In April and May, Ardent Partners hosted The CPO Rising 2K20 Virtual Series – The Resiliency Imperative as a way to bring together our global community of procurement, finance, and supply management professionals and collectively tackle the big issues we were all facing and continue to face as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 2,300 people participated in the 20 virtual sessions including our livestream summit. We also had 27 experts share their ideas and insights. Once the dust settled on the series, Andrew went back to interview many of these leaders so we could learn a little bit more about them and their companies. We’re also working on a plan to replay many of the sessions, so stay tuned.
First up, Andrew connected with Dan Reeve, Director of Sales at Esker, an industry veteran with over 20 years’ experience in Purchase-to-Pay and Order-to-Cash. Below is a transcript of that interview which has been edited for clarity.
Andrew Bartolini: Hi Dan, thanks for meeting with us today. To start, that was a great presentation on the linkage between Accounts Payable and Procurement (with Bob Cohen). Now, can you share a little bit about your background and give a brief overview of your company and what it does.
Dan Reeve: I’m a sales director with Esker, helping companies automate their Procure-to-Pay and Order-to-Cash Processes. I have two excellent sales managers that I support and, in turn, they have a combined team of 30 reps. Esker sells solutions that help companies free up their staffs to be rock stars; that’s more important than ever right now. These rock stars in Accounts Payable, customer service, AR, and collections are then able to focus on helping their companies compete, survive and thrive. For example:
- AP staff – More time to capture early pay discounts, identify bottlenecks, and perform audit and risk analysis work.
- Customer Service Staff – Process orders 10x faster giving them more time to cross-sell, educate and serve customers, and fight off Amazon.
- Collections staff – Identify high risk customers and chase up large debts and/or at-risk payments.
- Cash application teams – Apply cash to open AR faster, enable sales to provide more credit to their customers that have paid their bills in a timely manner and are therefore, more deserving of credit.
AB: That’s great. How did you end up working in this industry?
DR: After university, I found a company that picked up new graduates, put them through a sales academy, and then placed the graduates with different IT companies. Fortunately one of those companies was Esker UK. My goal was to find a company where I could get a solid apprenticeship, learn the ropes, and have the opportunity to succeed in sales. At the same time, I wanted to join a B2B company so I could avoid working weekends. My career in the Army reserves was also taking off and I wanted to preserve weekends and vacation time for that pursuit.
AB: So, right into solution sales after university, but also balancing a military career – so some variation in your career. What or who have been the major influences in your professional career?
DR: Early on, I worked for a managing director in the UK that epitomized the “work hard, play hard” culture, and he encouraged me to list out my goals and dreams. He supported me in moving overseas with Esker, getting deployed to Iraq, and going on several Army expeditions to the Himalayas. I have to say that it’s truly amazing the work flexibility that the staff at Esker enjoys. Again back to the work hard, be successful, enjoy life culture.
Our US COO has established a great culture at Esker, and that has been a major reason why people come and stay with Esker for such a long time. This has also helped me recruit some great staff. He has also really helped me broaden my skills. I should also note that in the Army, I met one of the best people managers I’ve ever come across – he was a warrant officer, but has all the skills necessary to become a CEO.
AB: The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us many things regarding short-term preparation and general planning, what should AP and finance teams be paying attention to now, in the short-term, and in the future?
DR: My immediate reaction is liquidity, lowering costs, spend control. The best companies innovate in the downturns and don’t waste the opportunities that are available in a crisis, for example digital transformations. I’d also say that now is a great time to expand P-card/virtual card programs. I’ve seen the folks at Comdata save clients enough money each month to pay for their Finance Department, not just the AP Department costs via the monthly rebates on spend they offer.
Our clients have pivoted and all leaders across the P2P function are being asked to help improve cash flow and lower the cost of working capital. Earning early payment discounts is one means of getting cash flow in faster, but that is not possible with a slow, manual process. Having visibility of where spend is going and being able to consolidate that spend is another thing. Many of our clients are ramping up right now.
On the Order-to Cash side, there is also a much greater focus on getting the sales order fed in as a perfect order so that the customer has a great experience. The Invoice can then be issued promptly and correctly with no excuses for the customer to delay payment or request a new invoice (and thus a new payment term).
Many ERPs and systems of record come with a mechanism to send out AR invoices. However, what they typically lack is a CRM like capability for collections. DSO can be shortened by a few days easily if the collection teams know which invoices to prioritize based on client spending patterns, client finance risks, and historical payment trends. Simple things such as enabling reminders before the invoice is due, and enabling easy online payment can make a big return.
AB: This decade has gotten off to an inauspicious start, but it will eventually right itself. Any predictions for the future? What is the one thing you’d like to exist or see in 2030?
DR: I listen to Harvard Business Review (“HBR”) podcasts during the weekends, especially when I’m cleaning the bathrooms (yes, that’s actually part of my duties list). I actually have come to enjoy the process during the lockdown as I’m pretty good at cleaning thanks to the military days. I like to take the time to listen in to Economics and Trends and am also a big fan of the Freakonomics podcast. The kids know their Dad is tuned out cleaning and listening to his headphones for an hour or so.
Andrew Yang was on the recent podcast and he predicted that massive unemployment will occur due to technology and automation across all industries. Based on that, I actually feel very lucky to be in the industry that I am in as we are going to be enabling automation, I like to think this means we can provide value, and my team and their families have a future.
My hope for 2030 is no more passwords! I have a million passwords and login mechanisms. I’m fine with wearing a Quick tag or barcode or a chip, I kind of feel that will be inevitable. Or if a retina scan means I can avoid passwords then that too will be a good thing.
AB: During the shutdown, what has been the best or most interesting thing you’ve streamed, read, or viewed?
DR: During the lockdown I noticed the birds singing a lot more around the house. My eldest daughter is 6 and she loves nature and birds especially. One of the homework exercises was for her to watch March of the Penguins. I remember thinking this Covid-19 lockdown is nothing at all compared to what those birds go through every year!
AB: Hah – that’s pretty funny. At the same time, they don’t have to worry about cleaning any bathrooms. Thanks for your time today – be safe!
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