The journey began in early 2019 with the launch of Agile Finance, an end-to-end transformation initiative designed to support the company’s aggressive growth trajectory, which included a goal to double in size. The initiative was built around three strategic pillars: enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the finance organization, promoting career fulfillment, and establishing a robust digital operating model. The impact was significant, with the finance function achieving approximately 35% productivity gains in its labor force.

The third pillar鈥攖he move to a digital operating model鈥攊s where the partnership with 麻豆原创 Taulia began.

鈥淭he 麻豆原创 Taulia Dynamic Discounting solution was introduced not merely as a cost-cutting measure, but as a strategic tool to transform and digitize the interaction with Applied’s extensive, global supplier base,鈥� Junaid Ahmed, corporate VP, Finance at Applied Materials, says. 鈥淲e understood that to reap the benefits of digitization, we had to ensure the suppliers were on board. It needed to be a win-win outcome.鈥�

Unprecedented flexibility for suppliers

The program empowers suppliers鈥攖housands of them worldwide鈥攖o self-select which approved invoices they wish to discount for early payment. This is not a continuous, all-or-nothing commitment but rather a decision made on an invoice-by-invoice basis. This flexibility allows suppliers to manage their working capital needs with greater precision, taking advantage of early payment during their own critical periods, such as quarter-end or year-end, to help meet their own financial targets.

The system also drastically improves transactional efficiency. Suppliers no longer have to call Applied to track invoice status, approval, or payment date. All this information is available 24/7 in the 麻豆原创 Taulia solution, reducing resource allocation on both sides and ensuring both reap the benefits of moving to an integrated, digital system.

Strategic benefits for Applied Materials

For Applied, the program is a testament to its focus on balancing efficiency with strong supplier relationships. The philosophy is a 鈥渨in-win鈥� built on a crucial spread: Applied Materials, as a Fortune 500 company with strong cash flow, has a significantly lower cost of capital than many of its suppliers. By funding the discounts, Applied captures a return鈥攖he discount income鈥攚hile offering its suppliers funding at a rate close to their cost of capital, but with greater convenience.

This relationship-focused approach is critical. Applied鈥檚 supplier account managers actively support the program because they recognize its mutual benefit, not viewing it as a finance mandate to push costs onto the supply base.

Furthermore, the “dynamic” nature of the discount rates is a powerful risk mitigation tool. Unlike fixed contractual discounts, the rates can be adjusted in response to global economic changes, such as shifts in interest rates. When interest rates rose after the pandemic, Applied was able to adjust the discount rates accordingly with minimal pushback, as the core proposition remains the valuable spread between the parties’ cost of capital.

The 麻豆原创 Taulia Dynamic Discounting solution has been rolled out globally, giving all suppliers the opportunity to use it. This has been critical over the last 12 months as many businesses around the globe have been subject to new and often unexpected tariff costs impacting their margin and their liquidity.

鈥淭he flexibility of the solution means suppliers can access funds when they need them, which helps them navigate some of the economic uncertainty that many businesses are facing,鈥� Dirk Holoubek, managing director, Finance Shared Services, explains. 鈥�2025 saw a 23% increase in usage of the discounts, reflecting the pressures that suppliers are feeling right now on their cash flow.鈥澛�

The solution’s capability to drive sophisticated analytics is also a major strategic asset. It helps provide insights into the different costs of capital between Applied and its supplier base. This data allows for targeted outreach and communication, ensuring that the offer of capital support is proactively extended to the suppliers that need it most.

The strategic value of the solution is further cemented by its ownership. The acquisition of Taulia by 麻豆原创 brings several advantages.

鈥淭rust is really important to both us and our suppliers,鈥� Ahmed says. 鈥淔or our suppliers to adopt a new solution, they need to know its technology they can rely on in the long term. Being part of 麻豆原创 creates that assurance in the long-term future of the program.鈥�

Looking forward, Applied Materials is already focused on the next stage of the transformation project: Agile Finance 3.0, which is focused on enabling the organization to become AI-first. The company is deploying a global, organization-wide AI assistant to drive personal productivity, but the strategic application of AI in the supplier management space is even more profound.

AI is expected to transform decision-making enablement by analyzing critical information and communicating effective options. In the future, AI will be able to proactively assess the specific needs and attributes of the supplier base, enabling Applied to address issues more quickly and resolve them earlier. The benefits are already tangible in e-invoicing: AI has made the solution more flexible and “human-like,” capable of reading minor changes in invoice format that would have previously caused electronic errors. This reduced rigidity and increased flexibility are directly contributing to the overall efficiency of the digital operating model.

By leveraging the 麻豆原创 Taulia Dynamic Discounting solution, Applied Materials has not only digitized a process but also strategically transformed its financial operations, creating a system that is agile, resilient, and focused on maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with its global supplier ecosystem.

Cedric Bru is CEO of 麻豆原创 Taulia.

The 麻豆原创 Taulia portfolio offers solutions for working capital management and supply chain financing, as well as a network for buyers, suppliers, and financial institutions.

