Date: 04.11.2025 (2025-11-04)
Manoj Bhaskar (04.11.2025) • https://www.linkedin.com/in/manoj-bhaskar-048a5910/ • Head of Finance - Protection Automation Solutions at Siemens • From Bangalore before - now in Erlangen / Munich • My message: • Hi Manoj, Varun Mundra already talked about me with you - would be great to connect - we are working on AI Agents for AP/AR and are currently looking to expand into Controlling. • Would love to share a bit more!
Notes: • General • He builds tools himself as side projects - to learn and potentially use it • Context: • Responsible for product portfolio -> Life cycle manager, ensure profitability of the product -> global role -> he makes sure that targets are met • Challenges: • Data accumulation is a challenge -> different countries -> they are in energy / infrastructure sector -> different compliances, regulations, environmental laws etc. -> standardised vs. customisation -> understand what has to be fulfilled • Data is public, also local teams have data and prepare it -> often data is not reliable • Predict / forecast what volume could be because of market challenges • Accounting? • He has a lot of exposure to accounting -> it is critical for them to know which accounting methods are used -> affect the numbers • They have cost centers • Supplier management: by procurement team • Mostly focussed on controlling and budgeting • Automation: • Accounting: he does not know -> he knows the team though -> maybe he can do intro -> own ChatGPT etc. • Controlling / forecasting / budgeting: central digital team -> then rolled out -> they are building prediction and forecasting tools (still very early, unclear how reliable) • Data is only one thing -> e.g. market sentiment is qualitative data • No active use yet • AP automation: • They have SAP in place -> he says it is not an issue - but not sure how reliable it is • If supplier has ERP -> invoice is sent from ERP to ERP • When there is a supplier that does not have an ERP -> then an email is sent • They have a lot of small suppliers -> a lot of mistakes -> accounting department handles it (he thinks it is manual) • He thinks there is a lot of potential • CoPilot: • They have internal tool -> they make their own CoPilot -> OKR for the next 4 to 5 years • It is mathematical calculation -> forecast / budget • The biggest challenge is including market sentiments & industry trends • Focus on the sector that we offer it to -> make it sector focussed • E.g. automotive industry vs. data center industry • Trends electric vehicles etc. • That is the biggest point to get the data • He does research himself • What could impact my business? • TBD: implement a McK / BCG framework - multi step Deep Research queries • Examples: climate changes, tax changes, tariffs, etc. • Just budgeting and forecast is not really a benefit (maybe for small companies it could be helpful) • He gets data from local teams -> they know what is happening -> local sources -> they collect information from local teams • Reports, from customers • He did not use the budgeting tool -> his portfolio is complex -> does not fit in standard templates • Developed by central team • Side projects: • Invoice generation • Always happy to help and do collaboration • He will come back with some concrete ideas • Automation with AI already? • • Most valuable flows for him? • • Biggest objections / challenges in his daily life? • • Context: team setup? internal and external? • • Which tasks are the biggest pain? With magic wand -> what would he solve? • • Which tasks would he focus on? • • Do they already have automations? Which ones? How well do they work? • • Which companies would he target? • • General feedback to pitch? •