Joining us are two industry veterans eager to enable Finnish finance teams to reach their full potential.
For anyone who has been paying attention to how finance departments can use and benefit from artificial intelligence, it should come as no surprise that Semine is well on its way to put its mark on the international market for accounts payable solutions.
During the past few years, some of the most innovative companies in the Nordics have implemented SEMINE to revolutionise the way their finance departments work. Semine’s solution and results have impressed the market, enabling the company to grow its turnover by 50-60 percent annually, and Semine has long since started expanding beyond their home turf of Norway.
– Long before artificial intelligence became a buzzword in the global media, Semine started leveraging AI to give companies a way to automate their accounts payable. We have always been “AI-native”, meaning we deliver a complete end-to-end AI solution, not AI added on top of an existing rule-based solution.
This approach won traction among some important and visionary Norwegian companies, many of which operate internationally.
– Our expansion abroad actually started several years ago, when larger Norwegian companies wanted to give all their subsidiaries the same benefits and degree of automation as their Norwegian entities. Some of our customers – companies like Heimstaden, Norwegian, Viking Assistance Group and Norrøna – already use SEMINE in their Finnish subsidiaries, among other places, Karlsen states.
When Finnish Account Payables veteran Pekka Lindfors first heard about the results from companies that used SEMINE to automate their invoice handling, he instantly thought «finally»!
– I have been working with accounts payable for over two decades, so I’ve been preaching AP automation for many, many years. But rules-based automation could only bring customers so far.
Even after two generations, companies must use POs extensively to be able to automate beyond 20-30 percent of their invoices. Building a system which from the ground up is centered around artificial intelligence, Semine finally made those limitations a thing of the past, he says.
READ MORE: Here’s why AI can make finance departments even more efficient
Lindfors has worked in sales and marketing of established account payables solution providers for more than two decades, and knows the market very well.
Some years ago, he started hearing about this Norwegian startup that could easily bring customers to 70 or even 80 percent automatic handling in a matter of weeks, even into the 90s after some months – and all without requiring companies to use POs.
– These were fantastic results and I was very intrigued. These days, everybody talks about artificial intelligence. However, this was some years ago, and there was SEMINE – «AI native» and already beating the established players, he continues.
– I have long been convinced that AI is the way to go forward. But when systems are built as rules-based from the ground up, it turns out it’s extremely difficult to infuse them with artificial intelligence in a way that significantly enhances their performance, Lindfors says.
Seeing the huge disruptive potential that Semine would bring to the Finnish market, Lindfors was quick to join the team when the opportunity presented itself. So on February 1 2024, Lindfors became employee #1 at Semine, Finland. Petri Reijonen, his co-worker for more than fifteen years at their previous accounts payable employer, is already on board. Daniel Karlsen explains that he has great expectations for what the two seasoned veterans can achieve in the Finnish market.
– Having established a strong position for Semine in the Norwegian market, we started our international expansion by entering the Swedish market in August last year. The development there is going as planned and is looking very good, so we feel confident going into Finland – especially with such an experienced team in place, says Karlsen.
He stresses again that Semine is already being used in Finland, through subsidiaries of international companies. There are also ready-made integrations available to the majority of the most widely used ERP systems in Finland, and system integration partners are also in place to assist with implementations. Local electronic invoice formats are naturally also supported.
– We are now even launching Finnish in the application, so SEMINE is already very much ready for the Finnish market.
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Echoing Karlsens conviction, Lindfors is also convinced that Finnish companies are ready for the many benefits that Semine has to offer. He believes the decision to implement Semine will be a no-brainer for many Finnish companies that have been looking for innovative third generation solutions that utilize AI, but that have been stuck in second generation applications - until now.
– In my view, SEMINE is the only real alternative if you want a solution that is fully built on AI and actually enables a shift to a third generation accounts payable department.
He also believes there are other, just as important, benefits that will make the decision to implement Semine even more of a no-brainer.
READ MORE: OBOS: Semine automates the posting of half a million invoices
– One thing is the mentioned potential for automation, and data mining is another. SEMINE makes it extremely easy to collect very granular data from the company’s invoices and use it for analytical purposes. Another major benefit is that SEMINE allows customers to do more systems maintenance themselves – they don’t necessarily need to call in consultants for every little tweak that must be done, he says.
– Another very important thing is that the SEMINE onboarding process is very effective, with a cost base that is very reasonable, even low, compared to competition. In total, this makes for a far less costly solution, so customers can probably earn back their investment in a few months compared to the costs of their current solutions, Lindfors stated.
Karlsen and Lindfors concludes that it has never been easier to get started and ensure a quick ROI by harnessing the potential of using AI in the finance department.