Inside PSC 2025: How Finance Gains Speed Without Losing Control

We attended the annual Procede conference to answer a simple question for ourselves and our customers: what will actually help finance teams move invoice to pay faster without adding tools, extra clicks, or audit noise?  

By the time we left, the answer was clear. The most valuable sessions all pointed in the same direction: get capture right at the start, let policy drive approvals, treat integrations as controls, and keep one audit trail controllers can trust. It’s a practical path, not a flashy one, which is exactly why it works. 

We didn’t try to cover the entire agenda. We focused on the moments that matter for onPhase customers who run on Excede and want month-end to feel calm and predictable. Here’s what stood out. 

“Accelerate the Future” Set the Tone for Real Progress 

The opening keynote framed the week around performance, mobility, and a more customer-centric DMS. What resonated for finance leaders wasn’t a single headline feature; it was the focus on practical improvements that make everyday work in Excede simpler and more reliable. In practice, that means fewer steps to post routine items, clearer status for approvers who dip in and out during the day, and less hopping between systems when something needs attention. 

Conversations throughout the week reinforced this theme. Teams want agreed-upon policies to run in the products they use, not in another dashboard to reconcile later or a workaround buried in a spreadsheet. They want a path that moves, with guardrails built in. That lens shaped how we listened to everything else on the agenda. 

Procede Intelligence: AI That Removes Work, Not Judgement  

AI was always going to be a hot topic, and the Procede Intelligence session took a thoughtful approach. Before demos or promises, there was a clear story about architecture and privacy, followed by examples of AI showing up inside familiar screens to trim clicks and guide the next right action. That’s where AI is most helpful for finance teams. Teams don't need another system to monitor; they need AI embedded in their existing workflows. 

This aligns with our approach at onPhase. Smart Capture pairs AI data extraction with human expertise to consistently drive field-level accuracy toward 99.9 percent—well above the roughly 80 percent typical of basic OCR.  

When the data is right at the door, the entire process feels different. Approvals move the first time, exceptions stop multiplying, and the queue gets shorter without heroics. It's not automation for automation's sake; it's precision that makes people faster. 

“Next Mile Vision” Favored Predictable over Noise  

Roadmap sessions can turn into lists, but this one stayed grounded in a customer-centric development rhythm and a tighter Excede core. The message for finance was predictability. A steadier cadence and stronger connections across modules reduce the number of places where manual patches sneak in. For AP leaders, predictability isn't aspirational; it's the difference between a clean close and a scramble. 

This is where onPhase's integration with Excede becomes critical. When we treat integrations as extensions of policy and instrument them with clear logs and alerts, the handoff from capture to match to pay behaves the way the policy binder says it should. If a rule exists on paper, it should exist in the workflow and in the integration path. That’s how three-way match behaves, approvals don’t stall, and the audit trail stays intact without a last-minute scavenger hunt. 

Partner Roundtable: The Financial Frontline 

We had the pleasure of hosting The Financial Frontline with onPhase, a partner-led conversation with Procede dealerships about cleaning up document chaos and bringing order to financial workflows. The discussion stayed practical from the first question. We organized the time around where teams actually start and how they stack wins without disrupting the day. 

Some dealerships begin with document management so invoices and vendor files stop going missing. That single move cuts search time and makes routing predictable. Others jump straight to AP automation when late fees, duplicates, and “where is this now” messages start to pile up. A third group moves to embedded payments in onPhase once exceptions are low and approvals are flowing, and that's when controls, rebates, and reconciliation fall into place.  

The sequence matters less than the momentum. Different entry points, same result: fewer bottlenecks, faster decisions, and a team that trusts the numbers. 

What stood out most was the sentiment. No one was talking about hiring their way out of backlogs. The conversation centered on removing detours and letting policy do the heavy lifting through the integration between Excede and onPhase. 

“Charting What’s Next” Tied Vision to Execution  

The closing session looked ahead to where the platform is going, and the finance takeaway was straightforward: less tool sprawl, stronger connectivity, and clear ownership for the data that drives decisions. That reinforced what we heard all week. A stable core and predictable integrations make policy-driven workflows easier to trust and easier to audit. When the base is steady, month-end is quieter, and leaders can plan with confidence. 

The Bottom Line 

The path forward is clear: start with accurate capture, let policy drive approvals in Excede, keep integrations clean, and maintain one audit trail. When these pieces work together, month-end becomes predictable and controllers can trust the numbers. 

If you want to see how this works for your team, schedule some time with one of our automation experts today.