Friday 19th October, 2012

There's something different about FISCAL Technologies, and it's not just the purple haze (purple themed products punctuate their offices and events). Unlike several other solution providers, they don't talk at their customers, they include them - invite them in, genuinely want to give them a platform to be heard.

Which was why I joined them at their 5th annual user group conference at Wokefield Park and facilitated at the Great AP Debate. With four panellists (all recognised authorities across the P2P space) and an audience of more than fifty, we dissected three hot topics - can AP become a profit centre, can AP create cost efficiencies and can AP communicate this value? And it wasn't long before the floor was a hive of activity and hot debate with opinion, fact and possible solutions.

It quickly became clear that AP is a dynamic place where the change in process and culture we talk about is very real. Although some still said that their Heads of Finance refused to see AP as anything other than purely transactional (generating a wave of tutting and head shaking) - it seemed to be an increasingly out of date viewpoint. One attendee said she tackled the problem head on when faced with the question - "it's just paying bills, how hard can it be...?" Instead of getting annoyed, she invited her boss to join AP for the day and shadow processes from start to finish - bringing them to life for him and for the wider organisation - incidentally bringing about effective change to a previously disregarded issue.

The point being - the answer is yes to all three questions, but the final question can sometimes be the most difficult for AP to answer. No longer just a back office function - AP has real value to give, to the bottom line, along the supply chain and to effective forecasting - AP's challenge is to get C level executives to sit up and listen.

For a more indepth look at the AP debate refer to the P2P Career Space section next week.