REPOST: Find IAPP FUSION 2010 videos on youtube
Wow! If you have not already seen them online, IAPP has posted a number of videos relating to FUSION 2010. They have been professionally produced and the do a great job capturing the energy of the week long event. Whether you were there and you want to relve the fun or if you missed out and you want to see what everyone is buzzing about: Follow the link to FUSION Videos to view all the fun.
Wow! If you have not already seen them online, IAPP has posted a number of videos relating to FUSION 2010. They have been professionally produced and the do a great job capturing the energy of the week long event. Whether you were there and you want to relve the fun or if you missed out and you want to see what everyone is buzzing about: Follow the link to FUSION Videos to view all the fun.
From this blogger’s perspective the Masters Session (at FUSION 2010) hit full stride during the second panel of the day, “The changing Role of AP and AR.” Moderated by Andre Hale the Director of Accounts Payable at Disney Worldwide Shared Services, this panel aimed at exploring the migration that AP professional have made in their job duties in the past 10-20 years. Andre created a simple theme – AP shops have traditionally been asked to achieve transactional excellence and over time they have become quite successful at this. As this goal is achieved it is only natural that the larger organization should ask their AP department to begin adding value. Andre sees his role in the AP suite as driving the copmpanies bottom line through his activities.
Eric Jones, the Director of Corporate Payable from Lowes echoed many of Andre’s sentiments by admitting that 15 years ago his staff may have been “pounding a keyboard,” but now they were expected to critically access transactions. This change certainly underscores the migration from transactional focus to value focus, although Eric did add deep perspective to the room when he relayed that his entire team back in North Carolina all live by one simple Wildly Important Goal. (WIG) Eric stated that if asked, everyone one of his team would state the department’s “WIG” is to “pay the right amount to the right people at the right time.” This elegant battle cry speaks to why Lowes’ payables department is a world class operation and it bridges the two ends the discussion. Paying the right people the right amount at the right time requires both transactional excellence and critical thought and as you further refine your definition of the word “right” you can begin to deliver more and more value to your organization.
Panelist Sherry DePew VP, Customer Development with Lavante spent her previous life running the Shared Services department at Boise Cascade and added that hiring good people was paramount to the success of her AP departments ability to move from transaction-focus to value-focus. Her ability to hire talented and hard working people served her almost too well. She said that in time her department was almost looked at as a farm organization to the larger corporation. Becoming a top performer in an environment which requires you to drive value buy paying bills helps professionals to develop valuable skills and many of her best team members were quickly snatched up by other departments. Andre agreed immediately and said he has long viewed his department as an “incubator” for his organization. This point was universally received and many voices from the crowd shared their own pride and frustration about similar issues that they are dealing with.
A panelist on another topic, Susan Trevisano of LMI added, from the audience that in her experience she has seen the successful use of a passport system for employees. Expected to pass through many different departments, talented workers can build business muscles by learning from many different departments and ultimately add more value and perspective when they ultimate take up residence in one single department. The panel agreed, specifically Andre who responded by saying he encouraged his staff to spend time understanding the pain of vendors and internal customer. He specifically said to understand why these groups would ever ”cry out in pain.” Understanding the pain points of your constituents is good for empathy and good for business.
Unfortunately the panel was cut off after 90 minutes and could have countined indefinitely. It is remarkable how many among the capacity crowd were asking questions and contributing insights. It was also interesting how many in attendance actually described what they saw as the role of AP and asked the room to critique or correct their perspective. The room had a very raw and honest feel and comments in the hallway during break were openly appreciative that some many industry leading companies would assemble top finance officers to discuss such an under the radar yet significant issue.
In addition to record attendance, five guided service provider tours and a blockbuster announcement about the merging of IAPP/IARP & TAWPI, FUSION 2010 also saw the introduction of a brand new track specifically designed for CFO, Controllers and Directors in Shared Services.
The track was conceived almost a year prior to FUSION 2010 and required the successful alignment of many moving pieces. IAPP’s annual conference has long been considered an event for AP professionals, managers and supervisors. To its credit the yearly networking and educational bazaar has become the premier event for all things AP and has consistently delivered payables professionals the necessary tools needed to keep up with best practices and excel at their roles. Unfortunately the event did very little to help dispel that silly little question that has been plaguing AP pros for years, “what’s so difficult about AP? It’s just paying bills, right?”
Expanding on the years “FUSION” theme the Master Session aimed to create a track that would speak to the combined Master’s audience and planned to placed much emphasis on Shared Services topics with a consistent focus on Accounts Payable themes. If done correctly the track was intended to discuss AP issues at a level which would be relevant to both the CFO, the AP Manager and all stops in between.
A task force of service providers and financial professionals was assembled and after months of much hard and many iterations the group finally delivered an all-day session consisting of five panels comprised of 4-5 experts. Topics included:
(check back for part 2)
Tom Bohn absolutely “brought it” during the opening session of IAPP FUSION 2010. I have long been a proud member of IAPP, but Tom’s remarks really hit a nerve and left me feeling even better about the association. Tom started his speech by taking us on a little trip through the five different music delivery technologies that most of us have experienced during our lifetimes: LP, 8-track, cassette, CD & MP3. The point was simple… the times they are-a-changing.
