Embracing New Technology Can Require a Mental Hurdle for CFOs

Newly appointed HaystackID chief financial officer Dave Murray’s company was one of the first in the computer forensics industry to go fully remote, meaning it was in a strong position to adapt to the realities of today’s pandemic-afflicted world.

With paper checks no longer an option, one of the biggest of those challenges for many firms is the need to adopt digital payment methods. Murray said HaystackID, despite its relatively small size, has helped push a lot of its clients in that direction through its insistence on doing everything digitally.

“Some of our mid-market clients are law firms that aren’t really set up to do that,” Murray explained. “They want to meet us for lunch and then go through what’s outstanding and say, ‘OK, I’ll get it to you later,’ but that is not how we operate.”

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That flexibility works both ways, as larger clients have asked HaystackID itself to adopt unfamiliar payments systems. Although anyone would naturally prefer a uniform standard, Murray said the moves have ultimately benefited the company, because it means HaystackID now supports five different payment platforms.

As Murray explained, those platforms not only provide good visibility into when things are getting paid, but they also help ensure the company gets paid faster.

“A lot of times, it’s about getting [the invoice] to the right desk to get paid,” he said. “If it has to go to five different people, then we find it’s all set up to go that way when you submit it into the portal. So, we do like them.”

AI Transforms Tedious Tasks

Considering what HaystackID does, it’s not a surprise that Murray is keen on technology. The company provides data-mining services for law firms and big organizations that are facing complex, data-intensive investigations and litigation.

In an employee discrimination suit, for instance, HaystackID’s technology can mine company records of communications with its employees to pull out useful information.

“We help parse that pile of electronic records down to a manageable set using artificial intelligence, so you can start to assess what your risk might be,” Murray explained. “We’re able to do this fast and accurately, we’re really good at doing that.”

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HaystackID is also really good at cyberattack investigations. Its other main service is “cyber discovery,” or more specifically, helping companies to ensure that all of their digital records and data is as secure as it can be.

It also investigates the source of attacks when they do happen, providing recommendations to ensure such incidents don’t happen again.

A B2B Mind Shift

Murray believes technology has the potential to solve another of the most pressing issues facing organizations today — namely, the acute talent shortage that has resulted from the Great Resignation.

As he sees it, the technology to solve a lot of the labor problems today already exists. The issue is that more often than not, people can actually be an obstacle to pushing some of it through.

“Part of the challenge is that a lot of people are very comfortable comparing purchase order A with invoice B,” Murray said. “But right now, you have a best of breed solution that does that for you, so you don’t need a person to do that. People can be a blocker to that because they’re in job protection mode.”

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As such, Murrary argues that it’s necessary to change that mindset and get people to think of technology as an asset, rather than a liability.

For example, rather than sitting comparing invoices with purchase orders, an accountant can let a computer do it for them — letting them spend their time focusing on the transactions that are unusual, such as those where the customer’s pricing isn’t where you want it to be.

“Those are the ones you want to spend your time on,” Murray said. “Those are the ones you actually have to deal with.”