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Leaders In Payments
Leaders In Payments
Carey O'Connor Kolaja, CEO of Versapay | Episode 300
On our 300th episode, we have the privilege of hosting Carey O’Connor Kolaja, the CEO of Versapay, who illuminated the path toward a digital-first B2B payment landscape. The episode offers a comprehensive examination of how technology, specifically AI and ERP integration, is reinventing how businesses manage transactions and achieve financial efficiency.
Carey's journey from PayPal and Citi to AU10TIX has bestowed her with invaluable insights into the evolution of financial inclusion and the indelible impact of technology on back-office operations.
Carey and I muse over the generational shift that's reshaping expectations—a world where our children's innate digital fluency is only a microcosm of the hunger for seamless transactions. Together, we scrutinize how AI and ML are not only combating fraud but also empowering companies to leapfrog into the future with smarter, faster, and safer financial practices.
As the episode unfolds, Carey shares her vision for Versapay, focusing on solving genuine problems with a passion for building a more inclusive financial world and a future where financial decisions are autonomous, technology-driven, and secure.
Welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast, where we talk to C-level leaders from across the payments landscape. We'll be discussing the products and services that impact the payment space today, as well as trends and predictions for the future of payments. We will also hear stories from our guests about their journeys to the top.
Speaker 2:I think the opportunity, as we look forward, is also around. You've got this next generation of business leaders who have grown up as digital natives and what they experience feel can get access to in their ways of the world being a consumer. They're expecting on the business side as well. I think that's one of the major trends that we're really going to see is the customization of user experiences in B2B Finance.
Speaker 3:That was Keri O'Connor-Cola J, CEO of VersaPay. She is my special guest on this episode, episode 300 of the Leaders in Payments podcast, and I'm your host, Greg Myers. Yes, I said episode 300. A milestone I'm super proud of. Versapay helps thousands of businesses transform their AR automation, cash application and payments in a more human way. Keri and I talked about B2B payments and accounts receivable and what makes VersaPay unique and different in the space. We also talked about business transformation and when and if the timing is right to introduce more AI and ML into back office solutions. We've got a great episode ahead, so let's get started. Hi, Keri, Thank you for being here and welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast.
Speaker 2:Wonderful to be here. Thanks, Greg.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Let's dive right in. Tell our audience a little bit about yourself, maybe where you grew up, where you went to school, where you currently live, a few things like that, and then we'll jump over to your career journey in a few minutes.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, I'll try to keep it short because there's definitely a long history, but my name is Keri O'Connor-College. I'm the CEO of VersaPay. I've been in the payment space and the identity slash risk management space for almost three decades now. I live in Montpere, new Jersey, just about 12 miles outside of Manhattan, and it's a lovely community, but prior to this, I was actually living in Silicon Valley. A bit about my personal story and it is really tailored to our company as well is I've always believed that the known truth of our society and economy is that cash flow is a lifeline of all economic pursuits. I have a relentless passion for using technology to build a more inclusive and secure world and making finance accessible to those who need it. My journey from the past to the present has really led me to the point where I could solve that problem over time.
Speaker 3:Okay, great, we will discuss that a little bit more detail in a few minutes. But let's talk about VersaPay. First, tell our audience what VersaPay does.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So VersaPay provides account-receivable efficiency products. We like to call it our accounts-receivable efficiency suite. For a lot of growing businesses that need to accomplish more with less, versapay's products simplify the invoice-to-cash process. We do that by automating invoicing, facilitating B2B payments and streamlining cash reconciliation using artificial intelligence. We really are very focused on empowering our customers to succeed by creating cash flow situations that deliver confidence and save time and ultimately allow their businesses to thrive and not just survive. As you know, companies are the lifeblood of all communities. If they're not successful, then they can't serve as their customers or enable their employees to have jobs. Our goal is to create situations that enable them to have the cash flow in order to be successful and to realize their aspirations.
Speaker 3:Okay, are there certain verticals or types of businesses that you target?
