At every Summit, PayStream Advisors has the pleasure of recognizing the year’s stand-out innovators in the field of AP and P2P automation. We 
highlight these leaders by giving out PayStream Innovate Awards, and the awards ceremony is one of the most important parts of the conference proceedings. For those who missed this presentation, here is a review of the dynamic P2P players that caught our attention and earned a 2014 Innovate Award.
Each year, we are amazed at the improvement in financial automation and at the success stories we witness throughout the financial software market—this year has been no exception. PayStream and the PayStream Advisory Board determines the winners of the Innovate Awards by taking a close look at both dynamic P2P solution providers and at organizations that have used P2P solutions dynamically. Among the solution providers, we separate the winners into three categories: AP Technology of the Year, Procurement Technology Year, and P2P Technology of the Year. These categories not only reflect the core themes of the Summit, but they are also representative of the cornerstones upon which PayStream’s research rests.
This year’s winner in the AP Technology Award was NVoicePay. Their ePayment Solution, AP Gateway, was the special component in their recent business movements and offerings that earned them the nomination and win. This product is remarkable for its flexible and simple design, its smooth workflow and vendor management capabilities, and its overall success in eliminating paper checks and creating savings for business. NVoicePay was a strong presence at the INNOVATE 2014, and PayStream believes they thoroughly earned this recognition.
Coupa was the winner of the Procurement Technology Award based on their remarkable purchasing solution, the Spend Optimization Platform. The Platform is robust, collaborative, and highly customizable—the perfect combination of attributes for an innovative eProcurement software. Also a strong presence at INNOVATE, Coupa has been drawing a lot of recent attention to their impressive company success and to the undeniable value of their software.
A summary of the previous two awards, the P2P Technology Award reflects the optimization possible in modern financial technology. SciQuest stood out to PayStream in this category, in large part because of their holistic approach to business process automation. The SciQuest Spend Management Suite reflects a profound focus on integration, synchronization, and accessibility that makes this product a shining example of P2P innovation.
Linda Dyck, Canadian Blood Services
PayStream also gives Excellence in AP Awards to a handful of organizations that have utilized a financial solution in a dynamic and collaborative way. The American Red Cross and Senior Director of Finance Business Support, Michael Harris, were first recognized for their impressive work in centralizing their shared services center, and in automating their AP and procurement process. In that same field of humanitarian work, the Canadian Blood Services and Linda Dyck earned an award for their work bringing better control and transparency to their invoice process and revitalizing their entire AP.
Along the lines of manufacturing, PayStream recognized Archer Daniels Midland and Suzanne LeoPoldi-Nichols, who employed an automations system to improve their AP transaction efficiency and optimize and expand their extensive global supplier base. The final company to receive the Excellence in AP award was GAF and Patricia Hutton. Their company used an integrated PO and invoice automation solution to free up their procurement department for more strategic activities, to enforce compliance, and to maximize spend.
PayStream enjoys this opportunity to give a physical memento to some of the solution providers we work with throughout the year and to some of the organizations that inspire us. Once again, congratulations to all the winners of the 2014 Innovate Awards. We look forward to seeing the great things you will do next in P2P success.
provider of death care products and services. They have over 25,000 employees and operate 1,614 funeral homes and 489 cemeteries in 44 states, 8 Canadian provinces, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. With such a big operation, it became increasingly important to control processes and costs, so in 2009, SCI created a 5-year Roadmap to transform their supply chain. They started seeking solutions to implement in their Procure-to-Pay process that would integrate their purchasing, tax, and payment procedures into one system. The Supply Chain and Accounts Payables teams reviewed multiple vendors and solutions before choosing Coupa to provide their automation software.
importance on a connective strategy. By quickly and easily putting people who need rides in contact with people who have cars, Uber is displacing regular taxi services and transforming the transportation services industry. In the same way, Airbnb creates a peer-to-peer network through their booking service, diminishing the need for hotel rooms, and bringing diversity and personalization to a sometimes lonely travel necessity.
Uber, Airbnb, and the leading travel and expense management solutions provider, Concur. With this collaboration, business travelers can use these alternative services to book their trips and complete their expenses without sacrificing accuracy, visibility and manageability. For Airnbn, integration through Concur TripLink will enable employers to gain full visibility into each booking to ensure Duty of Care requirements are met. Uber’s integration with the Concur platform will provide Concur business travelers with the ability to request, ride, pay, and automatically expense their transportation– all from their mobile phone. According to Concur, both of these partnerships will make the benefits of collaborative consumption available to the business world.
Concur, 