Tipalti Tames The Monster Ecosystem Of X-Border, AP Automation

Over the past few years, demand has increased for system integrators, ERP (enterprise resource planning) resellers, procure-to-pay implementers, business process outsourcing companies and banks to work together as their clients strive to enable complex capabilities like cross-border payments and invoice automation.

Startup Tipalti, which deals in such capabilities, saw this need and began to build a partner program, starting with the hire of former Wells Fargo banker Daniel DeVall to lead business development. DeVall joined Tipalti in May and dove into creating the partner program, which has now officially launched.

Tipalti CMO Robert Israch explained that the primary focus of the program is to enable financial experts and consultants to better help and serve their clients. At its core, it’s a B2B2B service — a business helping other businesses serve their business clients.

“ERP, P2P, those who are helping these companies go public, eCommerce and marketplace processing and gateways: There’s a monster ecosystem of folks in this space,” Israch said. “Many approach us about partnerships. We’ve spent the past year learning from these people, how we can help them, and this is the beginning of actually doing it.”

Israch said he’s observed increased adoption and momentum for AP (accounts payable) automation and cross-border needs — and not just at his own company. Across the board, he said, CFOs and executives are realizing that they can’t keep up just by throwing more bodies at the problem.

“People are realizing that data entry and personnel can’t suffice anymore,” Israch said, citing fraud, tax and audit risks present in all commerce, but especially in commerce that crosses borders.

The increasing demand, he said, means that the challenge can’t be tackled the same way it could have been tackled a few years ago. It must scale, and participants must be protected from those risks.

Tipalti launched the program with a few partners already queued up: B2B CFO, EVO Payments International and SD Mayer. It’s designed for firms that work to elevate finance organizational performance for midmarket and enterprise clients, according to a press release announcing these early partnerships.

Jerry L. Mills, founder and CEO of B2B CFO, said he feels the partnership will “help CFOs free their finance teams from the minutiae and manual risks of accounts payable, so businesses can focus more on growth and improving competitiveness.”

That’s exactly the goal, according to Tipalti CEO and Co-Founder Chen Amit.

“As finance organizations grow and transform, they need to modernize manual accounts payable processes to free up time for higher-value finance activities, scale with global expansion and … reduce audit, fraud, tax and regulatory compliance risk exposure,” Amit said in a statement.