2986: How Automation Can Propel Finance Teams Towards IPO Success

[00:00:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Are you ready to discover how automation can transform the financial landscape?

[00:00:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Well as the UK tech IPO market is showing signs of revival here in the UK, there have been

[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_01]: many recent discussions around potential listings like Raspberry Pi on the London Stock Exchange

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_01]: and these headlines mean the role of finance teams have never been more crucial.

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_01]: And today I'm joined by the president of a company called Topolty and he brings with him

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_01]: a wealth of knowledge on how automating financial processes can not only streamline operations

[00:00:38] [SPEAKER_01]: but also pave the way for successful IPOs. So Robert is going to join me on the podcast

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_01]: today, he's going to shed light on the transformative effects of reducing manual workload through

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_01]: automation, enhancing compliance and ultimately improving financial visibility. All of these

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_01]: things of course are essential for any company that's gearing up to go public.

[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Before we get today's guest on I want to talk about the fact that defence contractors face

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_01]: immense pressure to comply with something called CMMC 2.0 security standards and finding a

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_01]: secure easy to use file sharing solution meeting those guidelines can be a major challenge.

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_01]: The federal government and federal systems integrators supporting the Department of Defence

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_01]: have similar compliance requirements for improving cyber security and data protection too. So if you

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_01]: are an IT admin in the defence sector, if you are tired of juggling complex security solutions,

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_01]: KiteWorks offers a game-changing approach to CMMC 2.0 compliance because their centralised

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_01]: policy management simplifies administration across the entire platform. What that means is no

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_01]: more productivity disruptions or difficult user training. They've done the heavy lifting with

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_01]: their FedRAMP authorisation so you don't have to. And yes, while other solutions complicate

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_01]: your workflow, KiteWorks streamlines it. So upgrade to KiteWorks and experience the

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_01]: perfect blend of security and simplicity. So if you're interested in accelerating your

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_01]: CMMC 2.0 compliance and begin addressing federal zero trust requirements with KiteWorks

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Universal Secure File Sharing Platform made for defence contractors, simply visit

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_01]: kiteworks.com to get started where you can learn more about this secure content platform

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_01]: for CMMC compliance. But now it's time to return to our regularly scheduled programming

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_01]: and welcome today's guest onto the mic. So buckle up and hold on tight because no matter

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_01]: where you're listening in the world right now, it's time for me to take your ears

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_01]: on a journey to San Francisco where today's guest is waiting to join me.

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_01]: So a massive warm welcome to the show. Can you tell everyone listening a little about

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_00]: who you are and what you do? Yeah, my name is Robert Israk. I am the president of Topolty.

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I help run the business of course and mostly focus on growth. So my background's

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_00]: marketing throughout my career but I oversee the customer operation, marketing sales and

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_00]: everything in between, basically the buyer to the customer journey for the business.

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And if there is anybody listening in any corner of the world that's not heard of

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Topolty, how would you describe it to someone hearing about you for the first time?

[00:03:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so we make finance automation technology. We focus on your fast growing tech

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_00]: and innovator companies, often mid-sized companies, scaling, scale up, some of such like that.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_00]: But we essentially automate your manual back office finance operations, everything from

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_00]: accounts fable to paying suppliers across the world, expenses, cards, procurement,

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_00]: all those processes that are necessary to scale a business but burdens in terms of throwing head

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_00]: can at them and distractions from actually growing the business and scaling the company

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_00]: globally across the world. We kind of take care of that so the business can focus on what

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_00]: they actually want to do and their mission and it's even their growth goals.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, there's so much I want to talk with you about today because although there is what nearly

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_01]: 5,000 miles distance between us and a whole lot of seed, there's so much in common with the US

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_01]: and the UK and this economic uncertainty all around the world of course. And I am an eternal

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_01]: optimist. I like to think that things are going to improve but let's have a fresh pair of eyes

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_01]: here. So with the UK's tech IPO market, it's showing signs of recovery but how do you see

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_01]: the role of finance teams evolving to support this resurgence? What are you seeing here?

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, I think what we've all learned across the world and I just moved back from

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_00]: London last August, I was in London for the last three years building out to

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Pulitzer Europe business and like you said there's a lot of commonalities,

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_00]: a lot of differences but I think everyone across the world has been dealing with this

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_00]: kind of recessionary mindset and in particular a new way to measure business performance

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_00]: and not to only focus on growth but kind of this balance between growth, profitability,

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_00]: sustainability, efficiency that we all have to strike and I think that balance is a tricky

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: modification for everyone to make and I think all companies across all regions are

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_00]: making those modifications and such like that but it's a challenge and finance is key to that.

