EY & SAP launch integrated finance service to drive growth
The service model operates using SAP's cloud solutions and covers multiple core business functions, including human resources, payroll, finance operations, controllership, financial planning and analysis, treasury, tax, and application management.
EY's offering incorporates SAP S/4HANA Cloud together with EY's domain and industry experience. According to the company, the solution is designed to help high-growth businesses create value and bolster relationships with investors, regulators, and clients. EY has become a managed services provider with a "Run" focus as part of the SAP PartnerEdge programme. Through this ongoing collaboration with SAP, EY intends to help clients more rapidly achieve both strategic and operational goals.
The Integrated Finance Managed Services model is built on a robust data infrastructure and utilises an ecosystem of alliances. It is intended to provide rapid scalability and agility, as well as flexibility and resilience to support organisations as they transform and grow. The model also aims to promote improved governance and enhanced efficiency through automation, while relieving businesses of the burden of building, maintaining, and financing advanced technology, with the aim of freeing up capital for future innovation initiatives.
One of the early adopters is IntraBio, which used Integrated Finance Managed Services as part of its efforts to realign financial, human resources, and accounting processes around its core goal of developing and commercialising new products. By outsourcing finance processes, IntraBio was able to maintain its focus on bringing drugs to patients in need. This approach supported IntraBio's successful launch of AQNEURSA, a treatment for Niemann-Pick Disease Type C, following its approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2024.
Marie-Laure Delarue, EY Global Vice Chair - Assurance, commented: "Businesses and their finance functions face intense challenges at the best of times, as they strive for growth in hugely competitive markets. In today's volatile economic and geopolitical climate, these challenges have only intensified."
"Through Integrated Finance Managed Services, we're able to lift some of the burden that so often hinders business transformation efforts, meaning they can turn their attention to the real drivers of success. As IntraBio's story clearly shows, companies that can redirect their time and energy toward their priorities can reap incredible rewards in terms of innovation, product development, and ultimately their competitive edge."
In addressing the operational considerations faced by businesses, Raj Sharma, EY Global Managing Partner - Growth and Innovation, said: "The world's most innovative companies with bold growth and transformation plans are often weighed down by non-core tasks, diverting valuable executive time and resources. Well-structured enterprise functions are critical to scaling and sustaining success, but without the right support, it can become a distraction from the strategic priorities that drive real value."
"The Integrated Finance Managed Services solution can provide companies with a new model, helping businesses operate more efficiently and enabling leaders to focus on what matters most. We believe this solution can fundamentally change how clients think about their enterprise functions."
Thomas Saueressig, Member of the Executive Board of SAP SE, Customer Services & Delivery, added: "Through this collaboration with EY, we are excited to combine SAP's leading cloud suite, enriched with Business AI capabilities, and EY teams' deep domain and industry experience to help deliver better insights and drive better outcomes for customers."
EY's solution is positioned as an option for organisations seeking to shift focus from operational management to strategic business objectives, responding to increasing pressure in finance and other business-critical domains in the current economic and regulatory environment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Techday NZ
3 days ago
- Techday NZ
SER unveils AI bundles to boost SAP finance & procurement
SER Group has announced the launch of two new AI-powered solution bundles aimed at enhancing purchase-to-pay and order-to-cash processes in SAP environments. The new Doxis Purchase-to-Pay for SAP and Doxis Order-to-Cash for SAP bundles are designed to address the challenges caused by manual workflows, ineffective legacy automation, and growing data volumes which, according to projections, could reach 390 zettabytes of documents created annually by 2028. The solution bundles integrate AI-powered process automation with document processing services and connectors to inject what SER refers to as 'Smart Content' into SAP processes. This integration targets increased productivity and scalability for enterprises looking to improve their finance and procurement operations. Capabilities overview Doxis Purchase-to-Pay for SAP supports digital generation and transparent approval of purchase requisitions within SAP. It features smart extraction, rule-based validations, and automated approvals for delivery dates, pricing, and quantities in the order confirmation stage. For delivery bills and receipts, the solution automatically recognises delivery notes via barcode, records goods receipts, and ensures transferal to SAP and posting. AI-enabled processing of invoices from physical, email, or EDI sources is supported, with automated workflows and SAP posting designed to eliminate manual steps and reduce processing time. The Doxis Order-to-Cash for SAP bundle focuses on sales order automation, allowing multi-channel capture of incoming sales documents including email (PDF), SAP Ariba, IDoc and EDI, with AI and workflow automation support. It also provides real-time order creation and monitoring. For billing and electronic invoicing, the bundle facilitates fully compliant eInvoice generation standards such as ZUGFeRD, XRechnung, Factur-X, and KSeF, ensuring traceability and SAP integration. An order monitor feature offers users a 360-degree view of the sales order processing status. Business benefits SER Group claims the new SAP solution bundles deliver benefits such as streamlining document-intensive workflows, improving compliance measures, and increasing global efficiency, leading to both time and cost savings. The solutions allow up to 100% data recognition accuracy, underpinned by Doxis's Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) Financial Model and human-in-the-loop validation. They also include features for fraud prevention, such as duplicate invoice detection and compliance checks. Global scalability is facilitated by support for more than 20 languages and compatibility with both SAP ECC and S/4HANA systems. The bundles are described as cloud- and Clean Core-ready, enabling flexible, future-proof, cost-effective, scalable, and secure deployment options for enterprises with differing IT strategies. The Doxis solutions are the first to demonstrate the blending of team skills