Speaker 2:There are actually we focus on the mid-market, which we describe between 50 million and 1 billion in annual revenues. One of the verticals that we have seen great success in is manufacturing, distribution, construction, real estate and professional services, although within professional services there are some sub-segment that are great fits for our solution. One of the things that's really unique for us is that we integrate natively into the top ERPs so effectively. It allows our customers to self-service themselves with payment portals to resolve what they want. You know they need to do that. In some cases they got 30 people to 60 people who are doing accounts receivables Can they can move all the way down to one or two. So our goal is to automate the manual process and a lot of these verticals there a little bit behind and becoming digital forward and in the transformation journey, and we have found that you look at their growth size, the mid market types of invoices that they send in, the pain that they feel when trying to actually capture payment and also reconcile it within their ERP that's where we shine.
Speaker 3:Do you go to market through those ERP partners or do you have your own sales team, or is it a combination?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a combination. So we have had great success with our ERP partners and the communities that are specific to the ERP players, and we also go to market with our direct staff, our sales staff, in our marketing efforts, because we have a suite and effectively we offer four different products. Our goal is to meet the customer where they are. So we've got a number of distributors that are really keen on our cash solution, which effectively allows them to take Any form of payment, to capture it and the direct and silent back into their books. And you may start there and then, over time is that company will grow, will integrate more deeply within maybe more sophisticated ERP. So you know, our belief is you know, at the end of the day, these, the world is becoming more and more automated, particularly the office of the CFO, where efficiency gains are absolutely paramount, and if we can help ease the process in which they Collect cash for the goods and services that they provide, it will make things better for them and us and how big is the company?
Speaker 2:the company is around 400 people.
Speaker 2:The company is a really unique history.
Speaker 2:Back in 2020, in the midst of covid, our founders and, I'll say, our owners, great help partners private equity firm, really believed in this thesis of the transformation that was on the horizon with B2B payments and the accounts receivable issue that was becoming more and more problematic.
Speaker 2:As you know, accounts payable lot of companies out there that have been driving transformation locally and globally. It's a bit of a one size fits all, but in the receivable process, when you're looking at the terms, the type of payments, loans, etc. It becomes much more complex. And so in 2020, I said look, how do we bring together a set of assets that have been very, very successful in their respective area, create a bigger opportunity in order for us to service this market? And so we are five assets that came together anything from payments to software to integration plays, and over the last course of the last three to four years, we've Not only growing tremendously but driving tremendous amount of transactions about 10,000 clients, about five million plus companies of transacting our network and do about 110 million transactions annually. We've also been looking at amazing opportunities where we can continue to build product and service our customers.
Speaker 3:What would you say? Differentiate you from your competitors out there.
Speaker 2:Market and we service the middle, mid and the upper mid. We've got a number of competitors that are serving the enterprise market wanted to come down to mid market and a number servicing the SMB is a small business, is wanting to come upscale, and so this is where we started and it's where we have continued to be successful because of the characteristics of the segments, verticals and customers we serve. But if I was to say the things that make us different, we have a complete invoice to cash solution that provides payment choice. Some of our competitors in the space will offer an AR system. Some will offer B2B payments. We've got a lot of disruptors that are coming up in the space, but they don't have the complete end to end solution and one that will scale.
Speaker 2:The second differentiator for me is in our technology staff. We have our cash application, which effectively does a lot of the automated reconciliation of the payments to the invoice, and we've been doing that for ten years. So the company we bought has been on quite a journey and they've been doing artificial intelligence for a decade and, as you know, the more information or data flow that you have, the smarter and faster you can get. So our accuracy rates are quite high. And then I'll say the third one is, you know, our ability to embed within our partner ERP. So History of deep relationships, being able to pull in right into the ERP's, have Really been demonstrative of what an embedded finance solution can be and should be For companies around the world.