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: At the point where it was purely about just pure growth and your evaluations and your

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_00]: IPOs and your kind of path to success and funding was purely on growth, finance is

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_00]: important but a little less their base kind of getting the numbers and do it in the forecasting at

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_00]: this point when the standards allow higher where you have to not only grow at a certain clip

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_00]: but you have to do it in a way with good payback and good profitability and more accurate forecasting

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: the stock markets or the investors are holding companies to a higher standard.

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Finance is absolutely critical to forecasting the business accurately forward,

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_00]: working more closely with the business to control spend,

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_00]: getting better visibility into performance, guiding the CEO to make not only the right

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_00]: decisions in terms of growth but the right decisions versus sustainable business.

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_00]: So finance I think has a much more important seat at the table.

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_00]: In order to have a more important seat at the table they have to get out of all the kind of

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_00]: operational work that runs the day-to-day so they can focus their resources,

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_00]: time, additional headcount in the right places that the business demands so

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_00]: it's putting more pressure on finance that puts more pressure on finance to focus their people

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_01]: on the right activities. And I'm so glad you raised that because I suspect anyone working in

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_01]: an office anywhere in the world or indeed inside corporate America they would have come across some

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_01]: frustrating old school traditional manual processes that just seem to be so slow and out of touch

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_01]: with a fast-moving world at the moment but for what you're seeing can you elaborate on some

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_01]: of those specific manual processes that I'm alluding to there that cause those problems,

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_01]: those frustrations and how ultimately they're impacting a company's growth and financial management?

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there's a lot of them so that's the the reality of them. When you actually survey

[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_00]: finance leaders, CFOs, finance directors, controllers and such on what those are,

[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_00]: account payable is typically the number one most time-consuming function in finance.

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_00]: It takes literally 41 minutes based on our research, 41 minutes to just process an invoice

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_00]: and processing invoices is only one of the chevrons or processes if you will in account payable.

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_00]: There's onboarding suppliers, there's paying suppliers, there's monthly close which is of

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_00]: course tied very closely to the accounts payable process because that's where

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_00]: you're getting the spend and payment reconciliation. So those are the biggest single process within

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_00]: accounts payable is the most important time-consuming function in finance. Secondly,

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_00]: in that process is monthly close and payment reconciliation of course is the one of the

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_00]: biggest inputs into that closed process. Within accounts payable specifically there's

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_00]: multiple processes in there that I've alluded to but it starts with invoice

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_00]: processing and approvals. If you have a P.O. matching or procurement process that flows

[00:08:26] [SPEAKER_00]: right into that process as well. The second part of it is actually the paying and then the

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_00]: reconciliation of the invoices. That process also burdens on particularly if you have

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_00]: several different payment methods, particularly if you're paying people in multiple

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00]: different countries in different currencies that all becomes more of a headache and

[00:08:46] [SPEAKER_00]: particularly if you have more subsidiaries and entities around the world as well that

[00:08:50] [SPEAKER_00]: only amplifies that challenge there. And then of course the monthly close which everything I just

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_00]: mentioned ties into the monthly close but that's where you get the business visibility like where

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER_00]: we talked about spend visibility and business visibility. It starts with your finance statements

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_00]: and closing the monthly books fast, right? And you can't do that if you don't have those

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_00]: one and two process I just mentioned done efficiently and rapidly and accurately.

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was just going to say listening to you there, I was getting flashbacks from my former

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_01]: corporate life of chasing down an invoice that stuck in authorization because somebody is on,

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, holiday taking a sabbatical or recently left the company and everything grinds

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_01]: to a halt. And then this the month end where nobody dared approach finance because they just

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_01]: get those words each month and leave us alone kind of thing. So how crucial is an

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_01]: efficient financial operation for companies especially if they are thinking about something

[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_01]: big like an IPO, what role does automation play in streamlining some of those processes?

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know, if you're approaching an IPO or even if you're not approaching IPO but you're

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_00]: starting to mature your business, you're going to have audits, you're going to have fraud,

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_00]: you're going to have requirements around controls and regulatory and aside,

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_00]: you're going to have to have a process here that's scalable, repeatable, accurate, that has built in

[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_00]: security to make sure that you don't have fraud, that your auditors are pleased, that you can

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_00]: close your books accurately and timely way. And the automation any good automation system in this

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_00]: space has to have pretty robust capabilities here, signatory rights, tax form, VAT and,

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, tax ID collection by jurisdiction and the such like that.

