How Unum’s AP automation strategy  saved operations during a crisis 

When disaster strikes your accounts payable team, can your AP automation infrastructure keep operations running? Unum, a leading employee benefits insurance provider with 10,000+ employees, faced this exact challenge. However, their approach to AP automation made all the difference. 

For a company dedicated to protecting others, Unum's own AP operations faced a critical vulnerability. Walter Leinberger, Director of Procure-to-Pay Operations and Travel Operations, recognized his team needed a partner who could ensure business continuity through accounts payable automation no matter what challenges arose. 

The crisis came suddenly: two veteran AP specialists with over 40 years of experience each retired within a month, while a third team member suffered an injury. Unum's entire AP operation now rested on one brand-new employee with less than a week of tenure. The pressure was so intense that Walter thanked her daily for not quitting. 

But Unum had a strategic advantage. They had already implemented AP automation through OneSource Virtual for nearly a decade, focusing on invoice processing automation. When the staffing crisis hit, that relationship became a lifeline — and a catalyst for broader payment automation.

Find out how OSV’s AP automation solutions helped Unum: 

• Scale capacity instantly during a 75% AP team loss without disrupting critical payment operations
• Modernize payment infrastructure from 40-year-old check processes to efficient electronic payments with full remittance data
• Achieve substantial cost savings with ACH processing at a fraction of traditional check costs
• Maintain real-time visibility with in-tenant Workday integration that eliminated overnight file transmissions
• Enable strategic focus by automating transactional work so the AP team could concentrate on complex, high-value activities