Speaker 2:I'll say the last thing, and it's only because I've heard it in our MPS and from customers it's really our workforce. We have people who've been with this company for nineteen years, so was one of the original founders of one of the assets that got combined in twenty twenty. And we have new people who really believe in the value proposition in the problem we're solving and their commitment to our customers is, you know, hands down second to none. And and a lot of companies say that, but in our MPS surveys, you know, I find that our customers give us a little bit more grace because they like the people they work with, even though sometimes we have to do a better job of servicing them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and not to bring up something that happened years ago, but you tell me if I'm wrong. But did covid really did that like really spur your business, or did it really kind of Jump started in a lot of ways? I mean, obviously you've been in business prior to that, but given kind of what a lot of people had to go through from a, you know, on the finance side of businesses and not being able to get out into right checks and to do all those things, I mean did you guys see a big bump then?
Speaker 2:Absolutely we did, and I believe that was one of the promise for what was forcing our growth. Maybe even more quickly, then we could keep up. So no one's going into the office, checks are being written and they're landing on desk where people are no longer sitting. So you talk about the abandonment rate of payment A different type of abandonment than when you're trying to pay for something online and then the the length of time in order to reconcile that payment and the days of payment outstanding or off the roof and Is you know what covered?
Speaker 2:Every dollar counted in the war on survival, for not just individuals but for businesses, and so that was definitely the catalyst, and I think the opportunity, as we look forward, is also around. You got this next generation of business leaders who have grown up as digital natives and what they experience, feel can get access to in their their ways of the world being a consumer. They're expecting on the business side as well, and I think that's one of the major trends that we're really gonna see is the customization of user experiences. You know, in b to b finance that were similar to consumer experiences and changes ten, fifteen years ago, when you and I started Right right.
Speaker 3:So that's a good segue into the next question. Let's talk about trends. Let's talk about what you think the future of the industry looks like, maybe in the next couple of years. Obviously, you just mentioned that. One other other things that you guys are kind of looking at and keeping an eye on.
Speaker 2:We are. We definitely are. I do think, as I mentioned, the consumerization I'll call it b to b finance is going to be key, and there's a lot of times throughout the day where I'm drawing parallels between the consumer finance trends and what it means to aggregate financial transactions or institutions offer choice and versatility and payments. What incentives need to look like? As we know, there's incentives in order to close a transaction at checkout. Well, it's also the same in the b to b space. We find our customers are willing to give a little latitude on terms for good customers if they have a bad month and ask for up front payments on customers that they don't know, and so I think this shift towards optimizing capital will create a lot of leverage in b to b finance. The other two doubt touch on that in the near term, already starting to see I'm sure you've done a number of podcasts on this is the payments and digitization. I think that there's been a significant shift, as we know, to real time payments and now in the US, with fed now real time payment systems and it happening around the world, I think that this trend is being marked by faster payment process and will only revolutionize cash flow management and operational efficiency and Starting to see even some emergence of what is the future of a ch look like and his checks become diminishing in importance. How does a ch transact with the right data elements and data signals around it to ensure that transaction is trusted, incoming from the right party? I think the other one is embedded finance and a piece of me.
Speaker 2:We saw here a lot about embedded finance. People do define it differently. I tend to Define it as a financial transaction that happens in a non financial experience, but what we're seeing with embedded finances this focus on user centric solutions and ensuring strong data protection and access to the ability to grow at the rate that the business needs you to, and meaning customers where they are effectively and and doing that. We see that with our customers, particularly those that are working with whether it's net suite or Microsoft business central, where sage and tach or any of the other earpiece that we work with is their employees do not want to move from portal to portal, they don't want to move outside of the system where they spend 80% of their time, and so we all need to think about how do we build services and solution that can be embedded in their existing workspace but also live separately.
Speaker 2:For those who may not have it, I will say that over the next five to ten years, as we look forward, I believe that we'll be able to realize the promise of the financial networks and where instant payments for suppliers and late payments for buyers can coexist Harmoniously. And there's been a lot of talk about the power of the networks, and I say financial networks are payment networks and marketplaces, and there's something to be said about if you are pretty prevalent in an industry let's take commercial real estate and you know that for every supplier on your network, there's 2130 different buyers and you know that those buyers may do business with five or six other suppliers on the network. You can start to really see how data becomes a key component of enabling all nodes or parties on the network Decreate the rights of circumstances that allow them to be successful, because suppliers want to get paid immediately and, as you know, buyers want to delete those payments. In words, they can benefit from the free cash flow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you mentioned a couple of things there that I wanted to double click on in. One is you know I've heard in red and talk to people about sort of this expectation of the younger workforce. Even you know the Gen Z's, and I always kind of I always think it is like they're not going to stand for the friction that's in a lot of processes today. I mean, is that, is that part of the value that you bring is just trying to remove the friction? That's in sort of the B2B payment space?