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Ideally it's got some AI built in where it's looking for fraud patterns proactively for your

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_00]: business and the such but these capabilities any good automation system has that build right in.

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And then of course it all flows to payment reconciliation again, which ties that monthly

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_00]: close which of course is kind of key to being able to grow a company and be audited and go IPO

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_00]: and predict and forecast the business accurately. So controls are absolutely essential and any

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_00]: robust automation that scales with you over the course time has to have that built in

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_00]: throughout all these different processes just like basics is this, you know, you're supposed

[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_00]: to have best in class like every one to one about finance, you're supposed to have a separate

[00:11:18] [SPEAKER_00]: invoice approval workflow and payment approval workflow. It's a way to control fraud,

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_00]: right? And most companies don't frankly they have invoice approval workflow and then it's just a

[00:11:29] [SPEAKER_00]: payment. And many systems frankly don't have that capability. And then some of these approval

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_00]: workflows are manual, right? And it's people slacking each other or, you know, sending emails

[00:11:40] [SPEAKER_00]: or even paper and the such like that that won't, you know, pass the muster of a grown up

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_00]: company with expectations on, you know, controls. And you don't want to get into situations that

[00:11:51] [SPEAKER_00]: are put in the media and the such like that with, you know, people gaming the system whether

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_00]: internal or external, you have to have monitors for all these things and have paper trails,

[00:12:01] [SPEAKER_01]: ideally digital, right? Yeah. And of course, what we're talking about here are universal

[00:12:06] [SPEAKER_01]: problems. It doesn't matter where people are listening, they're going to have similar stories

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER_01]: to what we're talking about here. So what would you say the common barriers that

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_01]: finance leaders are facing when adopting automation and how are these challenges being

[00:12:20] [SPEAKER_01]: effectively addressed? I mean, we've managed to go some time on a tech podcast without mentioning

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_01]: AI but now that is in the conversation. Things are going to be happening much faster. But

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_00]: what is stopping people? Yeah, I think, I think, you know, this is a status quo situation that

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_00]: counts fables when largely run in this more manual way for the past, I don't know, 50 years

[00:12:42] [SPEAKER_00]: and so or so. And so a lot of it is just picking their eyes up and looking at the process and saying,

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_00]: does it need to be done this way? Is there a better way? Is there more scalable ways or more

[00:12:55] [SPEAKER_00]: efficient way? Is there a way for with better controls and the such and just at least exploring

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_00]: what options are out there. And nowadays with evolution attack, including things like AI,

[00:13:06] [SPEAKER_00]: machine learning, automation, technology, there are better ways for sure to do this.

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_00]: So it starts with learning. We do have research from finance leaders on what their top challenges

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_00]: are regarding automating and modernizing the counts of bailout function. A lot of it kind of comes

[00:13:24] [SPEAKER_00]: down to that status quo thing we just talked about, but the number one item was skills training.

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_00]: The reality is on that, well, I'll go through the list first, but skills training

[00:13:34] [SPEAKER_00]: is the first and a little bit of kind of tight ends as change, right? And a lot of this

[00:13:40] [SPEAKER_00]: is about embracing change to some degree. Of course, there's a shopping process. The second most

[00:13:46] [SPEAKER_00]: common challenge is the need to find appropriate tools and vendors such as the process of exploring,

[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_00]: shopping, and then figuring how do you evaluate? So concerns about the complexity of automation, both

[00:13:57] [SPEAKER_00]: how do you implement it and then how to use it? How do you teach new employees to use it?

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_00]: And then the fourth is actually just not knowing where to start. How do you evaluate these

[00:14:09] [SPEAKER_00]: vendors? How do you look at them and the such like that. So those are the challenges, but it really is

[00:14:14] [SPEAKER_00]: that idea of, look, if you're a finance leader, you have to scale your entire business effectively.

[00:14:20] [SPEAKER_00]: You have to support the business in a more strategic way to guide them to make better decisions.

[00:14:24] [SPEAKER_00]: You have to free your people's time up. You also have to retain your talent. And most

[00:14:28] [SPEAKER_00]: town nowadays does not want to be doing data entry in a backwards way. They need to actually

[00:14:33] [SPEAKER_00]: build their skills and their own futures and the such. And you won't be able to retain

[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_00]: talent if you don't give them the right experience and give them learnings and the such.

