Originally aired October 21, 2025 on Extropy On AIr.
Technology opens the door to transformation, but people have to walk through it. In the first episode of our six-part Esker partner series, Kevin Zirkle of Extropy Advisors sits down with Kyle Young of Esker to explain what makes Esker’s automation human-centered, what sets the platform apart, and how Extropy helps Esker customers turn a new system into a lasting change in how their teams work.
Listen: Extropy On AIr podcast page | Spotify
Key takeaways
- Esker automates across both order-to-cash and source-to-pay, with a focus on making people’s jobs easier, not replacing them.
- The platform is built for everyday business users, with built-in collaboration and workflows teams can configure without custom development.
- Esker’s AI is designed to advise, learn and explain, acting as a co-pilot rather than a black box.
- Technology alone doesn’t transform companies. Extropy helps teams redesign workflows, plan adoption and keep improving after go-live.
- With tight labor markets and pressure on cash visibility, automation needs to reduce stress, not add complexity.
What is Esker?
Kyle describes Esker as a global cloud platform that helps companies automate business critical processes across order-to-cash and source-to-pay. The difference, he says, is that Esker isn’t just digitizing tasks. It is redesigning how people experience their work. Everything from workflows to analytics is built to make jobs easier, not to replace the people doing them.
That is why the partnership with Extropy fits. Extropy brings the organizational design, change management and strategic vision that help a new platform become a real shift in how the business works, not just another system.
What makes Esker stand out in a crowded automation market?
The finance automation market is crowded, which can make it hard for companies to tell vendors apart. Kyle highlights a few things that set Esker apart:
- End-to-end coverage. Many vendors specialize in either order-to-cash or source-to-pay. Esker covers both, so CFOs get one view across cash processes without patchwork integrations.
- Built for business users. Intuitive dashboards and guided workflows are designed for the AR clerk, the AP manager and the customer service rep, which speeds up adoption.
- Built-in collaboration. Instead of relying on email, Esker includes native messaging, notifications and real-time chat, so people can work together in context instead of chasing approvals through their inboxes.
- Flexibility without custom code. Teams can configure workflows, alerts and rules in minutes, not months, without waiting on an IT backlog.
- Transparent AI. Esker’s AI is designed to advise, learn and explain its work, not just automate.
Kevin adds that clients are tired of rigid, expensive systems that need armies of developers to maintain. They want tools that evolve with them.
How does Extropy help Esker customers succeed?
One of Extropy’s core beliefs is that technology doesn’t transform companies, people do. Kyle agrees: if teams aren’t ready to walk through the door technology opens, transformation stalls. He sees Extropy as a translator between business needs and Esker’s capabilities. The team helps clients:
- Redesign legacy workflows and policies
- Map out change and adoption strategies
- Identify the performance metrics that actually matter
- Train cross-functional teams for success
Kevin calls this building future-ready operating models. The day you go live with any tool is really just the beginning.
Who is the Esker series for?
Kyle says the series is for CFOs, VPs of finance, heads of shared services, controllers and procurement directors. If you are dealing with disconnected systems, inconsistent workflows, manual exceptions or poor visibility into cash and spend, it is for you, whether you are just starting your automation journey or trying to bring multiple systems onto one modern platform.
Over the series, Kevin and Esker’s team cover:
- Order management: reducing errors, speeding fulfillment and improving customer service
- Accounts receivable automation: turning collections into connections
- Source-to-pay: gaining spend visibility and supplier trust
- Accounts payable: eliminating the approval black hole
- AI and analytics: using intelligence to empower people, not replace them
Why does people-centered automation matter now?
Kyle believes the industry is at an inflection point. Labor markets are tight, CFOs are under pressure to improve cash visibility, digital transformation is no longer optional and burnout is real. Companies need automation that adapts to the organization, reduces stress instead of adding complexity, supports continuous improvement and is built to last, not just for short-term wins.
Kevin notes that many companies have automated themselves into silos. The goal for Esker and Extropy together is integration with empathy, and efficiency with insight.
In their words
Our clients aren’t just going live, they’re going forward.
Kyle Young, Esker
That’s the real difference between having a co-pilot and a black box.
Kyle Young, Esker
About the speakers
Kevin Zirkle is Director of Business Development at Extropy Advisors, where he works across Extropy’s partner ecosystem, matching organizations with the right technology and the right people to move transformation from the whiteboard into production.
Kyle Young is Strategic Alliance Manager at Esker, a global cloud platform for order-to-cash and source-to-pay automation.
FAQ
What does Esker do?
Esker is a global cloud platform that helps companies automate business critical processes across order-to-cash and source-to-pay. Its focus is on redesigning how people experience their work, with workflows, analytics and AI built to make jobs easier rather than replace people.
What makes Esker different from other finance automation platforms?
Esker covers both order-to-cash and source-to-pay end to end, so finance leaders get one view across cash processes without patchwork integrations. It is designed for everyday business users, includes built-in collaboration like messaging and real-time chat, lets teams configure workflows and rules without custom development, and uses AI that advises and explains rather than acting as a black box.
How does Extropy Advisors help Esker customers?
Extropy brings organizational design, change management and strategy to Esker implementations. The team helps redesign legacy workflows and policies, plans for adoption, defines the metrics that matter and trains cross-functional teams, so clients don’t just go live, they keep improving after go-live.
Keep exploring
- More from our partner series on Extropy On AIr
- Next in the Esker series: Order Chaos to Confidence: Intelligent Order Management with Esker
- Related: Beyond the Demo: Esker All Access
- Our technology partners
- Why Extropy
Exploring Esker for your order-to-cash or source-to-pay process? Book a discovery call with our team.
