The third-annual AP Honors Ceremony celebrated the accounts payable profession and recognized excellence in the field. During the ceremony, Ardent Partners presented awards for outstanding performance and execution in the last year — “The AP Honors” — to a variety of high achievers including Accounts Payable and P2P leaders and teams, as well as ePayables (AP Automation) solution providers and other experts.
Let’s look at the Best Team Performance Award (“AP Team of the Year”) award finalist.
Best Team Performance Award/AP Team of the Year: This award is presented to the AP department that has excelled across the full scope of the ePayables Framework (invoice receipt, approval, and payment) to make a significant impact on overall enterprise results.
Key People: Alexandros Anastasiades, Global Procure to Pay Manager, OSM Thome
Company: OSM Thome
Employees: 10,001+ employees, 6,541 associated members
Website: https://osmthome.com/
*All data given above is based on publicly available information.
OSM Thome’s Journey of AP Collaboration and Transformation
For OSM Thome, the journey from a fully manual invoice process to 80% digital automation was both ambitious and necessary. Like many organizations undertaking digital transformation, the biggest hurdles were not only technical but also cultural. Ardent Partners spoke with Alexandros Anastasiades, global procure to pay manager for OSM Thome, who helped lead the company’s transformation initiative, which was recognized as a finalist for this year’s Best Team Performance/AP Team of the Year Award.
On the people side, Anastasiades said the accounts payable (AP) team had grown accustomed to manual workflows and naturally questioned the new system. Employees feared that automation might replace their roles entirely. This skepticism created resistance to adoption. At the same time, system-related challenges emerged. The chosen automation platform, iShare, had to integrate seamlessly with accounting, procurement, and other business systems. Without smooth integration, data silos and inefficiencies could persist.
Leadership responded with proactive strategies, Anastasiades said. Training sessions were introduced before any automation deployment, ensuring employees fully understood the changes. Leaders also visited global hubs to communicate directly with teams, addressing concerns and highlighting how roles would evolve rather than disappear. Importantly, jobs were not cut. Instead, full-time employees were redeployed into new functions, such as system administration, vendor master data management, and finance project support.
On the systems side, rigorous controls were put in place. Anastasiades explained that during the transition period, monitoring reports and validation checks ensured no invoices were missed and processes flowed as intended. These safeguards helped the team build confidence in the system and trust in the transformation.
From Manual Processing to Seamless Automation
Prior to automation, the AP team faced a staggering workload: nearly half a million invoices in 2024 alone. Each invoice required manual entry of details ranging from invoice numbers to payment terms, currencies, and bank details. This painstaking process not only consumed vast amounts of time but also introduced frequent errors that had to be corrected downstream.
Anastasiades said iShare’s automation shifted this paradigm. Supplier invoices, often sent via XML files, were now automatically captured and routed through the system. This eliminated the need for repetitive data entry, greatly reducing the risk of human error. Instead of reclassifying mistakes or correcting data, the AP team could now focus on strategic tasks like vendor collaboration and supplier issue resolution.
Integration with procurement also delivered significant benefits. Since purchase orders were already approved in the procurement system, Anastasiades said iShare recognized these approvals automatically, eliminating duplicate approvals in AP. For approvers, this simplified workflow meant fewer redundant steps, while AP staff gained real-time visibility into invoice statuses and key performance metrics across the company.
Efficiency Gains Without Sacrificing Accuracy
One of the most visible outcomes of automation was the ability to manage the same invoice volume with fewer full-time employees. What once required five people could now be handled by just two. Despite the smaller team size, accuracy improved. By leveraging XML invoice automation, the system effectively used suppliers’ accounting data as input, leaving little room for manual error. Real-time reporting added another layer of assurance. Twice weekly, the AP team reviewed invoices received to confirm accuracy and timeliness. During the first three months, reconciliations with high-volume suppliers provided additional verification.
Clear rules and duplicate detection functions ensured invoices were valid, unique, and properly coded. This reduced exceptions to a small fraction of total volume — only about 20 to 30 invoices per month required manual intervention. Meanwhile, Anastasiades explained that staff previously dedicated to repetitive tasks were reassigned to a new vendor master data team, which now manages information for nearly 80,000 vendors worldwide. This shift allowed employees to take on more meaningful responsibilities while ensuring vendor records remained accurate and up to date.
Cost Savings Reinvested into Strategic Initiatives
By lowering the cost-per-invoice through reduced manual work, OSM Thome freed resources to invest in higher-value initiatives. A significant portion of these savings was directed toward building advanced business intelligence (BI) reporting tools within iShare. These tools now deliver real-time insights across finance, purchasing, and operations, empowering departments to make better-informed decisions.
The freed capacity also allowed leadership to launch global procure-to-pay workshops. These sessions, conducted across international hubs, helped standardize and optimize processes from requisition to payment. Additionally, the AP team supported a major finance transformation project: migrating accounting systems to Microsoft Dynamics 365. Without the efficiency gains of automation, dedicating resources to these strategic projects would have been far more difficult.
Speed and Accuracy Transformed
Speed was another major win, said Anastasiades. Invoices that previously took hours or days to process — especially those with dozens of supporting documents — were now captured within minutes, sometimes seconds. XML automation captured not only invoice data but also expense account allocations, eliminating the need for manual coding by AP staff.
Duplicate detection further safeguarded against common errors in high-volume environments. As a result, AP teams shifted their role from data entry to exception handling, only reviewing invoices flagged by the system. With faster processing and more reliable data, Anastasiades explained that OSM Thome could accelerate payment cycles, strengthen supplier relationships, and maintain better control over cash flow — particularly critical in ship management, where funds are managed on behalf of vessel owners.
Extending Automation to Expense Reimbursements
The benefits of automation extended beyond supplier invoices. Anastasiades said expense reimbursements for seafarers — a traditionally manual and time-intensive process — were streamlined by 50%. Previously, crew members submitted manual forms with attached receipts, leaving AP teams to code and validate each line item.
With iShare’s mobile application, seafarers can now capture receipts via their phones, tag them to predefined expense categories, and submit directly for approval. The system automatically links expenses to account codes and routes them for managerial review. Anastasiades said this not only reduced AP workload but also empowered crew members with a faster, more user-friendly reimbursement process.
A Partnership Built on Innovation
OSM Thome’s collaboration with iShare spans more than eight years, a longevity rooted in continuous innovation and partnership. iShare consistently develops new features, such as XML automation, supplier portals, and AI enhancements, that evolve alongside client needs.
Anastasiades said the relationship extends beyond vendor-client. With responsive support systems, open communication, and a willingness to tailor solutions, iShare has acted as a true partner in OSM Thome’s transformation. In fact, the company was among the first ship management companies to successfully adapt XML invoicing for dummy companies used internally to manage vessels, a milestone achieved through close collaboration with iShare.
Looking Ahead: AI and Supplier Visibility
Building on its success, Anastasiades said OSM Thome is setting its sights on new innovations. A supplier onboarding portal is in development, designed to validate and update supplier information more efficiently, improving visibility and decision-making.
Meanwhile, discussions with iShare focus on expanding artificial intelligence capabilities. While XML files cover the majority of invoices, smaller suppliers and local authorities often submit documents that do not fit this format. AI tools capable of reading, coding, and routing invoices promise to close this gap, moving OSM Thome closer to full automation of AP processes.
Future plans also include enhancing supplier visibility, Anastasiades said. Through iShare’s supplier portal, vendors will soon be able to access real-time information not only on invoice status but also on payment dates. This will eliminate the need for manual statement reconciliations and improve supplier trust and satisfaction.
