“First and foremost, we have one focus: delivering value with a long-term objective of providing the best service in our industry," says Christo Jacobs, director at Intellection, a gold partner at the Finance Indaba Africa 2017 on 12 and 13 October 2017 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.
In the coming weeks and months, we will be chatting to all the Indaba partners, asking them why they are joining the event and what their most important message for finance professionals is.
Do you want to hear why Intellection is the leader in procure to pay process improvement? Do you want to be informed about the latest and greatest in finance? Then don't miss the Finance Indaba Africa 2017.
The Finance Indaba is the biggest annual event on the continent for financial managers and specialists who are seeking partnerships to drive progress. Thousands of delegates will gain valuable insights into realising financial performance and growth, becoming more efficient and accessing funding, among a host of other opportunities from leading players in financial services.
Why will you be present at the Finance Indaba?
"Intellection is a leader in Procure to Pay process improvement. Both retrospectively (historical lost profit recovery) and proactively (automating manual processes to turn every invoice into a revenue opportunity). The Finance Indaba will be a great opportunity for us to showcase our value proposition while networking with the finance leaders of South Africa."
What will you be talking about or showcasing?
"Re-imagining Financial Supply Chains: Realising financial supply chains as untapped cash assets.
"We live in a digitally enabled world, which enables us to unlock and utilize assets. However, the financial supply chain (the way in which we pay and get paid) has been neglected:
Processes are manual
Financing is poor
Connectivity is limited
"We are missing an opportunity - we think of the financial supply chain as a liability rather than an asset while the innovators have already worked out how to cash in.
"The new way - dynamic payments underpinned by invoice automation, flexible financing and predictive intelligence."
What are the challenges you can help finance professionals/firms with in 2017?
"Visibility of performance against a pool of relevant KPIs and metrics form the basis of our approach to optimize an organisation's procure-to-pay ("P2P") process, impacting both the bottom line and the efficiency of the process. While there are various challenges that we address, three areas summarise our perspective:
Improve cash and minimise P2P risk with lost profit recovery by following a systematic process of reviewing payment transactions and related supporting data to identify and recover various forms of payment errors. These projects deliver ROI in excess of 100%.
Reduce costs, improve efficiency and improve financial controls by simplifying and automating the accounts payable process to maximise the early payment opportunity.
Strengthen supplier relationships and uncover the value within your financial supply chain through supplier finance (Turn every invoice into a revenue opportunity, using your cash or third-party cash to fund early payments)."
What sets your service apart from the rest?
"First and foremost, we have one focus: delivering value with a long-term objective of providing the best service in our industry. We tailor our solutions and services to ensure that our customer's business requirements are met in an efficient, secure and timely manner, with customer data and information being treated with the highest degree of confidentiality.
"Our FinTech approach, underpinned by the four enablers, allow us to facilitate the introduction of much needed liquidity into the Supply Chain and to unlock cash for all suppliers:
Invoice Automation: Maximise the early payment window by automating slow/manual processes,
Flexible Funding: Deliver working capital and/or yield for buyers,
Predictive Analytics: Review and optimise your SCF program to maximise benefit,
Supplier Adoption: Systematic approach to maximise adoption beyond the traditional SCF Short-Tail."
How important is innovation in your business?
"Innovation is critical to survival in a digitally enabled world. As organisations, if we do not innovate we will not survive the digital revolution."