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. I mean, and when you look from invoice to cash, that friction exists in multiple spaces. On that, well, I'll say that journey, that experience, and it's not just the actual movement of money, it's how the invoice gets tied to the payment, which gets tied to the movement of money that then gets reconciled in the books, and so removing friction is absolutely paramount. And in fact, you know, we've seen metrics in our business for as long as we have, where we've decreased the time to manage receivables to about 50 plus percent. We've seen a 30 percent decline in past due invoices and customers are getting paid 25 plus percent faster, and so a beautiful experience, and one that requires very little heavy lifting or comprehension, is going to help improve those numbers.
Speaker 2:And you know I've got two boys of my own in that generation, and I like to say that I am the transitional generation where I grew up not being digitally native, but I quickly became a digitally native in my career.
Speaker 2:And I will say that you know leaders such as you and myself and others on your podcast. You've got to find ways to move faster. You've got to find ways in order to create operational efficiencies. You've got to find ways to stay up with the market and compete, and particularly with the last, you know, 18 months with you know, artificial intelligence and large language models and open AI that I'm sure every podcast can't exist without mention of that. If you're going to survive like, you have to move faster. So, yes, there's an expectation of why is it so easy for me to move money with Venmo in my personal life but I can't move money in my business life as easy but also with you know, those of us who live in this demographic that know the importance that technology plays in creating a more efficient company and, frankly I think, a more healthy economy.
Speaker 3:I mean, I have a 19 year old daughter. She's in college and she grew up, obviously, you know, as a digital native and I you know, if she's doing anything on her phone which that's where they do everything and there's any friction or she can't figure it out, she'll go find another way to do it. That's easy and she won't put up with that and you know she's a future leader, that's going to be that way. So I totally, I totally get that. One last thing on the trends and you've mentioned several times AI kind of where do you guys stand? Are you currently, obviously I'm sure you're using it in your business, but do you see, like, from a broader payments perspective? All I hear is, hey, you know AI and fraud, ai and marketing. You know what are you hearing about AI and how are you guys leveraging that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's. Look, I've, having worked at PayPal for 13 years and then it's city, and then my last role being CEO of my identity verification system that was servicing some of the biggest companies out there and doing it all automatically with large language models and AI and ML, I just share all that because I we've been using it as a society. It's been front and center. We use it every day. I think just now has it become accessible and open to people to explore and to understand it, and so our philosophy on this is we have been using it in order to automate existing processes for a number of years. The bigger question for me ends up being right, how ready are our customers to embrace even more of it? And how do we become intentional and purposeful of when we introduce the technologies? And I share that with you because there's a lot around back office automation and customer support workflows that we can easily put into place, in which we are in order to become efficient and more intelligent.
Speaker 2:But what I have found in this space, particularly around accounts receivable and some experiments we've run and with our customer bases going back to our earlier discussion, you know a number of these customers that we serve aren't as digitally savvy as, let's say, the e-commerce players out there and some of the tech players out there, and in doing that, they have a problem that needs to be solved.
Speaker 2:Right now, they just want to solve the problem, whether it's using AI or not. Like there's, we're talking about a market that has 70% of it that is not been served. Like they're doing things with Excel spreadsheets and manual efforts. If we don't even compete against our competitors, there's a huge, you know, sector of people that need a solution like this, and so I share that because it's important for us to be thoughtful about when is the right moment and how. I'll bring also forward that and this is not just a trend. I mean, I've lived in it my day to day. So have you with being in payments, but there's a lot to be understood and to be had around data security, privacy and regulatory compliance, and some of these companies manufacturing distribution, construction that hasn't been front and center for them, and as you start to look at this growing prevalence of embedded financial services and customization, there's a lot that needs to happen around transparency and education around how data is used and privacy policies.
