorbing the subscription while reducing his labor overhead, maintaining competitive pricing in a cost sensitive market, and building loyalty.

"I'm not going to increase any cost. I want to let them come with me with Tofu. They know the beauty of it. Over the period I am reducing my labor and the cost saving is there. I'm more focused on the long term relationship with the client than the short term pricing."
Nishantha Kulasuriya, CEO, Rigor Consulting

It is a classic land and expand play: prove the value, lock in the relationship, and let operational savings compound over time.

Evangelizing to the Market

Nishantha is not keeping Tofu to himself. He actively promotes it at business forums and association meetings across Sri Lanka, showing demo videos and explaining how it works to peers facing the same staffing crisis.

"Every organization I'm representing for business forums, I'm referring to Tofu. I'm showing your videos. I'm showing how it works. It will pick up."
Nishantha Kulasuriya, CEO, Rigor Consulting

He has already connected Tofu with his uncle's domestic courier business, which has massive AP and AR volume. He is also bridging introductions to a major audit firm in the Maldives, where the same labor shortage exists but technology adoption is even faster.

What He Would Tell Other Firms

When asked if he would recommend Tofu to other accounting firms in Sri Lanka or similar markets, Nishantha did not hesitate.

"Of course. Easier your business, you can go for it. Start using Tofu at least two months before your busy season. Then you will be comfortable, trained, and everything can be done."
Nishantha Kulasuriya, CEO, Rigor Consulting

His practical advice: do not wait until you are drowning in documents. Onboard during a quieter period so the team is ready when volume spikes. The learning curve is short, but the payoff is enormous.