Tom discussed change and pointed to several more eye opening things that will be changing in the coming years; China will become home to the largest English speaking population in the world (WHAT?!) and a computer will surpass the human ability to reason. (Although he did admit that his intellect was likely outpaced by the 386.)
Ultimately the point of his story was about the changes being experienced by major corporation around the globe. An advocate for financial professionals of all departments and ranks Tom drew a straight line to how these new shake ups being experience the world over would effect the folks sitting in the room. His answer to the problem was not simple, but I interpreted the spirit of his sentiments to be… “we rise up, we get resourceful, we attack the situation and we prevail.” That is what FUSION is all about! Tom actually said it outright, “IAPP/IARP/TAWPI Fusion is not the culmination, it is just the beginning of how we address the change in the world and the change in the workplace.” OK I am paraphrasing, but you get the point.
This year’s Dallas conference is host to 1600 souls which is the second largest turnout for an IAPP event in the association’s history. Where many other associations are suffering their worst attendance rates ever and trying with all their might not to dissolve from existence, IAPP is surging. IAPP is delivering one hell of a product. That is a great road map for how to overcome obstacles as well.
I have walked around FUSION for the last two days I have attended many sessions and I have joined spirited discussions from the perimeter of many round tables in the banquet hall at breakfast and lunch. I have seen it first hand… more involvement and engagement from attendees, more workshops, more information & more services provider solutions. IAPP even hosted a series of tours where financial professionals could opt in to take a guided walk through the exhibition hall and listen to high level 5-7 minute descriptions of service provider solutions. Contrast this to the typical interactions… at most conferences, attendees are forced to travel booth to booth to get a booklet stamped in hopes of winning a prize… that is NOT strategic and that is NOT helpful, that is disrespectful to everybody’s time. FUSION is creating an environment where attendees can actually view the providers as… well… providers. What a concept.
We (Lavante) presented our solution in the “Emerging Technology Tour” and 87 people attended to hear our CEO discuss our Lavante Connect new product launch. I actually heard one of the tour attendees say, “The technology tour has been the most useful hour of my entire 2010.” (That is a majorwin for them) We set up over ten product demonstrations alone in just minutes as the touring mass scattered from our booth space. Incredible! (That is a major win for us)
All in all, I am a believer and I think IAPP is on the right track. I am proud to be involved with this group and I hope we can all follow the example and get motivated and adapt to the changing times and coming up with winning solutions.
How is next week’s IAPP conference like jumping out of a plane?
Next week is IAPP’s annual conference at the Gaylord Texan. Up to 2,000 financial professionals will be living and doing business all within a 1 mile radius of each other. An ideal petri dish for best practices, catching up with colleagues and meeting new service providers that can take your productivity to the next level. Whenever coming up on trade shows and conferences I always think back to an episode in my life about fifteen years ago when some friends and I thought it would be a great idea to jump our of a perfectly good airplane! We wanted to skydive, a right of passage for the adrenaline repressed.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about the idea so, a few days before the big event I began to train my mind to de-sensitize itself to the thought of hurtling myself ground ward from ten miles up. Every time the fear would bubble up I would overcome it and calm myself to minimize the apparent dangers. It was probably some kind of defense mechanism, but by jump day I was pretty unaffected by the thought of skydiving. Where my friends were sick with excitement, I was very non-chalant and clam about the ordeal. Even as the plane spiraled is ascent I do not think my pule rose above normal. We were all jumping tandem and as my instructor inched us closer to the opening on the side of the plane I felt nothing.
In the next moment we were tumbling in what felt like weightlessness. At one moment, nothing but blue and then a flash of wing and then the earth below me. Arms spread, wind in my face, man yelling in my ear… I felt nothing.
So what does this have to do with IAPP? Next week I challenge us all not to do what I did. Do not detach, do not go into “play it safe” mode, do not spend time in the safety of your room or at dinner with only the people you know. IAPP works around the calendar to put together one of the finest trade events in any industry and they absolutely pack the schedule from Monday to Thursday to delivery quality. There is so much available to financial professionals at all levels at next week’s conference and I strongly encourage all attendees to experience every bit of it. Be as present as you can, attend as many session as you can, and start conversation with strangers. Every person in every room at the Gaylord Texan next week has something of value to offer and the information is only a hand shake away.
View next week as an opportunity to advance you career and to meet experts that ave been through all of the business problem you are facing. Expand your personal network and jump in with both feet.
From the IAPP website: THE MASTERS SESSION (At Fusion 2010 – for CFOs, Controllers, and Senior Shared Service Leaders) Wednesday, May 12, 2010 9:45 am – 5:15 pm
The Masters Session is not a seminar. It is an opportunity to engage in thoughtful discussion with your peers in the business world. There will be no Powerpoint presentations. There will be no team building exercises. There may be some motivational speakers, but they will be sitting right across the table from you. Or, it may even be you.
