At Avvale, we thrive on turning complex business challenges into streamlined, intelligent solutions. Recently, our team brought that passion to the SAP Hack2Build 2026 event, competing against top-tier innovators to build a fully functional solution in just a few days.
We are proud to announce that Avvale secured 2nd place with our Early Payment Assistant (EPA)—a specialized AI agent powered by SAP Joule, designed to revolutionize Accounts Payable (AP) and working capital management.
We sat down with Avvale’s North America Development & Innovation team behind the achievement – Jereme Swoboda, Saad Feroz, Diego Silva, Gary Prewett, and Sebastiano Marchesini – to discuss how they built an award-winning solution.
7 Questions with Our Team: The Journey, the Tech & the Insights
The Challenge: Redefining Early Payment Strategy in the AI Era
1. Interviewer: To begin, which specific real-world business challenges led to the development of this solution?
- Saad – Our clients consistently told us they were caught between two risks: paying too late and incurring penalties, or paying too early and hurting liquidity. We saw that early-payment discounts were a largely untapped lever for working capital. The challenge wasn’t a lack of data; it was that the signal was buried across apps, systems, emails, and spreadsheets.We set out to build an AI agent that surfaces the right discount at the right time, with the right governance controls, directly within SAP. The goal was simple: transform scattered financial signals into actionable, trusted intelligence.
The Hackathon Experience: From Concept to Podium
2. Interviewer: What made the Hack2Build experience a defining milestone for your team?
- Jereme – The hackathon is the final stage of the Hack2build event, where each team is given 10 minutes to present the business value, go–to–market, and give a live demo of the solution. Needless to say, this is a real challenge. When the judges gave us positive feedback, it was very gratifying to know that they loved our demo and content. In that moment, we all had a sudden feeling that we had a great chance at winning this, and our solution truly resonated with them.
- Sebastiano – Three moments stood out: when everything worked perfectly, second when SAP validated that we hadn’t made any errors, and when we knew we had given our absolute best. Those moments gave us real confidence.
3. Interviewer: When was the exact second you realized, “Wow, this actually works, and it’s going to be a game–changer”?
- Saad – It was when Joule didn’t just retrieve data but reasoned over it. The solution compared discount value, payment terms, and liquidity impact, then explained its recommendation in business language that an AP lead or Treasury Manager could trust. That’s when it stopped feeling like a chatbot and started feeling like a true financial co-pilot.
- Sebastiano – The most defining moments were connecting to live financial data, dynamically calculating potential savings, and evaluating discount eligibility to optimize outcomes. That’s when we realized we had built something truly transformational.
Making the Agentic AI more Practical and Relatable
4. Interviewer: Beyond the code, what was the “secret sauce” that helped Avvale’s solution stand out to the SAP judges?
- Jereme – I would say teamwork. Using our individual talents, we created a very strong team, which in turn delivered a solution that provides real-world value to SAP customers.
- Diego – Every technical decision was grounded in real client pain. AP teams often drown in manual discount hunting. We didn’t build a cool demo; we built something that solves a problem procurement and treasury teams lose sleep over. That authenticity resonated with the judges because it wasn’t theoretical; it was practical experience translated into innovative technology.
- Sebastiano – We pushed boundaries with SAP tools, leveraging Joule AI beyond standard implementations. That creativity helped the solution stand out to the judges.
5. Interviewer: People often fear that AI is here to replace them, but the EPA seems to act more like a partner. How does this “agentic” approach empower finance teams to focus on higher-value tasks?
- Jereme – The Early Payment Assistant is designed to take the repetitive, time-consuming work off AP teams’ desks, not their decision-making authority. Instead of digging through invoices and payment terms, the AI surfaces the opportunity, explains the impact, and provides clear reasoning.The human stays in control. That’s the difference an agentic approach makes; it elevates finance professionals from searching for insights to acting on them.
The Road Ahead: How We’re Turning an Award-Winning Solution into a Daily Partner for Our Clients
6. Interviewer: Taking home 2nd place is a huge achievement. What does this recognition mean for the team and for the future of AI at Avvale?
- Jereme – This is a milestone, demonstrating that we can provide real-world AI value to SAP customers.
- Diego – It proves Avvale isn’t just delivering projects; we’re shaping how enterprises will work in the AI era. We compete globally and deliver measurable value rapidly, sending a clear signal to clients that choosing us means choosing a partner that is already building the future.
7. Interviewer: Now that it’s a real solution, what’s next, and how is Avvale planning to scale this solution across industries?
- Saad – Our next step is to scale Early Payment Assistant so it can operate more autonomously and at greater volume. That means enabling batch payments, introducing liquidity thresholds, and defining approval rules by company, bank, or region. Strong integration opportunities exist with Treasury, ICMR, and Advanced Financial Close. The goal is to move from a standalone solution to a more connected, intelligent finance layer within SAP Cloud ERP, where AI doesn’t just support one process but enhances the entire financial workflow.
Conclusion: From Hackathon to Real-World Impact
What began as a bold idea under hackathon pressure has grown into something far larger. The Early Payment Assistant is proof of what happens when intentional AI innovation is combined with deep SAP expertise.
For Avvale, finishing second at SAP Hack2Build 2026 is an amazing accomplishment, but it’s not the end. It confirms that financial teams are prepared for intelligent agents that enhance rather than replace them. This validates that AI can produce quantifiable economic value when it is based on actual client challenges.
The Early Payment Assistant shows what the “agentic edge” truly means: AI that reasons, explains, and collaborates. AI that turns buried financial signals into confident decisions. AI that helps organizations unlock working capital while maintaining governance and control.
At Avvale, this is just the beginning. Innovation means building solutions that make work smarter, faster, and more human.
Ready to unlock hidden working capital with AI?
Discover how Avvale’s Early Payment Assistant can help your finance team turn discount opportunities into measurable value, without compromising governance or control.
👉 Let’s talk about bringing intelligent automation into your SAP landscape.
