To say there’s a late payment “culture” in the UK is something of a misnomer, because the implication is that paying late is both intentional and endemic. And the reality is a little more complex, as I found out last week during a conversation with Philip King, Small Business Commissioner and former CEO of the CICM
Q: So Esker’s been around for quite a while, and you’ve been with them for more than 10 years - what’s the journey been like so far?
Well, one of the best things about it is that it’s a company that’s constantly innovating and changing. And in many ways the company that you see today is entirely different to the one that started out all those years ago. In fact, we’re really proud to be celebrating 30 years of Esker this year, so actually now’s a really great time to talk about the journey – and to be honest, I absolutely love it. I’ve been with Esker for around 12 years, and had connections via a previous company, for even longer. So it’s a firm I know well and have dealt with in one way or another for most of my career.
Q: In an industry where it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd – what do you think is the main differential for Esker?
Yes, that’s true, and it’s quite difficult for those looking to implement a new solution to decide which is going to be the best for their own set of unique circumstances. And if you think about it, that makes perfect sense, deciding on what solution is going to work best is not necessarily a big part of a Finance Director’s day job. So that means the onus is on us, the providers to make that clear. I’ve been MD for around 3 years and really feel that our latest offering – AP Lite (the Esker AP Lite solution) offers something unique to the market. Essentially it’s aimed at SMEs that don’t necessarily need the full Enterprise solution, but at the same time need something that’s very quick to implement, and is flexible enough to scale up if the organisation needs it to. Perhaps a key differential for us as a company, is that the person who started it 30 years ago, is still on the Board and continues to play a pivotal role today. Esker isn’t a faceless corporate. It’s a company that thrives on challenge – but in a good way.
The accounts payable function can find itself operating within a bubble; cut off to some extent from the rest of the organisation in a constantly evolving environment where time is in short supply. The effect of this can be for the department to become insular, where the only measures are against past performance, and the only metrics used are the ones which were considered useful to that organisation at some point in the past.
Accounts Payable automation solutions come in a variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from raw technology (capture, workflow) to purpose-built solutions, applied to sub-processes or the end-to-end process, including purchasing. During the adoption process, companies typically identify the focus of their automation initiative (what is slow and cumbersome, error-prone, or costly), research vendors of proven technologies, including delivery and support. Once the solution is selected, next is the implementation process, deployed according to organisation’s specifications. Beyond insuring that the solution is appropriate for a modest increase in the volume of invoices processed, there is little focus on how the solution will need to evolve in the future.
Avalara helps businesses of all sizes get tax compliance right. In partnership with leading ERP, accounting, eCommerce and other financial management system providers, Avalara delivers cloudbased compliance solutions for various transactional taxes, including sales and use, VAT, GST, excise, communications, lodging, and other indirect tax types. Headquartered in Seattle, Avalara has offices across the U.S. and around the world in Canada, the U.K., Belgium, Brazil, and India.