WiseLayer Blog
Our thoughts on trends in AI, big data & technology for the strategic finance organization
BY VIK BELLAPRAVALU AND JOSH STEIN, CO-FOUNDERS OF WISELAYER
WiseLayer AI: Boosted Client ARR by $170K by Finding Invoice-Contract Discrepancies (A More Common Problem than You’d Think)
March 20, 2024
WiseLayer leverages cutting-edge AI to improve profitability and efficiency for businesses, while only requiring 10 minutes per week to use. By integrating with the client’s existing financial tools–such as ERPs, invoicing platforms, CRMs, contracts, and more–WiseLayer's AI continuously analyzes data to identify actionable issues that impact profitability (EBIT) by hundreds of basis points.
Challenge
A large B2B client utilized NetSuite to send out their invoices, and HubSpot for CRM and client management. The client wanted to see if there were any discrepancies between their CRM, contracts, and invoicing that led to uncaptured revenue in areas like:
- Invoices charging the wrong price or carrying forward lapsed discounts, especially during contract changeovers & renewals
- Invoices not matching the contracted amounts listed in the CRM
- Incorrect billing frequencies–e.g. monthly instead of quarterly
- Recurring invoices not being sent out in a timely manner
Given the scale of data, this would take a sophisticated financial analyst hundreds of hours. So the client contacted WiseLayer.
Solution
WiseLayer’s AI-driven solution integrated with the client's existing NetSuite and HubSpot (plus 100+ other available integrations). After 4 minutes of total setup time, WiseLayer’s AI began performing identifying and rectifying invoicing discrepancies. It ensured every invoice was for the full and proper amount, accurately reflected the contract terms, and had been sent out in a timely manner.
In fact, across all clients, WiseLayer’s AI finds that nearly 1 in every 230 invoices have some sort of discrepancy, whether affecting revenue, working capital, or timing delays.
As these discrepancies were identified, the client was able to fix the past year’s problematic invoices in an afternoon. WiseLayer automatically monitored each issue to ensure it was fixed.
Results
WiseLayer's AI solution significantly impacted the client's bottom line:
Solution
WiseLayer’s AI-driven solution integrated with the client's existing NetSuite and HubSpot (plus 100+ other available integrations). After 4 minutes of total setup time, WiseLayer’s AI began performing identifying and rectifying invoicing discrepancies. It ensured every invoice was for the full and proper amount, accurately reflected the contract terms, and had been sent out in a timely manner.
In fact, across all clients, WiseLayer’s AI finds that nearly 1 in every 230 invoices have some sort of discrepancy, whether affecting revenue, working capital, or timing delays.
As these discrepancies were identified, the client was able to fix the past year’s problematic invoices in an afternoon. WiseLayer automatically monitored each issue to ensure it was fixed.
Results
WiseLayer's AI solution significantly impacted the client's bottom line:
- Over $170,000 in ARR secured from correcting invoice mistakes
- $300K+ in increased working capital by ensuring invoice terms align to contracts
- Efficiency improvements, reducing manual invoice audits from days to minutes
Conclusion
WiseLayer's AI-driven approach provided a nearly-instant solution to a pervasive yet under-recognized challenge. By identifying and rectifying all-too-common invoicing discrepancies, WiseLayer not only boosted the client's annual revenue but also optimized operational efficiency, setting a new standard in financial management for B2B businesses.
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BY VIK BELLAPRAVALU AND JOSH STEIN, CO-FOUNDERS OF WISELAYER
How Cutting Edge CFOs Are Implementing AI
August 16, 2023
The role of a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) has become far more strategic and complex driven by talent shortages 1, an explosion in the number of systems and data sources under their purview, and the pressures to do more with less given long-term trends and the economic environment 2.
These realities, combined with AI becoming the topic de jour in the tech and business press, has led AI to emerge as a top of mind topic for CFOs looking to further streamline operations, identify key trends and risks in their business, and bolster decision-making.
