CFO Says Taking Cost out of Business Is True Value

Amid rising interest rates and a gloomy economy, the notion of providing value has changed.

Whether that value is for your own company, or something being provided to clients or customers, Transflo CFO Cameron Eastman said he hears the same song wherever he goes these days.

“Every CFO saying the same thing,” Eastman told PYMNTS in a recent interview. “It’s cash flow. It’s how can you accelerate your collections. Every CFO is looking at how to do that and looking for ways to do that quicker, faster and better,” he added.

As a result, he and other CFOs are leveraging tools to make their back offices as automated as possible, he said, as it gives a lot more certainty over what your spend will be.

For its part, Transflo helps supply chain and trucking industry clients optimize operations to boost revenue flows and eliminate close to 2 billion pieces of paperwork annually.

As such, Eastman sees first-hand the importance that operations visibility and the value of automation can bring to business performance, which is what he said he looks to deliver to his customers as well as his own organization.

“What I would say internally is we use that same [quicker, faster, better] thought process [at Transflo],” he said. “So, we’re looking across the board at all of our processes, making sure (they’re) scalable, repeatable, [and] making sure ultimately we can be there to provide more value to our customers.”

In fact, this value prop also extends to relationship where Transflo is the customer.

“We appreciate vendors that can provide value to us because that helps us to deliver better value to our own customers,” he said, pointing to the value of building partnerships at all levels.

As such, keeping his ears to the ground and sifting through client feedback is also a big part of Eastman’s daily duties as a CFO.

“So, I hear what’s going on internally and externally, and incorporate that into my decision making,” Eastman states. “That way, I can ensure we’re investing appropriately and significantly in areas where we could have the biggest value [for our customers]. That is the biggest part of my day.”

Intelligent Automation

One of the ways that Eastman is ensuring that he will deliver greater value to his clients in 2023 is by investing in intelligent automation technologies, a decision Eastman said is often based on customer feedback.

“Much of my time goes into getting feedback and then making decisions based on that to improve our investment, our systems, [and] our processes,” stated Eastman. “That’s a big part of why we started heavily investing in intelligent automation.”

Intelligent automation is an approach to automating business processes by employing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools to maximize efficiency.

According to Eastman, the process originated in the logistics space, and today the practice makes possible frictionless connections between brokers, factors, and carriers.

“It [provides] very seamless automated transactions for all of those parties,” Eastman said. “We heard our customers loud and clear, and that’s why we invested in machine learning automation.”

Automation also helps the entire supply chain run efficiently, he said.

“I see even a bigger opportunity for Transflo [to work with] carriers, with brokers, with factors, helping them create a more automated, scalable process,” Eastman said. “That’s what’s on my plate, and I know it’s on every other CFO’s plate to do next year.”