How AutoRek Is Automating Reconciliation & Financial Data Controls | Interview with Nick Botha

Hello and welcome Chris Principy from

Financial IT here at money 2020. Truly

one of the great events that we get the

pleasure of being at year round and the

location like every year Las Vegas

better host city I don't think there is

and I'm really here with one of the

interesting companies that we get a

chance to talk to Nick how are you

>> yeah very good thanks Chris thanks for

having me

>> great Nick well we appreciate you

spending some time with financial IT so

tell us a little bit about autorec and

what you guys are doing and and and how

things are going to move forward

>> yeah so autorec is a financial data

control platform that works via the

automation of data management,

reconciliation and reporting processes.

Um I think it's a extremely exciting

time for companies like ours where you

know the payments industry uh is is is

on this journey of like transformation

and you know more often than not um the

middle and back office is you know

something that's been sort of left

behind in terms of uh attention

investment but unfortunately like these

firms have just come to a place where uh

you know they have no option really to

to be able to remain competitive in this

extremely competitive environment.

environment. Uh you know they really

have to start investing in better

processes, new technologies um looking

for any efficiency gains that they can

that they can get um in their middle and

back office and we we're right there.

You know we are um got such an exciting

technology to offer to these clients um

and it's just really an exciting time

for us.

>> Well, I'll tell you it's great. One of

the things that caught my attention that

you said is reconciliation and and I

know in my own career, you know, you

know, reconciliation's always kind of

there, but it's always the kind of thing

that's taken for granted kind of, you

know, the that you don't really look at

it as what what can it really do in

transforming the business.

>> Yeah. Yeah. So, I think uh you know,

we've seen that and through the

conversations that we have all the time,

I think that is the sentiment, right? Um

I think it's something that everyone's

been doing. Uh but I just think that

maybe there's been a lack of education

around the best practice to how to do

these things the most efficient way. Um

and that you know we've been doing this

for a very long time. We've been working

all around clients all around the globe

and I think it's got to that point now

where you know automation of the mundane

processes that happen around

reconciliation. Um it's just got to that

point where there's just better more

streamlined ways of doing these things

and software like ours at Autorec um is

there just to look at it's not just you

know when when you speak about

reconciliation you think of matching uh

transactions right uh but for us it's

more comprehensive than that right all

right it starts with the data often more

often than not especially in the

payments world you know disparate data

sources non-standardized formats of data

uh you know different payment rails and

uh different APMS and different

processes all have their own way of

doing things but that does affect the

life cycle of a transaction and it

becomes really really difficult to

reconcile data effectively especially at

a granular level. uh you know you want

insight into the most granular detail

you could possibly get but because you

know scale is the name of the game in

payments uh you know essentially scale

drives revenue and um I think that being

able to get a very very granular view of

your reconciliation picture is is

absolutely key right and that's

absolutely something that we are

supporting firms with uh you know close

relationship with the the likes of

Microsoft Azure um you know that's

extremely powerful infrastructure that

underpins our application which allows

us to process very very high volumes of

data and give you real time insight into

your reconciliation picture. But just

not just your reconciliation picture

also you know the behavior of your

payments that you're offering to your

clients for services. You know where are

you adding value? Where are things

struggling? you know, if you're a global

uh you know, enterprise business that's

operating in different uh geographies,

you know, which geographies are uh

performing well, where can you make

improvements? So, there's a lot more

insight that you can get from the

reconciliation picture other than just

simply matching data, matching

transactions.

>> Well, and especially in the payment, it

is all about matching at the end of the

day.

it. You know what I really caught is

with with Autorec with the software that

you guys have, you can have a real

impact on their their business that that

goes all the way down. How do you really

help your customers be able to really

view this in a new way?

>> It's an interesting uh thought like the

way that we look at it is think of uh

the the cost of doing business, the

operational cost per transaction, right?

If you can gain efficiencies and you tie

that into your transaction volumes,

essentially the operational cost per

transaction actually starts reducing at

some point, right? If you have

inefficiencies and doing things

manually, the operational cost per

transaction actually starts to increase

and you actually if you just escalate

that up and up and up, you actually

become like nonprofitable basically. Um

so creating those efficiencies reduces

the operational cost per transaction and

actually can have an impact on you know

the bottom line at the end of the day.