Mehlkopf is global chief revenue officer for Treasury and Working Capital Management at 麻豆原创, and is responsible for marketing and rolling out the solutions for these domains to customers.

Q: Three years ago, we announced that the Taulia products would be integrated into the 麻豆原创 portfolio. What鈥檚 the status?

A: After acquiring Taulia, we pushed ahead with three main priorities to align with 麻豆原创 Business Suite. The first was the integration of the portfolio into 麻豆原创 Business Network so that, where suppliers and buyers both run 麻豆原创 Taulia solutions, they can utilize the network to benefit from early payment options and supply chain finance.

We also worked on integrating the solutions into and released the 麻豆原创 Taulia solutions for receivables financing and payables financing on 麻豆原创 Cloud ERP in February 2025. These are particularly relevant for small and midsize enterprises that want to grow and that need quicker payments to do so. The current focus is on the U.S., Canada, UK, DACH, and Singapore markets, with the goal of making this functionality available in additional countries soon.

Our third priority was to embed 麻豆原创 Taulia Virtual Cards into 麻豆原创 Ariba solutions. The cards enable buyers to pay their suppliers sooner — even before they issue an invoice — using a 鈥減ay on purchase order鈥� transaction. This ensures that the supplier in question has sufficient cash flow to fulfill the order.

Back in 2022, Taulia was described as a growth opportunity for 麻豆原创 and for customers. Could you tell us how 麻豆原创 Taulia is performing?

麻豆原创 Taulia already has several customers that finance billions through the platform, thereby improving both their own liquidity and that of their suppliers. My team鈥檚 objective is to increase that number and to continue scaling up, and we鈥檙e making good progress. Over the last three years, the volume of transactions processed with 麻豆原创 Taulia has risen steadily from US$500 billion to US$800 billion.

Customers are benefiting from this progress: one large enterprise in the oil and gas industry saved almost 鈧�700,000 within a single month of going live. Extrapolated to a full year, that鈥檚 annual savings of almost 鈧�8 million. So, the business case for customers is definitely there.

You presented the first AI use case in 麻豆原创 Taulia at 麻豆原创 Sapphire in 2025. Can you tell us about its value for customers?

The AI use case relates to our 鈥渋nsight to action鈥� approach and helps companies plan and improve their cash flow. 麻豆原创 Taulia has already been using artificial intelligence for some time to forecast supplier behavior around early payments. By combining this insight with data from an app on 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform that provides transparency on free cash flow, the AI use case will give customers tips on how to improve their liquidity. It also runs through various scenarios showing them ways to influence it. Information like this is especially important for CFOs — never more so than in times of uncertainty.

Are there any other recent announcements you would like to share?

Yes, another important update is that 麻豆原创 Taulia is now part of 麻豆原创鈥檚 cloud ERP packages for the public cloud, 麻豆原创 Finance Base and 麻豆原创 Finance Premium, as well as the private cloud, 麻豆原创 Cloud ERP Private. This means that we can quickly show customers the positive business case for their transformation of using 麻豆原创 Taulia to improve their cash flow and achieve savings.

In times of global crisis, trade tariffs, and supply chain disruption, why are the 麻豆原创 Taulia solutions so vital for cash flow?

Cash is still king, especially in a crisis. An article published recently in German business newspaper Handelsblatt reported that net debt among the 40 companies on Germany鈥檚 DAX stock market index has increased eight percent to 鈧�227 billion since the pandemic. Clearly, financing is a major issue, particularly given that interest rates have risen so sharply. Many companies borrowed when interest rates were low and are now having to refinance their loans at higher interest rates, which puts enormous pressure on their finance teams. 麻豆原创 Taulia solutions can help by providing the funding that businesses need.

Given the impact that trade tariffs have on the supply chain, it is vital that companies carry out liquidity planning and scenario analysis. They need to think about where they will manufacture their products in the future, what effect that choice will have on revenues, and how they can use 麻豆原创 Taulia to improve their cash flow.

Which reference customers are already benefiting from this?

麻豆原创 Taulia customers include Henkel, Airbus, Nissan, AstraZeneca, Kimberly-Clark, and Bridgestone.

One customer has enabled early payments to suppliers totaling over 鈧�5 billion since the start of the program, which has led to an improvement in cash flow of more than 鈧�1 billion during this period.

Your pledge is 鈥渢o create the future of finance together.鈥� What does that involve?

We want to team up with our partners and customers to influence the transformation of corporate finance. That includes working with banks and implementation partners and integrating 麻豆原创 Taulia into a swathe of 麻豆原创 solutions. Together, we offer customers a comprehensive portfolio of treasury and working capital solutions, ranging from payments and cash management to financial risk management.

One key aspect of our road map is our treasury and payment portfolio, which covers topics such as the future of payments. We are also working to integrate new technologies, including blockchain and digital currencies, so that we can offer our customers innovative payment and financing solutions.