{"id":1794,"date":"2021-05-27T21:49:26","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T01:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog2wrkdev.wpenginepowered.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T07:57:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T11:57:24","slug":"bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/","title":{"rendered":"Bringing an automation mindset to finance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mike Flynn, the Head of Enterprise Automation at Rapid7, had a \u201czombie\u201d problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The employees at Rapid7\u2014a company that offers cybersecurity and compliance solutions and services\u2014were plagued with performing tedious, manual tasks that prevented them from doing the high-value, mission-driven work of providing exceptional customer experiences.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of these \u201czombie\u201d tasks for Rapid7 employees consisted of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Facilitating the 30+ integrations between Salesforce and NetSuite<\/li><li>Fixing the 10% of orders that failed&nbsp;<\/li><li>Determining which lines of business and individuals should and shouldn\u2019t be involved in resolving order errors&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These manual tasks were initially alleviated when Rapid7 adopted Workato in 2017 with a focus on integrating the powerful technology tools at their disposal. But, as Rapid7 leaned into Workato\u2019s automation solutions, they uncovered efficiencies that are now a cornerstone of their FinOps.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>You can learn more about how Rapid7 overcame the \u201czombies\u201d with Workato by watching their session at Automate: \u201c<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/discover.workato.com\/automation-mindset-finance\/p\/1?utm_source=blog\"><em>Bringing an automation mindset to finance<\/em><\/a><em>\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How Rapid7\u2019s automated payment portal benefits the company and their customers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Rapid7, automation isn\u2019t just a tool, it\u2019s an approach that should drive how work is done.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Flynn views his company\u2019s digital transformation as beginning as a crawl (100% manual), graduating to a walk (manual tasks assisted by automation), and developing into a run (full automation that drives strategy and growth).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, what does the automation solution look like when up and running? One example is Rapid7\u2019s launch of their payment portal.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Invoicing had been a painfully manual process, requiring human action or intervention across at least 10 touchpoints, from when an order was made to payment from the customer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The automated payment portal not only allows the team at Rapid7 to avoid performing manual tasks, but it&#8217;s also elevated the way that data gets processed and used to facilitate an even better customer experience.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The following image\u2014shared by Flynn during his presentation\u2014does a good job of encapsulating how the automation works and benefits both Rapid7 and their clients:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/9_3mbOs3ifElH6Oq09PnnrB4Aaj6FYhQXCqrxTBNQLawg9uAyNBv3aAOpkF7BDGMVMLk-z4-Gc2rS2KIlSiQGfMf0t9fzM9Az8n_2EaJsgbNeOP_LRgOCzWaNY7UCoTcTSu5LZWb\" alt=\"The benefits of an automated payment portal\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Related: <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/best-quote-to-cash-automations\/\"><em>A guide to automating quote-to-cash<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Minimal work required by IT<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps one of the most telling results of the automation mindset in use at Rapid7 is this statistic, shared by Flynn:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><span style=\"color:#67eadd\" class=\"has-inline-color\">\u201cIT averages just 1 hour of support per quarter!\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite the numerous integrations and complex orders being processed on a daily basis, IT sees errors so infrequently that they often require training to address them. This is largely the result of the daily <a href=\"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/cash-reconciliation-automation\/\">automation reconciliation<\/a> between the ERP and payment portal, which finds and resolves almost all errors.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Flynn\u2019s estimation, the partnership with Workato continues to be a \u201chuge success.\u201d Rapid7 employees have been saved from devoting considerable time and energy to managing technologies, and they can allocate more of their time, instead, to delivering better customer experiences.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To learn more about how Rapid7\u2019s automation mindset motivates them to optimize their finance operations, you can watch their session from Automate, the #1 conference on automation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link\" href=\"https:\/\/discover.workato.com\/automation-mindset-finance\/p\/1?utm_source=blog\">Watch the full session<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mike Flynn, the Head of Enterprise Automation at Rapid7, had a \u201czombie\u201d problem. The employees at Rapid7\u2014a company that offers cybersecurity and compliance solutions and services\u2014were plagued with performing tedious, manual tasks that prevented them from doing the high-value, mission-driven work of providing exceptional customer experiences.&nbsp; Some of these \u201czombie\u201d tasks for Rapid7 employees consisted [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":12197,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-customer-stories","category-solutions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bringing an automation mindset to finance - Workato<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about Rapid7&#039;s approach to automation and see how they&#039;ve applied that approach to their payment portal.