and technology following SER's recent acquisitions of AFI Solutions, a specialist in SAP document automation, and Klippa, a company with expertise in AI-powered Intelligent Document Processing. Market context "Our new SAP bundles are designed to help enterprises scale faster, operate smarter, and grow with confidence," says Dr. John Bates, CEO of SER Group. "By fusing AI-driven document intelligence, robust SAP process automation and powerful archiving, we are giving customers the Smart Content tools they need to multiply productivity, mitigate risk, and accelerate digital transformation." SER Group's launch comes amid rapid change in the Enterprise Content Management market. Industry analysts have recently pointed to the resurgence of the 'document management' category as a crucial component of enterprise AI strategy, partly in response to the expanding volume of information that businesses must handle. SER is headquartered in Bonn, Germany, and employs more than 600 people in 20 offices across 11 countries. Its ECM technology is used by enterprise customers which include DHL, Allianz, UBS, and BASF. The company has been recognised in industry assessments, being named a Leader in both the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Document Management 2024 and the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Intelligent Content Services 2024 Vendor Assessment.
Techday NZ
4 days ago
- Techday NZ
SAP urges unified AI & data approach for ANZ business growth
SAP is calling on Australian and New Zealand organisations to rethink their approach to AI, data and application landscapes, marking a shift from future-looking speculation to real-world execution. Held at the Centrepiece on 7 August, the event brought together more than 700 attendees and over 70 speakers to explore strategies for embedding AI across core business functions. Angela Colantuono, Managing Director and President of SAP Australia and New Zealand, highlighted the urgency for agility and productivity amid ongoing disruption. "Agility is no longer optional, and productivity, well, it's front page news here in Australia," Colantuono said. "The Australian Government is working with business leaders on a productivity challenge over the next few weeks." She also highlighted SAP's investments in sovereign cloud capabilities and a Centre of Excellence in Canberra, underscoring the company's commitment to local innovation. "Our applications manage the heartbeat of local business, with SAP underpinning 92% of the ASX 200," she noted. "And of course, SAP Business AI is embedded directly into our suite." Colantuono stressed the importance of a solid data foundation to unlock AI's true potential. "While everyone's talking about AI, not enough people are talking about how to do AI well," she said. "We know you can't unlock AI without fixing your data landscape." At the event, SAP unveiled the top five AI use cases currently adopted by customers in Australia and New Zealand, based on customer data between May 2024 and May 2025: Automated expense generation using receipt images Automated invoice processing Expense verification and compliance checks Real-time alerts for supply chain disruptions Sales demand forecasting powered by predictive analytics "My conversations with CEOs are increasingly revealing how they are looking to embed AI into some of the most fundamental parts of their business," said Colantuono. "These applications are helping Australian organisations make faster, smarter decisions, reduce risk and unlock new value. But to fully realise AI's potential, we need to invest just as much in people as we do in technology." SAP's commitment to responsible AI was echoed by keynote speaker Dr Catriona Wallace, Founder of the Responsible Metaverse Alliance. "AI is the number one existential risk we face today. Yet only a small fraction of Australian organisations are equipped to use it responsibly," she said. "If we want AI to drive innovation, productivity and public trust, we must move beyond ambition to action." SAP Business Suite President Stefan De Barse used his keynote to explain SAP's "flywheel" concept, where applications, data and AI are unified to increase enterprise value. "The flywheel is all about apps, data and AI coming together to provide more value to all of you - our customers and partners," he said. "It starts with apps that run your end-to-end business processes. Those apps also provide valuable data." That data forms the basis of SAP's Business Data Cloud, in partnership with Databricks, which enables real-time integration between business systems and AI-powered decision-making. "You spend 80% of your time managing this fragile balance between data and apps," De Barse said. "That means only 20% of the time is invested in generating value." He argued that in the AI era, this disconnect is unsustainable. "For AI to deliver exponential value, it is extremely important that the end-to-end business process context is connected with the data," he said. Demonstrating SAP's AI co-pilot Joule, De Barse walked the audience through a scenario where finance, operations, procurement, HR and sales teams collaborate using shared data and embedded AI to resolve rising inventory, back orders and liquidity gaps. Lion, a leading beverage company in Australia and New Zealand, was cited as a live example of SAP's AI capabilities in action. After adopting SAP's Business Technology Platform and a clean core ERP model, Lion accelerated its order-to-cash cycles and developed an AI-powered beer recommendation app, 'Joey', in under 10 days. "AI is helping us move faster, make smarter decisions, and deliver better customer experiences," said Ram Kalyanasundaram, Group Technology and Digital Transformation Director at Lion. "SAP's AI capabilities have been a game-changer in how we think, operate and grow." In higher education, La Trobe University became the first in the ANZ region to go live with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition as part of its GROW with SAP journey. The transformation is streamlining the university's operations across finance, logistics, real estate and procurement, while laying a foundation for future AI-driven insights. "This transformation is a major step forward in how we operate," said Shainal Kavar, Chief Information Officer at La Trobe University. "It sets us up to embrace innovation and unlock the potential of AI in the years ahead." In addition to showcasing customer success stories, SAP announced the return of its SAP Intrepid Women AI Tour in January 2026. The four-day study programme will support senior female leaders in advancing AI literacy and leadership, building on the momentum of the 2025 edition. "Less than 15% of senior AI executives are women today," said Colantuono. "Last year's programme proved that when you bring female leaders together to build AI literacy and share experiences, the impact is extraordinary." "This is what we believe is the future of the business suite," he said. "And we would love to embark on this business suite journey with many of you."