[00:14:43] [SPEAKER_00]: So it starts with the finance leaders accepting that they've got to make changes

[00:14:48] [SPEAKER_00]: or function towards scale or own function, but also to support the business. On the vendor side,

[00:14:54] [SPEAKER_00]: it's up to the vendor to help. Many of those things I just talked about is about the vendors

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_00]: partnering with prospects or with companies and finance leaders to help guide them through

[00:15:06] [SPEAKER_00]: the process, to help them understand what they need to evaluate and the such. Generally speaking,

[00:15:11] [SPEAKER_00]: easy use of Ritmahal over that. The process of buying should be relatively easy,

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_00]: should be a good experience. It's a reflection of the customer experience you'll get later

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_00]: if you select one of those vendors. They should be able to guide you on what are the right

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: things to look at and consider as you're evaluating software. But the technology

[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_00]: should be relatively easy to implement. It should be relatively easy to use. It should be modern,

[00:15:37] [SPEAKER_00]: similar to using Facebook or an app on your phone to some degree. Of course, the stuff is complex.

[00:15:44] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's going to be more complex than Facebook, but it doesn't need to be that hard to learn.

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_00]: When you hire a new employee, they should be able to intuitively understand and navigate the

[00:15:56] [SPEAKER_00]: software. Then of course, it's got to have the robust capability, the mix of depth and breadth

[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_00]: necessary not only for your business today, but as you grow and your business changes and becomes

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_00]: more complex, that it should be able to grow with your company as you keep growing. Maybe add

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_00]: more entities and subsidiaries. Maybe you have more control requirements and audit requirements.

[00:16:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you have different tax regimes you have to deal with and the such,

[00:16:21] [SPEAKER_00]: but the system should be able to grow and that should be part of the assessment of

[00:16:25] [SPEAKER_00]: is it easy to implement? Is it easy to use? But also, does that have the capabilities you need

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_00]: today? And will it scale and grow with you tomorrow? And then of course provide that

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_00]: span visibility and insight and that monthly close acceleration necessary that your business

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER_00]: and your board and your executive team will require.

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_01]: If we were to park the buzzwords for a moment, AI, machine learning and automation,

[00:16:50] [SPEAKER_01]: every new tech project is now judged on, hey, what business value is it going to offer and

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_01]: generate? What's the ROI on that expensive tech project? In what ways can automating end-to-end

[00:17:02] [SPEAKER_01]: AP processes add that strategic value to finance teams, particularly in the context of

[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_01]: preparing for an IPO, but also just in general, just to hammer home that point that the value

[00:17:13] [SPEAKER_00]: that it could bring. Yeah. So a good automation technology, everything is all right, this

[00:17:19] [SPEAKER_00]: is right, even more so than it was two or three years ago. It's not just yet the latest technology

[00:17:24] [SPEAKER_00]: because it's cool or seems nice. I think finance buyers were never of that mindset, but maybe,

[00:17:30] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, of course they're influenced by everyone around them and the such.

[00:17:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And so more so now than ever, it's about ROI. The typical ROI should be able to expect

[00:17:42] [SPEAKER_00]: for good automation technology, including finance automation or accounts payable automation

[00:17:48] [SPEAKER_00]: firstly, it's workload reduction. So can it clear out enough work where one,

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_00]: your current finance staff can focus on what you need, your finance staff

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_00]: and your larger team around the finance staff to focus on?

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Typical workload reduction around a if done right is 50 to 80% workload reduction on AP,

[00:18:08] [SPEAKER_00]: which is the most time consuming function finance bar none, right? That's very consistent.

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_00]: So you take the most time consuming function, you automate it 50 to 80%. It won't be 100%.

[00:18:18] [SPEAKER_00]: There's definitely things that humans have to do to embrace and make sure the process

[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_00]: is working correctly over the course time. But that's fairly significant if you can automate

[00:18:26] [SPEAKER_00]: 80% of the time your current team is spending. Many teams are spending 40 hours a week on these

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_00]: processes depending on your structure and the such. But it's around 40 hours a week that

[00:18:37] [SPEAKER_00]: you often are spending on various related accounts payable expenses and procurement processes.

[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's pretty significant amount of time you're talking about automating. So that's the one.