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bringing an automation mindset to finance - Workato\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn about Rapid7&#039;s approach to automation and see how they&#039;ve applied that approach to their payment portal.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Workato\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-28T01:49:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-30T11:57:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/workato.com\/the-connector\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/automate-rapid-7-Recovered-01.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"8001\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"3500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anna Kelley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anna Kelley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anna Kelley\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.workato.com\\\/the-connector\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3e28bc896b8bc151d4da03481168149f\"},\"headline\":\"Bringing an automation mindset to finance\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-28T01:49:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-30T11:57:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":514,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/automate-rapid-7-Recovered-01.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Customer Stories\",\"Solutions\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\\\/\",\"name\":\"Bringing an automation mindset to finance - Workato\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.workato.com\\\/the-connector\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/automate-rapid-7-Recovered-01.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-28T01:49:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-30T11:57:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.workato.com\\\/the-connector\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3e28bc896b8bc151d4da03481168149f\"},\"description\":\"Learn about Rapid7's approach to automation and see how they've applied that approach to their payment portal.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/automate-rapid-7-Recovered-01.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/automate-rapid-7-Recovered-01.png\",\"width\":8001,\"height\":3500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bringing an automation mindset to finance\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.workato.com\\\/the-connector\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.workato.com\\\/the-connector\\\/\",\"name\":\"Workato\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.workato.com\\\/the-connector\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.workato.com\\\/the-connector\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3e28bc896b8bc151d4da03481168149f\",\"name\":\"Anna Kelley\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\\\/author\\\/anna-kelley\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bringing an automation mindset to finance - Workato","description":"Learn about Rapid7's approach to automation and see how they've applied that approach to their payment portal.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bringing an automation mindset to finance - Workato","og_description":"Learn about Rapid7's approach to automation and see how they've applied that approach to their payment portal.","og_url":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/","og_site_name":"Workato","article_published_time":"2021-05-28T01:49:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-30T11:57:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":8001,"height":3500,"url":"https:\/\/workato.com\/the-connector\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/automate-rapid-7-Recovered-01.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Anna Kelley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anna Kelley","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/"},"author":{"name":"Anna Kelley","@id":"https:\/\/www.workato.com\/the-connector\/#\/schema\/person\/3e28bc896b8bc151d4da03481168149f"},"headline":"Bringing an automation mindset to finance","datePublished":"2021-05-28T01:49:26+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-30T11:57:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/"},"wordCount":514,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/automate-rapid-7-Recovered-01.png","articleSection":["Customer Stories","Solutions"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/","url":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/","name":"Bringing an automation mindset to finance - Workato","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.workato.com\/the-connector\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/automate-rapid-7-Recovered-01.png","datePublished":"2021-05-28T01:49:26+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-30T11:57:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.workato.com\/the-connector\/#\/schema\/person\/3e28bc896b8bc151d4da03481168149f"},"description":"Learn about Rapid7's approach to automation and see how they've applied that approach to their payment portal.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/automate-rapid-7-Recovered-01.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/automate-rapid-7-Recovered-01.png","width":8001,"height":3500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/bringing-an-automation-mindset-to-finance\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bringing an automation mindset to finance"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.workato.com\/the-connector\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.workato.com\/the-connector\/","name":"Workato","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.workato.com\/the-connector\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.workato.com\/the-connector\/#\/schema\/person\/3e28bc896b8bc151d4da03481168149f","name":"Anna Kelley","url":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/author\/anna-kelley\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1794"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7385,"href":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions\/7385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}