The Masters Session is not for everyone. CFOs, Controllers, and Senior Shared Service Leaders are invited to participate because you represent the pinnacle of leadership in AP, AR, and financial accounting. Invitations are non-transferable, however, you are welcome to bring one member of your team, and if you do – your attendance is free of charge.
The Masters Session is designed for you. This event is being developed by some of the world’s most innovative business finance leaders. These experts will initiate discussion and moderate the discourse, ensuring a valuable, high-quality experience for top-ranking financial executives. See core topics for discussion here.
The Masters session is designed by you. This is an invitation not just to attend, but to help formulate the event. What issues do you need to address? Which challenges do you need the most help with? Tell us, and we will include it in the discussion. Chances are, what matters to you also matters to your peers. And that’s what matters to us. Upon registration, send your discussion topics in advance of the event to masters@theIAPP.org
The AP Alliance program is available exclusively for IAPP partners to engage further with the accounts payable profession. It assists in leveraging relationships with your clientele by enhancing your credibility and commitment. It’s not only about investing in IAPP – it’s about your commitment and passion to advocate the AP profession! More details from the IAPP website:
Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and Days Payables Outstanding (DPO) are important, widely used metrics to manage working capital. Financial managers monitor these statistics very closely and regard them as key performance indicators as they work to maximize overall cash flow as well as transactional efficiency. Through our audit work communicating with extremely large numbers of vendors for Fortune 1000 enterprises, we have begun delivering significant value to our clients based on a new metric that measures and standardizes an important aspect of accounts payables financial efficiency – Days Credits Outstanding (DCO).
DCO focuses on open credits that are typically not visible to your internal accounting personnel. Specifically, these credits are aging on your vendors’ and suppliers’ receivables ledgers and, for a variety of reasons, may be outside of your books, or at least not specifically identified with the vendor. DCO measures the amount of time that outstanding credits are open and available on your vendors’ accounts receivable records before you are able to actualize them as cash to your bottom line. Allowing your DCO to grow means your cash inflow is being delayed. Given the time value of money, this represents lost cash, even if eventually you do recover the credits.
While aged vendor-side credits are sometimes known to your company, more often they’re not; they’re essentially unseen or lost dollars. In fact, based on over a million data points, Lavante research indicates that after an open credit has aged over 90 days, you have less than a 20% chance of recovering that credit without third party intervention. These “lost” dollars add up and can grow to a staggering one and a half million dollars per every billion dollars spent. Tracking DCO enables your company to bring the management of these dollars in line with your existing standards for managing working capital.
In addition to cash timing implications, it is also important to consider the financial exposure that increased attention to DCO can reveal about your company. A growing DCO is an indicator of risk because there is a proven likelihood of vendors using unreturned credits to offset unearned discounts and disputed invoices, or otherwise disposing of them as they age beyond a reasonable period. Ultimately, unclaimed credits that are not used by the vendor are escheated, that is, turned over to the state. In all of these scenarios, you are losing the cash forever. A focus on DCO will help bring visibility to the dollars outstanding while driving the age of these items as low as the aging scope cut-off of your audit will allow.
The introduction of DCO as a key performance indicator is significant because it adds a new measurable element to cash management. It encapsulates the fact that not only is it important to actualize all open credits, but it is also important to realize these dollars in the fastest time frame possible, thus maximizing cash flow. The cash flow implications of DCO are as relevant to cash management as preventing early payments, or even taking all of your discounts.
Lavante, with our unique ability to comprehensively collect and analyze vendor-side AR records and thus uncover these “lost” credits, is calculating the DCO metric as part of our audits. Our clients use it to help them manage their cash flow and as a key indicator of the transactional efficiency of their accounts payables process.
IAPP’s annual event for AP professionals is scheduled for May 9-13 just outside of Dallas, TX. Two months remain to register and make your plans to attend. (Lavante will be there demonstrating solutions for profit recovery, TIN management and Vendor File Management)
I am impressed with IAPP’s resilience in creating this event. It is no secret that trade show attendance is down this year and many shows are running at about 30% of their participation levels from only a few years ago. IAPP has done a couple of clever things to battle this trend and I have to say that I am genuinely impressed.
They have partnered with a like-minded association, TAWPI to pull together resources and to broaden the offering to all attendees. They have introduced a sister company IARP to bring more connectivity throughout the Shared Service group. They have broadened their offering to become more relevant to Shared Service Directors and CFOs. This will increase then number of interested parties and it will add more value at the decision maker level. (Directors are more likely to approve budget for show attendance if the material is relevant to them.) IAPP has also made a very public effort to add more content and value to the show. They have even added a guided tour of the trade show floor to help call out and demonstrate specific vendor solutions for outsourcing, technology, document management, imaging and almost anything else you can think of.
To date I understand attendance for the event is ahead of last years numbers and there is a very strong buzz in the industry about this show. Can’t wait to see you all there.
1.877.LAVANTE