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_00]: When you're automating your finance staff, you're also avoiding future headcount that you have to

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_00]: hire. We have many clients who were about to hire additional staff in accounts payable or

[00:18:59] [SPEAKER_00]: in procurement or other functions, and they were able to avoid some of this ongoing

[00:19:04] [SPEAKER_00]: future headcount hiring and hire people in other functions of business and led to growth both in

[00:19:10] [SPEAKER_00]: finance and other functions. So headcount reductions part of that more future headcount

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_00]: reduction versus current, but headcount avoidance is part of that ROI equation.

[00:19:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Then there's risk sync controls. We talked about fraud reduction, better spend visibility,

[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_00]: better spend controls, audit controls, tax compliance controls, regulatory controls and

[00:19:30] [SPEAKER_00]: such. As a second piece, it's softer. It's hard to calculate exactly what your fraud controls are,

[00:19:36] [SPEAKER_00]: but you know as you get bigger, you're going to have to have this auditable flow in the system,

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and that better spend visibility obviously leads then to better business decision making,

[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_00]: better forecasting and such, which is where financial needs to spend more of the time on

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_00]: over the course of time. But on the hard cost, it's that workload reduction leads to the

[00:20:00] [SPEAKER_00]: improving spend visibility with that faster monthly close, usually monthly close,

[00:20:05] [SPEAKER_00]: accelerated by 25% with the right system in place. So you're getting that financial reporting

[00:20:12] [SPEAKER_00]: faster for the business to make better business decisions. And then if you're

[00:20:16] [SPEAKER_00]: really doing this properly, you now have real time view of your accounts payable spend,

[00:20:22] [SPEAKER_00]: your procurement spend, your expenses spend, your card spend across the business,

[00:20:27] [SPEAKER_00]: which obviously leads to better controls of your spend in the company.

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_01]: 100%. And just to bring to life what we're talking about here, are you able to share any

[00:20:37] [SPEAKER_01]: examples or use cases or client stories of how your solutions have maybe helped companies

[00:20:43] [SPEAKER_01]: overcome those manual process challenges, the journey that you took them on and

[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_00]: ultimately improve their IPO readiness too? Yes, sir. I'll give a few examples. One,

[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_00]: for example, Spitfire Audio, their music tech company based in London, they make virtual

[00:20:59] [SPEAKER_00]: instrument sample libraries for music production. But they had pretty outdated manual process around

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_00]: managing the royalty payments to business. They ended up reducing their royalty payment run

[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_00]: from six weeks to 30 minutes. So that's a little bit more than 80%, actually. So

[00:21:19] [SPEAKER_00]: that gives you a sense. They automate about 1,500 global payments a month,

[00:21:24] [SPEAKER_00]: so pretty significant scale there and ended up saving about 10 weeks of payment workload per year.

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_00]: So fairly significant type of savings from that perspective. Another example,

[00:21:39] [SPEAKER_00]: school of life, their multimedia company around education, they reduced their AP workload by

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_00]: about 50%. They actually avoided an additional full-time finance headcount through the automation

[00:21:52] [SPEAKER_00]: process. So that's a fairly significant savings on that side. And they just streamlined the

[00:21:57] [SPEAKER_00]: integrations with other systems. You know, finance automation will tie into an ERP system.

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_00]: There are really two different capabilities that but they do need to speak with one

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_00]: other also won't get that whole overall finance workflow right. And that specific

[00:22:13] [SPEAKER_00]: company kind of integrated with a well-known ERP net suite. So they were able to kind of tie in that

[00:22:18] [SPEAKER_00]: process as well. So those are a few kind of, you know, I could rattle on about various things,

[00:22:24] [SPEAKER_00]: but typically it's at that 50 to 80% workload reduction, you know, much more advanced controls,

[00:22:29] [SPEAKER_00]: faster monthly close. It's fairly consistent in terms of the output you see. And then the

[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_00]: longer term value is of course that better spend visibility and their better business

[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_00]: visibility, faster, better, more accurate. And then the risk and fraud controls that come along with it.

[00:22:46] [SPEAKER_01]: And as you were casually dropping some powerful stats there, I suspect there'll be a few CFOs

[00:22:51] [SPEAKER_01]: thinking, okay, now you've got my attention. So what advice would you give to those CFOs and

[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_01]: finance leaders who are maybe have been hesitant to adopt automation due to concerns about

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_01]: skills gaps or suitability or the headache that it might cause, etc. And if right at

[00:23:08] [SPEAKER_01]: the beginning of that journey, any advice that you would offer those people?

