408: Strategically Extend Your Enterprise Applications, with Relish

Ryan Walicki of Relish talks about why enterprise solutions rarely cover all bases; the rise of AI; & the importance of collaboration & customer experience. IN THIS EPISODE WE DISCUSS:   [07.28] The story behind the brand name Relish. “While I’m more of a mustard and ketchup guy personally (!), Relish just really stood out to us – a word that can create certain emotions.” [09.02] Ryan’s background, his love of procurement, and his journey to co-founding Relish. “I fell in love with it… I watched the perception of procurement go from ‘people who buy stuff’ to a strategic function, from analytics and sourcing all the way through invoicing and payment.” [11.53] An overview of Relish – who they are, what they do, and how they help their customers. “We’re trying to meet users where they are. A lot of users have succumbed to “I’ll just create a workaround” or “Excel can do that for me”… Enough of that!! You should expect more, you should demand more from your enterprise software.” [15.37] The ideal client for Relish. [16.45] Ryan’s perspective on why enterprise solutions rarely meet all requirements; the biggest enterprise software challenges; and how those challenges have been compounded by the industry changes we’ve seen over the last few years. “These solutions are presented as ‘It’ll do everything you want – and cut your grass!’ The customer takes that at face value, builds a business case, builds an ROI case – and they never meet it.” [20.37] How Relish is working to simplify processes, extend solutions, and bridge gaps in order to complement and enhance enterprise software. “5% of business revenue is lost due to fraudulent activity... there’s too many workarounds and stale processes out there… But there’s an end to this story that’s a lot more positive, automated, safe, and economic than Excel workbooks.” [25.02] Why Relish is so passionate about collaboration, partnering with some of the industry’s biggest names to create ecosystems that drive success for everyone. [27.18] The rapid evolution of AI, and how Relish uses it to help clients streamline and enhance their processes. “There are a lot of folks that present themselves as AI experts. But this is so new, it’s moving so fast – there are no experts!” [31.47] Customer experience, and the importance of creating an effective chain of solutions for your customer, and your customer’s customer. “One of the most frequent phone calls finance gets is from suppliers asking: “When am I going to get paid?” [35.34] A case study showing how Relish helped a global financial institution to solve its invoice challenges, increasing automation from 24% to over 95%, streamlining its source-to-pay process, and boosting its visibility and process speed. “We felt like the root of all evil is in master data inefficiency, and so if we built a platform that had the capability to go after that core problem, we could manifest those as applications in invoicing, supplier, and automation.” [39.25] Ryan’s hockey team, and whether or not they’ll be making the finals! [41.23] What the future holds for Relish, and for the industry. “The time between point A and point B keeps getting shorter because innovation is happening fast… We’re outgrowing applications very quickly.” RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED:   Head over to Relish’s website now to find out more, and discover how they could help you too. You can also connect with Relish and keep up to date with the latest over on LinkedIn, YouTube and X (Twitter), or you can connect with Ryan on LinkedIn. If you enjoyed this conversation and want to hear more about procurement, check out The Three Biggest Challenges For Procurement – And What To Do About Them, Women In Supply Chain™: Procurement Leader, Stephany Lapierre on Using Supplier Data to Empower a More Connected, Diverse Supply Chain or 243: Reinventing Freight Procurement with Emerge.