Ardent’s FinTech Influencer Series highlights innovative voices in the world of Accounts Payable (“AP”) automation. This series is the go-to spot for progressive thoughts on how technology, transformational thinking, and revolutionary ideas are changing how AP work gets done. Continuing our FinTech Influencer Series, today we are speaking with Brian Anderson, Senior Manager, Accounts Payable at Verizon Media.

Bob Cohen: Welcome Brian and thank you for spending some time with me today. Let’s get started. Please tell me about your role and responsibilities as Senior Manager, Accounts Payable at Verizon Media

Brian Anderson:   My team provides Accounts Payable support for the Americas region which includes US, Canada, and Latin America.  Our region processes the largest number of invoices and payments for Verizon Media.  I have worked in AP for over 20 years including 15+ years of management experience.   My role with Verizon Media provides leadership, project management, mentoring, and interdepartmental liaison support.  My biggest impact has been with project management and process improvements.  During my 5+ years with Yahoo/Verizon, Media, I have documented over 100 process improvements with which have resulted in significant improvements in operational efficiencies.  Much of our recent work has leveraged Robotic Process Automation (RPA) which has resulted in significant gains and process improvements.

BC: What was the impetus for automating Accounts Payable with RPA? What challenges / problems were you experiencing?

BA: Verizon Media has always had a culture that was focused on automating manual routine tasks. Since the introduction of RPA, our automation projects have expanded.  We quickly realized the impact RPA could have on our processes overall.  One of the primary challenges we face is a bandwidth issue, the challenge being the sheer number of projects other teams have queued RPA improvements.  As you can image the Automation team is not lacking for projects.

 BC:  How did you involve staff in the AP automation initiative? Were staff from other areas of the business (procurement, treasury, finance, line of business, suppliers, etc.) involved as well?  BA: Of course the AP team is highly involved with automation.  Many members of the team have either led or taken part in the RPA projects.  The team also has their normal processing duties in addition to the RPA initiatives.  The RPA automation projects give the team members added sense of accomplishment by directly adding value and impact to the overall company.

BC: Any advice to other organizations on how best to address change management when it comes to automating AP?

BA: Embrace it, preach it and celebrate wins!  The groundwork starts with ensuring all SOPs (standard operating procedures) are updated and inefficient processes are smoothed out.  You will have various degrees of acceptance at first but excitement will catch on with every celebrated win.  The automation tools can be in place but without a culture mind set for automation change will not happen.

BC: What were the results and benefits of the AP automation project?

BA: We have realized several points of impact.  The overall company impact is improved transparency and quality of work while reducing our cost footprint.  We want to support the business success by adding value in a non-traditional AP support role.  The staff demographic has changed along the way as we are now fully an analytical team which provides processing support.

BC:  How does the AP function today differ from the one that existed a couple of years ago?

BA: The AP role is often mistaken as a devalued support role.  There are many services AP can provide towards supporting the overall success of the company.  The function should be considered an analytical role and not a processing function.  With a cultural shift towards an analytical team everyone wins.

BC: Is the AP function today more strategic and value-adding to the business than it was prior to automation? If so, in what way?

BA: I would like to hope and think so.  AP has all the data and should be considered a strategic partner with Procure-to-Pay automation.

BC: What plans do you have for AP in the future?

BA: Ongoing efficiency gains and value added initiatives.

BC: What lessons did you learn along the way and anything you would do differently today?

BA: Refining current processes is a must before any automation is considered.  In other words ensure the current process is fine-tuned and documented before automating.

BC: Any advice to other organizations looking to automate their AP function?

BA: I would encourage all AP teams to look past your day to day focus and include any process improvements as part of the teams’ responsibilities.

BC: Thank you for your time and best of luck on your presentation at the Exchange Summit on December 7 – 9 in Miami.

RELATED RESEARCH:

Solving AP’s Reliance on Paper – Phase 1 – Invoice Sending & Receipt

Solving AP’s Reliance on Paper – Phase 2 – Invoice Processing

Solving AP’s Reliance on Paper – Phase 3 – B2B Payments

Tagged in: AP Automation, ePayables, Finance, Fintech Influencer Series, Innovation, RPA, Technology