[00:23:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I would generally say it doesn't hurt to research, right? At minimum,

[00:23:17] [SPEAKER_00]: you'll educate yourself on what's out there. You'll learn the pros and cons,

[00:23:22] [SPEAKER_00]: what optionality, what technology is out there. So it doesn't hurt to explore.

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And there's, you know, multiple people, whether it's consultants and or vendors

[00:23:32] [SPEAKER_00]: who can kind of help you through that kind of journey. But exploring doesn't hurt,

[00:23:38] [SPEAKER_00]: it doesn't cost any money. It does cost a little time, but frankly, not that many.

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_00]: If you work with good vendors, they should be able to do this relatively efficiently in terms

[00:23:46] [SPEAKER_00]: of giving you tools to look at or to walk you through a live demo or at least

[00:23:51] [SPEAKER_00]: learn about your business and then share kind of open feedback on whether a technology like

[00:23:58] [SPEAKER_00]: this is a good fit. I mean, I'm biased, but certainly if accounts payable is one of your

[00:24:05] [SPEAKER_00]: most time consuming functions or other functions like expenses, procurement and the such like that

[00:24:10] [SPEAKER_00]: are time consuming functions for your team. If you're thinking of having to hire more people

[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_00]: to manage these functions as you add more suppliers, add you add more invoices, as you add more

[00:24:22] [SPEAKER_00]: divisions and subsidiaries around the globe, it's in your best interest to probably check

[00:24:27] [SPEAKER_00]: this out and make sure that you make the right investments for the business. It's certainly probably

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_00]: easier or more efficient and more scalable to do this with, do more of this with technology than

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_00]: just having more bodies manage these process over time. And particularly if you're going global

[00:24:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and adding subsidiaries around the world, if you're thinking of having to add different staff

[00:24:49] [SPEAKER_00]: to run these processes around the world, that exposes your business to fraud for sure.

[00:24:53] [SPEAKER_00]: And so you do want controls in place as you go global for sure.

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And you mentioned the word journey there, and I think it is important to hire any kind of digital

[00:25:03] [SPEAKER_01]: transformation effort is a continuously evolving journey. It's not just, hey, we're going to get

[00:25:08] [SPEAKER_01]: this tech project over the line that its business is normal. So how do you to probably ensure

[00:25:13] [SPEAKER_01]: that your automation tools remain adaptable and suitable for those varying needs of companies

[00:25:19] [SPEAKER_01]: at different stages of growth? We've mentioned planning for IPO, but there are so many different

[00:25:25] [SPEAKER_00]: stages as well. Anything you can share around them? Yeah. So I mean, we purposely, we are purpose

[00:25:31] [SPEAKER_00]: built for those scaling companies. There's other companies out there that are focused on

[00:25:35] [SPEAKER_00]: large enterprises or focused on small businesses. And if you explore even the B2B, say a

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_00]: software landscape, let's even park finance technology, usually businesses are made for

[00:25:48] [SPEAKER_00]: those three stages of company. In our case, we are made for those fast growing, scaling,

[00:25:54] [SPEAKER_00]: midsize companies, general companies aspiring to be that in the future and then beyond.

[00:25:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And so to design a product to be successful at space, it's quite difficult. There's only a few

[00:26:04] [SPEAKER_00]: companies who've been successful at that. So you have to be focused on that stage. And

[00:26:09] [SPEAKER_00]: then you have to build your technology and your services to kind of provide a balance of

[00:26:14] [SPEAKER_00]: breadth, depth and simplicity. These companies tend to be modern in terms of mindset,

[00:26:19] [SPEAKER_00]: modern in terms of how they use things. Their employees tend to be many of them,

[00:26:22] [SPEAKER_00]: like for example, in England or based in London, in America, many of them would be

[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_00]: based in certain, you know, tech or VC oriented hubs that we're focusing on.

[00:26:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And so you have to build your both your service experience and your product experience

[00:26:35] [SPEAKER_00]: deliver on that kind of about tricky balance between breadth depth and simplicity. That

[00:26:40] [SPEAKER_00]: means having technology that can scale with you over the course time be adaptable to a changing

[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_00]: company. And if you can pull it off, then you can win that space from a business perspective.

[00:26:52] [SPEAKER_00]: I think we have achieved that and there's still work to be done, right? We're not perfect.

