SAP Startup Spotlight: Supervizor

Alban Clot, co-founder and Managing Director (Sales & Operations) of Supervizor, is a graduate of ESCP Europe. Alban began his career in the consulting industry. He held several positions until he became a partner within an independent consulting firm. He then co-founded Supervizor with Cyrille de Gastines and held the position of Director of Operations. Alban is now leading all business development, marketing and operations teams and is in charge of the international expansion of Supervizor. In this interview, he talks about what his company offers and what’s next for Supervizor.

E-3 Magazine: Why did you start Supervizor to begin with?

Alban Clot: Supervizor is a financial audit and internal control software for CFOs of mid-market and large companies. They usually need to get rid of accounting errors and comply with anti-fraud regulations but rely today on inefficient manual internal controls and outdated external audits that waste time and money. Supervizor is the first automatic financial anomaly detection software dedicated to corporate finance that leverages AI to analyze 100 percent of transactions and instantly highlight anomalies and frauds, remotely and on an ongoing basis. Supervizor was created in order to resolve a pain every company encounters. The technology is the result of more than 10 years of research. The goal is to respond to a problem that companies encounter during their audit process. Indeed, the need to bring auditors to the premises and the long and costly processes are difficult for many of them. Supervizor has created a remote and automated audit solution to facilitate the audit process. After several years of use, 100 percent of the accounts analyzed revealed significant anomalies.

What is the value customers get from Supervizor?

Clot: Our solution offers many benefits for customers. Indeed, we offer a 100 percent automated tool. Supervizor reveals hidden errors so customers can stay one step ahead of their auditors. The software also allows customers to remain compliant with international and local anti-fraud and bribery regulations. Supervizor gives the opportunity to run audits at all times, ensuring a continuous monitoring across all customer subsidiaries. Not only does the software help the customers in a financial way, but also in a managerial way. Indeed, Supervizsor allows the teams to focus their time on what matters: analyzing errors and fixing them (and bringing the money back).

How could your solution potentially help customers navigate the COVID-19 pandemic?

Clot: Travels are hardly possible due to the pandemic. Internal auditors and controllers cannot move locally or internationally. Supervizor allows companies to control their finance accounting data remotely without the need for auditors to travel to monitor subsidiaries. In addition, the current crisis may be a breeding ground for financial malpractice, as travel issues make controls more difficult to put in place. Our solution enables customers to control company finances remotely, thus avoiding potential fraud.

How does it work?

Clot: Supervizor’s technology is simple. Supervizor is an easy to implement plug-and-play technology compatible with all ERP solutions. Implementation is fast (it only takes a few days) and it also adapts to all ERP systems. Once the software is downloaded, it will automatically import the data. Thanks to its unique learning engine, based on more than 40,000 companies analyzed so far and more than 130 million accounting procedures modelled, Supervizor analyzes and understands any company’s practices without any setup. A mapping will then take place in order to harmonize the data and detect anomalies. As the operations progress, the software will be enriched and will perform 300 preset control points in an automated way. Reports are drawn up and sent to the company so that the latter can analyze the anomalies detected. Users can view the results of controls in a dynamic audit report presenting any errors and the evidence for them and get one-click access to anomaly details.

How would you define your partnership with SAP?

Clot: The relationship between SAP and Supervizor is based on a partnership that began in 2018 when Supervizor was chosen to participate in the Accelerator SAP.io program. During this experience, R&D and GTM workshops were organized to leverage both technical and business integrations. During the participation in this program, the work was mostly autonomous but permitted us to create an initial relationship with SAP, and then to develop other projects together. We created two connectors that are both available in the Supervizor software (for ECC 6 and S/4 Hana). We now have many clients that are SAP customers and have the chance to count on the former COO of SAP France as a board member of Supervizor.

How do the SAP connectors work?

Clot: We have specific module connectors that enable direct access to the ERP database without having to import the data beforehand. These connectors have been created for SAP systems to facilitate data analysis and automated controls. They allow to reduce the required effort by shortening the number of steps to get to the data analysis. The import is done automatically from the database without going through the files, which represents important time and cost savings. SAP customers connect to the software with their login and password and, thanks to the module, can directly analyze their files.

What’s next for the company?

Clot: We are on a mission to disrupt the way audits and controls have always been processed. Supervizor’s ambition is to become the worldwide leader in the field of automatic anomaly and fraud detection. We want to become a reference in the accounting internal control sector. For this purpose, Supervizor is developing its tool to meet customer expectations and adapt to international requirements. In addition to becoming the market leader, Supervizor wishes to expand internationally. For the moment, we have integrated the American market and the German market. In the near future, our ambition is to deploy teams in these territories and to continue our development. To do so, we will continue to hire more local talent to strengthen our teams.

Thank you for the interview.

Enjoyed this interview in our SAP Startup Spotlight Series? You might also like our piece on EasySend, a no-code platform for building and optimizing digital customer journeys.