In fact, according to Gartner, 80% of CFOs are looking to invest significantly more into AI and AI-technologies over the next two years 3. At WiseLayer, we have a front row seat to how finance organizations are increasingly adopting AI since we work closely with the finance teams of 100+ mid and large-sized clients who use our secure, personalized AI-driven platform to automatically identify & solve business issues.
Here are the full breadth of AI-driven use cases our most cutting edge clients are utilizing across their finance function which are and driving clear, immediate business value:
- Process Automation for Invoice and Expense Processing: AI automates the capture, processing, and auditing of invoices and expenses, speeding up processing times and ensuring compliance and error elimination
- First Draft Generation for Journal Entries or Financial Statements: AI analyzes all financial and financial-adjacent data and creates first drafts of journal entries or financial statements, standardizing entries and saving valuable time
- Enhanced Close of Books: AI expedites the closing of books by identifying anomalies, automating key processes, and managing checklist items (e.g. automated classification of unclassified accounts)
- Automated Stakeholder Reporting: AI simplifies creating financial reports such as board presentations or investor materials, offering customized visuals, automated updates, and the integration of data from various domains
- Enhanced Strategic Planning: AI consolidates data across finance, operations, other areas of the organization for a unified business view, enabling focus on strategic insights rather than manual data handling
- Automated Financial Forecasting: Leveraging historical and third-party data, AI provides precise forecasts for revenues, expenses, and cash, analyzing trends and alerting stakeholders in real-time to significant deviations from the budget
- Fraud Detection: AI's pattern recognition detects fraudulent transactions, offering early prevention and reducing false positives. As an example, AI detects when a vendor bill has a major change (e.g. a new bank account), potentially a sign of a phishing scam
- Continuous Risk Monitoring and Detection: AI monitors data across systems like ERP and billing/invoicing, spotting risks and providing real-time alerts. This continuous oversight ensures proactive risk management, alignment across different platforms, and real-time alerts and responses. As an example, AI detects when an invoice for a client looks “light” versus a predicted value, likely due to a tracking issue in an upstream billing system
Conclusion
These use cases illustrate how AI can reshape decision-making, risk identification, reporting, and strategic planning in finance. For a CFO and their team, integration of AI into their day to day processes is now table stakes.
At WiseLayer, our AI platform covers nearly all the above use cases, integrating securely with your key finance systems (e.g. ERP, Billing/Invoicing, Expense/AP) and generating an AI-driven newsfeed of the most pertinent & actionable issues – with workflow tools to solve issues quickly. We’d love to show you how we’re giving your finance organization a running start into integrating AI deeply into your day to day whilst capturing clear business value from the outset. Feel free to utilize the form below to book a demo of the platform.
These use cases illustrate how AI can reshape decision-making, risk identification, reporting, and strategic planning in finance. For a CFO and their team, integration of AI into their day to day processes is now table stakes.
At WiseLayer, our AI platform covers nearly all the above use cases, integrating securely with your key finance systems (e.g. ERP, Billing/Invoicing, Expense/AP) and generating an AI-driven newsfeed of the most pertinent & actionable issues – with workflow tools to solve issues quickly. We’d love to show you how we’re giving your finance organization a running start into integrating AI deeply into your day to day whilst capturing clear business value from the outset. Feel free to utilize the form below to book a demo of the platform.
- "Chief financial officers, generally known to be risk-averse, have concerns about data security and the technologies’ reliability, particularly in a sensitive area like finance. But they are also curious about the efficiencies they could reap at a time when many companies hunt for cost-cutting opportunities, as well as the prospect of helping address the worsening shortage of accountants." Source: WSJ
- “Over the past decade, finance departments reduced costs by almost 30 percent. The next decade’s focus: achieving even higher levels of effectiveness." Source: McKinsey
- “80% of CFOs surveyed in 2022 expected to spend more on AI in the coming two years.” Source: Deloitte
