The FUSION 2014 Conference from the Institute of Financial Operations was held at the Gaylord Texan Resort May 5th through 8th. Our team arrived at DFW on Monday morning and headed straight to the rental car lot. After Hertz kicked us out of two Nissans, we were finally on our way to the resort—only to be lead astray by Waze with a 30-minute tour of Grapevine. But hey, at least the weather was nice!
Having never been to a Gaylord hotel before, I was immediately impressed with the sheer size of the building. They’ve created such a unique environment where you feel like you are outside walking through different areas of Texas, but you’re actually under a glass dome with air conditioning at all times. The level of detail and care put into decorating every inch of the hotel is amazing. With several restaurants, shops, and walkways, it’s easy to understand why we didn’t leave the premises for nearly 3 days.
We checked in and headed to the convention center to set up our booth in partnership with Alfresco. Luckily all of our crates were intact (minus one lost wheel) and waiting for us. We were excited to unveil our latest theme: “Invoice Land”, complete with game board backdrop, candy cane tables, and a Jelly Belly buffet. It was a struggle to keep from eating all the jellybeans ourselves!
Attendees started filing in about 3:30 for the opening night reception. Traffic was strong and our jellybeans were a hit. We had several great conversations with folks who were looking to automate some or all of their accounts payable process. The needs of each attendee varied widely—some were seeking a capture/OCR solution, others needed a content repository with BPM/workflow, several folks were looking for a vendor portal, and some needed help with everything from start to finish. We realized that the current level of automation within each organization depended on their AP department size, what systems they had in place and needed to integrate with, what their overall goals were, and their volume of incoming invoices. Several folks told us that AP automation had been on their company’s “to-do” list for years, but the project kept getting pushed for others. Other folks were at the show specifically looking at AP automation solutions with a clear timeline and budget in mind.
On Tuesday morning, Zia’s SVP Phil Robinson and EVP Pat Myers presented “Breaking Down the Barriers to Adoption (of Invoice Automation)” on the AP track. While true cost per invoice may vary significantly per organization, including differences in how this cost is calculated, virtually every report has shown this cost can be substantially reduced though invoice automation systems – up to 80 percent in some studies. So, with the potential for such enormous cost savings, why hasn’t every company adopted an invoice automation system? The presentation examined the very real “why nots” that are barriers to adoption and how to break them down. The slide deck can be found on our Slideshare channel here.
We continued to serve over 70 pounds of jellybeans to our booth guests as we spoke more about AP automation. Over 100 people took a guess at our “Bean Counters” game, where they had to decide how many tropical JellyBellies were in our 1-gallon container (the answer: 4,050!). Thanks to all those who played and congratulations to our winner, whose guess was only 100 off!
After we wrapped up the show on Wednesday afternoon, we headed into Dallas to prepare for the 4th stop on our ECM Renovation Roadshow tour. Shout out to the Westin Dallas Galleria who brought tea and crackers to my room because I mentioned I was feeling ill at check-in. They even left a get-well card signed by 6 people—what service!
Then ECM Renovation Roadshow lunch and learn event was held at Chamberlain’s Steak and Chop House on Thursday afternoon. Of course, with our usual weather luck, we had a downpour of rain and tornados. Still, a great group braved the weather and attended the event. After an introduction from Phil Robinson, VP of Sales Ryan McVeigh presented Zia’s ECM Renovation Solutions–including ways to save money and increase adoption with Zia’s Initial Consulting Engagements and Migration Services. He presented multiple case studies on AP automation, corporate legal departments, mortgage loan automation, and government solutions. The smaller group allowed for great conversation and feedback during the presentation—we appreciated the interaction as always.
Thanks to everyone who visited the Zia and Alfresco booth at FUSION and to those who attended the ECM Renovation Roadshow in Dallas—we look forward to speaking with you further!