[00:26:55] [SPEAKER_00]: But we generally, if you go on the web and you search the public reviews,

[00:26:59] [SPEAKER_00]: we consistently have four and a half to five star reviews across multiple different rating

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_00]: sites. We have about 99% customer attention. So that's the best I worked at that sweet

[00:27:09] [SPEAKER_00]: for many years before GE and into it. And the such is the best retention I've ever seen. It was

[00:27:14] [SPEAKER_00]: one of the reasons actually joined the company nine years ago, because that to me sounded like word

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_00]: of mouth and you know, a good customer experience. We do as there's the product side

[00:27:24] [SPEAKER_00]: of it, which I've talked about. And then there's the services side of it. So we do focus a lot

[00:27:29] [SPEAKER_00]: on the buyer journey, making sure that's a very positive experience, even if they don't buy

[00:27:34] [SPEAKER_00]: at least they've learned from the process and it was positive because maybe they're not ready for

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_00]: technologies like this now, but they are two years from now. And so I want to make sure that

[00:27:44] [SPEAKER_00]: experience is good. And then beyond the customer journey, we have to make sure that's good. So

[00:27:48] [SPEAKER_00]: every customer has an implementation manager to guide them through the process.

[00:27:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Frankly, we do most of the work of implementation. It's not a lot of work. It's

[00:27:55] [SPEAKER_00]: all like an ERP system. Implementation takes about two months in this business,

[00:28:00] [SPEAKER_00]: not typically an ERP is six to 12 months. I think people think that everything is like

[00:28:04] [SPEAKER_00]: an ERP implementation. ERP is a different technology and it's just a lot more

[00:28:09] [SPEAKER_00]: challenging to get implemented. So but we try and make our version of implementation as easy

[00:28:14] [SPEAKER_00]: as possible with implementation managers or onboarding managers after the counts implemented

[00:28:20] [SPEAKER_00]: that you have access to real time support in your region, as well as customer success team. So

[00:28:30] [SPEAKER_00]: we put a lot of investment and making sure the customer experience is good. I think that all

[00:28:35] [SPEAKER_00]: between a product and then service experience leads to that really strong retention rate

[00:28:40] [SPEAKER_00]: over the course of time, which means we're basically scaling with companies because we're

[00:28:44] [SPEAKER_00]: working with fast growing companies. And so they're naturally grown, they're employee based

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_00]: and invoice their supplier, their regional distribution and such like that. And so we've

[00:28:54] [SPEAKER_00]: been very successful in retaining and growing with them, which that's led to our company's

[00:29:00] [SPEAKER_00]: success. So that's key to our own success is customer retention.

[00:29:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, thank you so much for sharing your insights with me today. And the world of finance,

[00:29:10] [SPEAKER_01]: if you're outside of that space, it can be considered a little bit dry and very serious,

[00:29:16] [SPEAKER_01]: but you're someone that you're talking to me in San Francisco today, you've lived in London and

[00:29:20] [SPEAKER_01]: worked in Europe, et cetera. I suspect you have picked up a few stories along the way. Some

[00:29:26] [SPEAKER_01]: you'd be able to share some you can't, but can you share the funniest or most interesting story

[00:29:31] [SPEAKER_00]: that has happened to you in your career? Yeah, I mean, I would say this isn't the funniest or

[00:29:35] [SPEAKER_00]: most interesting story I'm sure you've heard on this podcast, but I do think it's insightful

[00:29:40] [SPEAKER_00]: when I joined the company nine years ago in the interview with our CEO, Ken,

[00:29:48] [SPEAKER_00]: he asked me, you know, and I was interviewing at the time as the CMO for the company. And

[00:29:54] [SPEAKER_00]: he still brings us up literally, I was in Toronto last week, we have a major office in

[00:29:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Toronto, and he brought it up in the context of some other business conversation.

[00:30:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And so he asked the question, how do you know you're right? You know, marketers tend to be

[00:30:08] [SPEAKER_00]: very intuitive in terms of their approach to business. And so he asked, how do you know

[00:30:12] [SPEAKER_00]: you're right with your recommendations? And I said, frankly, I don't, I'm probably right 50 to 60%

[00:30:17] [SPEAKER_00]: of time. But what you what you need to do is you have to build a structure in the business.

[00:30:22] [SPEAKER_00]: In that case, in the context was marketing, where you can, you try things, you test

[00:30:28] [SPEAKER_00]: things, you measure things, and then you learn what worked and what didn't you modify it.