Techday NZ
5 days ago
- Techday NZ
EY & ACCA urge trustworthy AI with robust assessment frameworks
EY and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) have released a joint policy paper offering practical guidance aimed at strengthening confidence in artificial intelligence (AI) systems through effective assessments. The report, titled "AI Assessments: Enhancing Confidence in AI", examines the expanding field of AI assessments and their role in helping organisations ensure their AI technologies are well governed, compliant, and reliable. The paper is positioned as a resource for business leaders and policymakers amid rapid AI adoption across global industries. Boosting trust in AI According to the paper, comprehensive AI assessments address a pressing challenge for organisations: boosting trust in AI deployments. The report outlines how governance, conformity, and performance assessments can help businesses ensure their AI systems perform as intended, meet legal and ethical standards, and align with organisational objectives. The guidance comes as recent research highlights an ongoing trust gap in AI. The EY Response AI Pulse survey found that 58% of consumers are concerned that companies are not holding themselves accountable for potential negative uses of the technology. This concern has underscored the need for greater transparency and assurance around AI applications. "Rigourous assessments are an important tool to help build confidence in the technology, and confidence is the key to unlocking AI's full potential as a driver of growth and prosperity." Marie-Laure Delarue, EY's Global Vice-Chair, Assurance, expressed the significance of the current moment for AI: "AI has been advancing faster than many of us could have imagined, and it now faces an inflection point, presenting incredible opportunities as well as complexities and risks. It is hard to overstate the importance of ensuring safe and effective adoption of AI. Rigourous assessments are an important tool to help build confidence in the technology, and confidence is the key to unlocking AI's full potential as a driver of growth and prosperity." She continued, "As businesses navigate the complexities of AI deployment, they are asking fundamental questions about the meaning and impact of their AI initiatives. This reflects a growing demand for trust services that align with EY's existing capabilities in assessments, readiness evaluations, and compliance." Types of assessments The report categorises AI assessments into three main areas: governance assessments, which evaluate the internal governance structures around AI; conformity assessments, determining compliance with laws, regulations and standards; and performance assessments, which measure AI systems against specific quality and performance metrics. The paper provides recommendations for businesses and policymakers alike. It calls for business leaders to consider both mandatory and voluntary AI assessments as part of their corporate governance and risk management frameworks. For policymakers, it advocates for clear definitions of assessment purposes, methodologies, and criteria, as well as support for internationally compatible assessment standards and market capacity-building. Public interest and skills gap Helen Brand, Chief Executive of ACCA, commented on the wider societal significance of trustworthy AI systems. "As AI scales across the economy, the ability to trust the technology is vital for the public interest. This is an area where we need to bridge skills gaps and build trust in the AI ecosystem as part of driving sustainable business. We look forward to collaborating with policymakers and others in this fascinating and important area." The ACCA and EY guidance addresses several challenges related to the current robustness and reliability of AI assessments. It notes that well-specified objectives, clear assessment criteria, and professional, objective assessment providers are essential to meaningful scrutiny of AI systems. Policy landscape The publication coincides with ongoing changes in the policy environment on AI evaluation. The report references recent developments such as the AI Action Plan released by the Trump administration, which highlighted the importance of rigorous evaluations for defining and measuring AI reliability and performance, particularly in regulated sectors. As AI technologies continue to proliferate across industries, the report argues that meaningful and standardised assessments could support the broader goal of safe and responsible AI adoption both in the private and public sectors. In outlining a potential way forward, the authors suggest both businesses and governments have roles to play in developing robust assessment frameworks that secure public confidence and deliver on the promise of emerging technologies.
