Sage Intacct is a cloud-based ERP and financial management platform used by mid-market companies to manage accounting, AP/AR, financial reporting, and compliance.
Sage Intacct needed an intelligent, end-to-end AP experience to replace fragmented workflows and unpredictable automation. I led the 0→1 design of a unified AP workspace and the multi-agent patterns that shaped Sage’s AI-first strategy.
By introducing guided workflows, anomaly detection, and cross-process insights, we transformed AP/PO into a coordinated, intelligent system. These patterns became the foundation for Sage’s AI Agents for Accounts Payable, Close Assistance, Risk & Compliance, Time Management, and the Finance Intelligence Agent, delivering 50–90% reductions in manual entry and 2–3× improvements in processing productivity.
This work established a scalable, responsible multi-agent framework that now powers Sage’s vision for continuous accounting.
Accounts Payable workflows were distributed across multiple pages and systems, forcing finance teams to manually track work, investigate issues, and follow up on approvals. Even with automation features, users still needed to review invoices, identify anomalies, and coordinate decisions across tools.
Introducing AI into finance workflows created additional complexity. Financial systems operate under strict governance and compliance requirements, meaning every recommendation must be explainable, auditable, and aligned with approval controls.
The core challenge was not simply introducing automation. It was designing a system that could increase efficiency while preserving trust, transparency, and financial oversight.
Designing Responsible Agentic AI
Rather than layering AI onto existing workflows, I reframed the design question:
When should the system act autonomously, and when must a human intervene?
Early conceptual designs tested with AP Clerks, Managers, and Controllers revealed an important insight. Users were open to AI accelerating repetitive work, but only when they understood the system’s reasoning and retained control over high-risk financial decisions.
Automation without explanation created hesitation.
Transparency increased confidence.
This insight shaped the strategy behind the Intelligent AP Workspace.
The workspace consolidates invoices, approvals, exceptions, vendor insights, and system recommendations into a single operational view. AI agents assist by interpreting invoices, detecting anomalies, and prioritizing tasks while surfacing confidence levels, explanations, and review checkpoints.
The design focused on several core principles:
Clarity
Make priorities, anomalies, and next steps immediately visible.
Trust
Provide explainability, confidence signals, and transparent automation decisions.
Momentum
Reduce navigation and surface work in context so teams can move faster.
Resilience
Support edge cases, compliance requirements, and complex financial workflows.
This approach allowed automation to accelerate AP workflows while maintaining transparency, auditability, and financial governance.
Improving AP productivity, approval speed, and exception visibility
The Intelligent Workspace became a key part of Sage Intacct’s move toward AI-assisted accounting operations. It delivered measurable improvements for finance teams while establishing foundational patterns for Sage’s emerging AI agents and automation strategy.
Measurable Product Impact
50–90% reduction in manual data entry through AI-assisted invoice coding and matching
2–3× increase in AP processing productivity for finance teams
83% reduction in approval cycle time through redesigned AI-assisted escalation and routing
Faster exception resolution through prioritized, confidence-based insights
Organizational Impact
Defined the interaction model for Sage Intacct’s AI agents, influencing future Copilot capabilities
Introduced reusable patterns for explainability, confidence scoring, and intelligent recommendations
Unified AP and PO processes into a coordinated system view adopted across product, engineering, and AI teams
Strategic Impact
Advanced Sage’s vision for continuous accounting and intelligent financial operations
Demonstrated how agent-driven workflows can reduce operational friction in finance systems
Provided a practical framework for deploying AI responsibly within high-compliance financial environments
This work improved the AP experience while helping shape the foundation for Sage’s broader finance automation strategy.
