ARI WIDLANSKY
PROCUREMENT TECHNOLOGY
For a long time, accounts payable( AP) and procurement have operated in silos as separate functions with different priorities. Procurement focused on controlling spend and managing supplier relationships, while AP focused on invoice processing and payments. The handoff between them has been the weak point and for years, organisations accepted that as simply how it worked.
“ We experienced this firsthand when we focused more heavily on AP without placing enough emphasis on connecting the two departments,” says Ari Widlansky, Managing Director & US Chief Operating Officer at Esker US. It is this gap where a lot of the friction lives.
ARI WIDLANSKY
TITLE: MANAGING DIRECTOR & US CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
COMPANY: ESKER US
As Managing Director & US Chief Operating Officer at Esker US, Ari Widlansky leads Esker’ s regional strategy, driving growth, team development and customer success through AI-powered automation solutions.
“ Today, organisations are increasingly recognising AP and procurement as two parts of a single, connected Source-to-Pay process, and that’ s where we’ re seeing the biggest gains,” says Ari.
Together, procurement is driving the purchasing decisions and supplier management, while AP ensures those commitments are executed accurately, compliantly and on time. The organisations that are seeing the most success have moved beyond treating these as separate departments. Instead, they’ ve created a shared view of purchasing, payments and supplier performance across finance and procurement.“ When both teams are working from the same data and connected workflows, organisations gain better visibility into spend, improve the supplier experience, and make more informed financial decisions,” explains Ari.
Agreeing, Emily Nash-Walker, Head of AP and AR at Tungsten Automation says:“ AP and Procurement are more efficient when treated not as two separate functions, but as a singular, cohesive financial decision-making engine. When these teams operate with shared visibility into spend, supplier performance, and working capital, they are far better positioned to make smarter decisions and drive meaningful value for the business.”
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