Every company needs a FinTech Link!
aye4fin is happy to continue its growth and welcomes a new team member: An interview with our new process mining and payment expert Martin Kunze
Martin Kunze started his career at KPMG in post-merger integration for major clients. In 2010, Martin Kunze joined the Linde Group as Global Process Owner of Accounts Payables/Receivables and Cash Management. He implemented a global card and alternative payment solution and supported multiple supplier payment and customer fund allocation platform installations in Sydney, Sao Paulo and Manila.
As Head of Process Excellence, he took care of process optimization in all operational finance areas and co-led the Linde Group’s initiative to automate robotic processes. Later he was responsible for setting up a “Process Mining Factory” for Linde plc. Responsible for supporting the decision-making and synergy generation process in the post-merger situation.
Martin has been part of the aye4fin team as Digital Payment Value Architect since October of this year. He supports our customers in the efficient and up-to-date process analysis and optimization of the digital payment value chain. With 20 years of experience in finance and payments, we are confident that Martin will add value to the business and more importantly to our customers.
To get to know Martin a little better and to give you valuable insights into the complex world of process mining and what it has to do with payment transactions, we asked our teammates about current topics:
The leap from a large industrial group like Linde to a boutique consultancy like aye4fin may not be for everyone. Martin, what made you decide to take this step?
I’ve always been a pioneer in the team, helping the different regions and countries within Linde find the best way into innovative technologies and ecosystems. With the merger of Linde and Praxair, the strategic decision was made to transfer more responsibility to the operating units. Thus, the payment platform and the process mining centre have adopted their delivery and demand management methods.
To maintain the pioneering momentum, I decided to move outside of Linde where the position of Payment Manager, RPA Consultant and Process Mining Business Value Architect is not yet well known in the broader industry.
So, I asked my network, including Thomas Tittelbach, who had been our consultant for Linde since 2014 and was enthusiastic about the idea of combining payment know-how and RPA/process mining skills under the aye4fin umbrella.
Now I’m part of the ambitious aye4fin team and advise merchants and companies with innovative solutions for the FinTech tasks of digital payment transactions.
Speaking of your qualifications and experience: Process Mining is an important addition to Business Intelligence and Business Process Management. How would you describe Process Mining to those unfamiliar with it, and how can our customers add value to their business with it?
Process Mining replaces the gut feeling about pitfalls, variants, and the long duration of well-known processes with a scientifically based evaluation of data points. These points are recorded and anonymized along the process chain and brought together and interpreted with the help of an algorithm. The results are visualized in easy-to-understand dashboards and show where a process can be streamlined, accelerated, or replaced. Process mining helps to control a process by showing non-optimal or even prohibited process variants in real-time. And finally, the tool can make/support priority decisions about the next tasks that a team, department or organization should perform.
Where do you currently see the biggest use case of Process Mining and RPA in integrating digital payments for businesses?
The integration of digital payments in online shops and marketplaces has so far been focused on sales, while in finance and accounting there is still a big process gap where process mining helps most companies. The receipt of money on the bank account and the comparison with the open items of the respective customer has so far been carried out largely manually.
We, therefore, use the combined data from 3 sources:
– Online shops or marketplaces
– Payment service providers and e-wallets (e.g. Stripe or PayPal)
– electronic bank statements of the selling companies
and create a so-called digital twin of the end-to-end process.
The digital twin helps to reconcile open items faster or even fully automatically. In other words, we help to create a FinTech area in the accounts receivable department.
How do you see the impact of the latest developments in the payments industry such as Buy Now Pay Later, QR code payments and NFC rings?
I like and support all types of payments that make it easy for the customer to get the product they want, so any new systems are welcome. aye4fin supports on the “Seller” side to close the resulting gaps and to connect the new process points. With the knowledge that we at aye4fin now bundle, we can advise on current solutions and future trends in payment methods, payment service providers, e-wallets, and related processes.
What trends do you see for 2022?
If I knew, I would invest now instead of answering these questions. We will see new trends, and we will pioneer how best to leverage them in our respective customers’ ecosystems. The Moscow Metro (public transport) is currently evaluating the approach and acceptance of facial recognition payments, while Australia is optimizing the EFTPOS Tap and Pay.
The existing players will grow and the seamless integration of the FinTech world into the “old” economy will continue. Stripe from the USA has acquired Reckon in India, PayPal and Pinterest have plans and now more than 50 new start-ups have received funding to explore even more creative solutions for using the digital world and creating better processes and products.
We sincerely thank Martin for his time and his insightful answers on these topical issues. We are just as excited as our new team members to see what the future holds for us!
If you would like to know more about how Martin and the aye4fin team can support you, get in touch with us directly!
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