Catherine Dahl of Beanworks on innovation in finance

This episode is sponsored by Beanworks. The twelve months from March 2020 to March 2021 were an important year for financial automation vendor Beanworks for a few key reasons. The pandemic made their tools indispensable, both for existing clients and those companies scrambling to get away from paper-based financial processes. The company was also acquired by Quadient, which marks the next phase in the company's history. Beanworks CEO Catherine Dahl joins us to talk about some of the key moments in her company's history, from their challenging start picking up the pieces of a previous firm to their product development roadmap, post-acquisition plans, and more. The company operates with the current and future needs of finance department workers in mind, Dahl says, and their product portfolio, from managing purchase orders to invoices to expenses to payments, reflects that worldview. Show Notes: 0:30 - The importance of 2020 for Beanworks, including the pandemic and their GP integration launch 3:00 - The story of Beanworks' acquisition by Quadient 4:15 - The origins of Beanworks in 2012 and earlier efforts 6:00 - Competing and differentiating in the AP automation space 9:45 - Building a Microsoft channel program and features for the Dynamics product line 10:45 - Differentiating in the marketplace 13:00 - Customer stories and needs: managing payables by exception, work from home, and more 17:00 - Planning for growth 18:45 - What is required to continue innovation in finance into the future 21:15 - What to expect from the next generation of accounting professionals Eliminate 83% of data entry, with AI-powered header and line item data capture, so your team can focus on higher-value tasks. Manage POs, invoices, payments and expenses from a central platform. For more information visit beanworks.com or email us at [email protected]