Speaker 2:It just becomes absolutely imperative, and there's a lot of work to be done there. Not saying that one client is savvier than the next, but you know, in the B2B space, the way in which you use AI, as you know, is consuming and adjusting a lot of pieces of information that makes the models more intelligent. Well, to do that, you have to make sure you have the right protectionistic measures and policies in place, so that you're not only protecting your own business, but protecting your customers' businesses.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, good point, definitely, definitely. So let's switch gears a little bit and let's talk about you. So tell us about your journey to your role there as the CEO.
Speaker 2:A little bit about me. So I have really been fascinated with technology and the interplay with solving business problems for my entire career. Feel very fortunate that, in addition to sales early on in my career I fell into technology consulting. I'm a four are there in the sand that you remember was really big in that space and so what you know we call product management. Now I was doing that. No, the early two thousand. So they really found this love for understanding problem spaces and what the needs are and how do you use the technology To service that, but also doing it in a way that bring people along. And so, no, for almost 30 years about 90% of its been in payments. As I mentioned earlier, I paypal right after ebay purchase them. So paypal is about a thousand people. I left 13 years later it was around 36 thousand and went public and Amazing journey there.
Speaker 2:I cannot speak enough about the people I met and the opportunity to change the future finance what. That's your point where I want to try something different and I had a lot more to learn and so joined City bank and city bank had started this group under the CEO at the time, steven bird was called city and the whole intention was how do we combine existing personnel that no change needs to occur with external experts From tech companies together to change the way they were, put new product and market, accelerated pace and discover new vectors of growth. And it was a great journey and we did a tremendous amount. The city, city and gap looks very different from when we first started and I love it, but I also knew that you know my heart and soul wasn't and being an executive at a global bank, and so my fascination with identity and risk and this whole thinking like payments is always been what's more important. Payment is who are, what somebody is on all sides of that transaction. So I ended up joining a global identity company based out of Israel and had a great run there as well, through the growth stages and when crypto was on the rise and we had to be up 99.99% of the time. And then you made a decision not going back to payments and understanding what I had learned in your city and authentic was critical.
Speaker 2:And when the verse pay opportunity got presented to me, I was really looking for. Three things like. One was this is a real problem. Far too often there's technologies in search of a problem and is there a real pain point here that we could solve, and is it meaningful? And the second thing was really the caliber of the capital partners. Having been around a while, you know that people who are backing you in the investors make or break what the future trajectory Can become and what your ambition is. And then the third was really the time like how much of this market is addressable and unaddressable and do we see a space to play? And I just I found that all in verse pay.
Speaker 2:And in addition to the business dimensions I also became fascinated with the company is a distributed workforce. We're remote. First we had a number of real estate properties, probably like all other companies. When we were first brought together, I made a decision to close many of them down, and made a decision now to close all of them down. And I have worked remote for 16 years since my days at PayPal, before we even had an office on the East coast and Really felt that if you could do it and do it well, there is something pretty magical that you could create, and so the fact that my board was supportive of that. It was a challenge I was willing to take on, to a little bit of fun flashed in there as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think I know the answer to this next question, at least on the professional side, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. So what are some things you're passionate about? So maybe one business related passion and one personal passion.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean you probably know to the discussion, but I'm I believe that there is a world on the business side where the most important financial decisions won't be decisions at all. That and this is where can I, and the server running the world plays a role where Preference is in behaviors and intelligent routing of money can be moved across trusted networks. I can be done automatically, and that is something I'm really passionate about and is part of being passionate about that. It's making sure that You're fighting against the bad actors and not people who have worked hard For the money that they deserve. They get access to that, and so, which leads me really to say my, my personal passion, but I think it is very much interwoven into my professional one, which is I do believe there could be a world that technology enables us to live More safely, more securely and with more access, and there's a lot in society that has been done in order to change the landscape of our capital sector, but there's not as much as that's been done to change the landscape of our social sector, and I think covid has was a pinnacle moment in that, where you had Billions of dollars in relief being issued from governments and corporations and individuals In order to help people, whether it was dollars, whether it was goods and services. At the same time, that problem is people living under not just what we call minimum wage, but Is become worse Grab like it's become worse. And so how might we use technology to make sure that the right people receive the right goods and services at the right time, so that we can only the sustainable existence?