>> Well and I mean I think that's a key

thing. I don't think a lot of people

connect that that if you're more

efficient if you're doing your

reconciliations in in the manner that

you do them that you can actually add to

your you could be a profit center.

Right.

>> That's absolutely true. Yeah. And then

you also got to think of the things like

um you know the new technologies that

are available in today's market. Right.

you got to you you've got to stay um

present and relevant um and adopt the

things that everyone's talking about

like here at the conference. I mean, you

know, money 2020, some of the key themes

that we're seeing, things like stable

coins, things like, uh, you know,

blockchain, uh, in, you know, the

regulatory red tape that sits around

those types of things. What impact is

that going to have? Um, you know, things

like Agentic AI, uh, you know, something

that we're, uh, investing heavily at

Autorec um, in terms of, you know,

making sure that the AI that we're

introducing into our product is still

fit for purpose for what we do. and

we've spent a lot of time and uh

resources of our own to make sure that

the types of AI is going to be

beneficial to what we are offering to

our clients. I think that's very key.

You don't want to just throw any type of

AI uh you know any type of agents over

the top of very important critical

software. So we spend a lot of time and

resources in um you know getting it

right. Um I think that's very key

ensuring that uh all the certifications

that are required around uh introducing

this into you know a financial controls

framework um you know we we we've

managed to get to that position now and

I'm actually pleased to say that uh you

know autorec area is um is our product

uh our AI product that we are actually

going to market with. Um some of our

clients are going to be uh you know

piloting this AI model and you know we

see this as an extremely new uh exciting

uh prospect for reconciliation industry

as a whole and I think we're right at

the forefront of that.

>> Well I'll tell you that's an important

thing being at the forefront. You you

mentioned a lot of money 2020. So being

at the forefront and being at money 2020

sound they're pretty compatible for you

guys. Money 2020. I mean, I think this

is

I can't remember exactly uh how many

years I've been coming, but it's a lot.

All right. And you know, the

relationship we have with the Money 2020

crew and the brand awareness and you

know, just things like this like Chris

to sit down with you and you know,

announce things like our AI products are

out and uh you know, it's fantastic and

you know, big big uh thumbs up to the

money 2020 crew. Uh we love attending.

we'll continue attending and you know

just the networking and the types of

organizations that are here and seeing

what they're doing and you know taking

that back to our own business and making

sure that we're adapting and staying

relevant. Um it's just there's no better

place to do it than money.

>> Well, I'll tell you I agree with that

and when I think of money 2020 I I I

think of innovation and that that leads

me to my next question which is Nick

tell us what's the future? What is going

to happen in the industry that we need

to know about? Yeah, I think you know

some of the key things are you know I

think you know money 2020 and you know

what we're speaking about here it's all

around payments and payments activity

and you know there's just so many

different things that are happening in

the payments market. I feel like every

year it's always changing. There's new

things. Um and I think you know going

forward I think AI is clearly like

something that everyone's looking at.

You know, I've seen some announcements

on LinkedIn just since we've been here

uh around, you know, new financial

services organizations launching their

AI models and I think it's definitely

something that everyone needs to

consider. Um, you know, you need to pay

attention to it. You need to be looking

at where the investment opportunities

are for your business and but very very

importantly like how is that applicable

to what you are offering to your

clients, right? It's not just using any

type of AI. uh you know you need to be

very specific and work with the right

partners and work with the right people

that have a lot of experience a lot of

resources um and with that I think you

know we're going to see the people that

make the right investments the the

organizations that make the right

investments are going to be the ones

that are going to be the most

competitive in this extremely

competitive environment

>> I tell you I am excited about what you

have to say what we listen to today I

thank you very much for spending some

time in financial IT and wish you an

Motorc all the best going forward.

>> Thank you, Chris. I can't wait to do

this again. Much appreciate it.

>> Looking forward to it. Thanks,

>> Chris Principe, Financial IT.