[00:30:32] [SPEAKER_00]: So I might be right 50, 60% of time, at least if the other 40, 50% of time,

[00:30:36] [SPEAKER_00]: where I've made the wrong decision, we implemented things in a way that were test and learn,

[00:30:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and they can iterate and improve. Then you can, you can scale a business in a profitable,

[00:30:48] [SPEAKER_00]: sustainable way. That's how we run this entire business at this point. And that really resonates

[00:30:53] [SPEAKER_00]: and he still brings it up to this day. And we have, we keep trying to work on and make

[00:30:58] [SPEAKER_00]: sure we're running the business in a responsible way. But I think it's just a good insight

[00:31:03] [SPEAKER_00]: into how we run our business, but also I think how to run a effective, not only a

[00:31:10] [SPEAKER_00]: fast growing business, but a business that has a path to profitability that's efficient.

[00:31:15] [SPEAKER_00]: All the metrics we all have to hit nowadays, CAC and payback and rule of 40 and

[00:31:19] [SPEAKER_00]: all that fun stuff. If you have that test and learn mindset, you both, you both innovate,

[00:31:24] [SPEAKER_00]: but you also find two in the machine constantly. So I thought that would be,

[00:31:27] [SPEAKER_01]: that's interesting. It really is. What a great moment to end the podcast on. So many insights

[00:31:33] [SPEAKER_01]: in that one story and for anyone listening, maybe you want to find out more about Topolty,

[00:31:39] [SPEAKER_01]: dig a little bit deeper in there, maybe connect with you or your team, ask a few questions.

[00:31:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Where would you like to point everyone listening? So topolty.co.uk or Topolty,

[00:31:49] [SPEAKER_00]: if you go into Google, just type in Topolty, T-I-P-A-L-T-I, a strange word, but

[00:31:55] [SPEAKER_00]: if you type that in, you'll get our website. You'll also find review sites so you can see

[00:32:02] [SPEAKER_00]: what customers think of us. But if you go on the website, you can kind of get a schedule a demo

[00:32:07] [SPEAKER_00]: and from there you'll talk to an expert in our technology to kind of learn, see if

[00:32:13] [SPEAKER_00]: our product is a good fit for you. And a minimal, you'll just learn about the space

[00:32:17] [SPEAKER_00]: and technology that's out there. And from there, if it sounds like it's a fit for your

[00:32:22] [SPEAKER_00]: business, we can do a tailored demo for you to see so you can see the product in action and

[00:32:26] [SPEAKER_01]: see if it meets your needs. Well, thank you so much for joining me today. Shining

[00:32:32] [SPEAKER_01]: a light on the fact that excessive manual processes within finance teams are impacting

[00:32:38] [SPEAKER_01]: growth and recovery. And some of those examples like 42 minutes on average to process a single

[00:32:44] [SPEAKER_01]: supplier invoice and the impacts of that, but also for exploring the barriers to automation,

[00:32:50] [SPEAKER_01]: what has been holding CFOs back, but also understanding the strategic value of it and

[00:32:55] [SPEAKER_01]: how we can all move forward together. So much gold and even had time to live us with a great story,

[00:33:00] [SPEAKER_01]: but more than anything, just thank you for sharing that with me today.

[00:33:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, thanks for having me, Niels. I enjoyed it. So appreciate your time.

[00:33:07] [SPEAKER_01]: So after a deep dive into the strategic value of finance automation today,

[00:33:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's clear that the journey to an IPO can be as efficient as the systems we put in place.

[00:33:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Automation seems to be the gateway to not only surviving but thriving in that competitive IPO

[00:33:24] [SPEAKER_01]: landscape. But what are your thoughts on integrating automation into your financial operations?

[00:33:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Is this the game changer that you've been waiting for, for your business's growth and

[00:33:35] [SPEAKER_01]: preparing for IPO and IPO readiness? As always, you know the drill. Share your views with me by

[00:33:43] [SPEAKER_01]: emailing me techblogwriteroutlook.com, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram just at Niels CQs.

[00:33:50] [SPEAKER_01]: I am officially waiting to start that conversation with you, but if not, have no fear. I'm not giving

[00:33:56] [SPEAKER_01]: up that easy. I will be back in my podcasting chair bright and early tomorrow with another guest,

[00:34:01] [SPEAKER_01]: another topic and hopefully we'll have that conversation then. But that's it for today.

[00:34:06] [SPEAKER_01]: So thanks for listening as always and until next time, don't be a stranger.