Speaker 2:I think it's really, really important, and it's incoming upon all of us to solve that, and so those, those are the two things and I am I am passionate about. How do you enable a distributed workforce you perform exceptionally well and be high performing, and a lot of companies are trying to go back, and I value the in time, in person work that needs to get done and the creativity that is Is it is created when you have people together. But I also believe we're not going back to the ways of the past, mean technologies very different, how people can act are very different, so we have to find a way forward in creating spaces in places where individuals in your workforce can be their best, and it's not the same for everybody, and so figuring out that right equation is something I'm Pretty fascinated with, because I don't think anybody's really solved it yet. I mean, there's a couple of companies out there in the tech space that is done a good job.
Speaker 3:But you know something we have to find a path forward yeah, totally agree with you there, and I've heard arguments on both sides, so Will be interesting to see where that heads in the next few years. So, last question being from payments, this is related. If someone came to you and they said, hey, kerry, I'm interested in getting into the field of payments or FinTech, and maybe even they want a job at your company, and they say the question what advice would you give them to be successful in this industry?
Speaker 2:yeah, I actually love it when people outside of payments come into the space, because I they don't come with preconceived biases of how the networks work and other processors work and the rules that are in place, that you know some banks you have to wait 14 days and you just want to change your address on your bank account, like that. That that's opinion and that is policy. It's not law, right?
Speaker 2:and so you know, being able to come into a space and untether yourself and ask the question of what would seem logical and reasonable in today's day and age, of how this should work, I think sets that individual up who is Interested in probably doing a lot more with a lot less information. So you, yes, you have to understand the regulatory space. Yes, you have to understand how money moves. Yes, you have to understand the different players within the ecosystems, but, no, you don't have to get anchor down by what it was versus what it could be. So, for you know, for me, that's one of the second thing. The other thing I would say is looking at the end to end experience and really embracing embedded finance. And every moment you have an interaction with someone, it could be a moment for a transaction. Now, not all of them. My kids come to hug me and that's an interaction, although nine out of ten they're asking for money, which is a transaction.
Speaker 2:But I think it's so critical to look at the end to end experience, which means breaking down silos internally, which means thinking outside of the box externally, which means Also, what are the partners that could play in your overall vision and ambition? Because you know I say this around payments, I also say around identity. Like there's no one winner, there are multiple winners. For years to come, there may be fewer winners, but your partnerships are really, really critical in order for all of us to stay relevant, to move at the speed that our customers in the markets expect us to, and so Embrace the partnerships, even if sometimes that you feel you're Dancing on the edge of the competitor nine times out of ten. You'll have a better outcome.
Speaker 3:Good. I think that's great, great advice. So obviously we've covered a lot of ground about you and the company, and the industry is a whole. Is there anything else you'd like to add before we wrap up?
Speaker 2:Just thanks for the time. I think the world is our oyster in be to be payments in the office of the cfo. Someone said to me once that you never expect to happen in one year. That will happen in ten years. That the world's moving really fast and I do believe in a world will realize the promise of the network. I do believe in a world where every payment is digital. I do believe in a world where the server will run the business and that's the world that we want to be part of but doing it in a trusted way, where people can not just trust the people but trust the systems as well, and Trust, at the end of the day, is going to be core, I think, for all businesses and relationships moving forward. So appreciate the time and appreciate the questions and look forward to getting to know you better in the future.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, thank you so much for being on the show today. I know your time is very valuable, so I really appreciate you being here. Much appreciated and to all you listeners out there. I thank you for your time as well, and until the next story.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us this week on the leaders in payments podcast. Make sure you visit our website at leaders in payments dot com where you can subscribe to the show and where you'll find our show notes. If you enjoyed listening, please share on your social channels as well.