Modern P2P isn’t about replacing people. It’s about elevating them.
In this AP Arms episode, Zimmer Biomet’s Global Process Owner for Procure‑to‑Pay, Molly Dausch, joins Xelix CEO and Co‑founder Paul to explore how automation is reshaping roles, why change management determines outcomes and which skills will define the next decade of P2P. It’s a practical conversation grounded in lessons from large‑scale transformation.
Watch the episode ▶️
Meet Molly:
With 19 years in P2P and GBS leadership across Fortune 500s, Molly now leads P2P globally at Zimmer Biomet, overseeing hubs in the Americas, EMEA and APAC, plus BPO teams in India and Romania.
She’s no stranger to transformation. She's led teams across several regions and functions on automation journeys over the past decade.
From RPA to AI: The automation arc in P2P
Over the past eight years, P2P teams have experienced successive waves of automation. Robotic Process Automation (RPA), particularly on the PO side and in mature, repeatable environments, did what it promised: it delivered efficiency when tasks could be scripted and repeated. The catch was the maintenance burden. “You create this thing and then you have to maintain this thing,” Molly notes — an ongoing cost that many underestimated.
AI usage is now rising, though adoption is uneven. Molly estimates only about a quarter of teams are using it in a truly material way today.
What's most important is the change in how teams work. AI moves organisations from manual throughput to orchestration. Machines take on the repeatable work. People step up into oversight, exception handling and relationship management. The new job profile is less about pressing keys and more about designing compliant, resilient flows, managing risk with judgement and using insight to prioritise the interventions that actually move the needle.
Hiring for modern P2P
Systems fluency and change resilience stand out when hiring for this new AI landscape. “You might not have had AI experience, but do you have automation or legacy RPA experience?” Molly explains. “That tells me your mind is already looking for those ideas and processes.” She also values lived change: “Significant repatriations or system shifts show you'll succeed in a dynamic environment.”
Change management that actually works
Intuitive software still needs intentional adoption. For Molly, effective change management starts with clarity and repetition. “Tell people what you’re going to do, when you’re going to do it and then remind them during and after.” Don’t rely on self‑serve training alone. Create a live pathway for support, such as a dedicated Teams channel with someone available to jump on quick calls.
In GBS environments where cultures vary, clarity beats ambiguity. Molly stresses the importance of being explicit about ownership. Ambiguity stalls execution, and the casual “we” often leaves no one accountable. Name the action. Name the owner. Record the decision. Then reiterate it.
What’s next for Molly and her team?
Zimmer Biomet is early in its GBS transformation journey, with centralised services and strong investment in technology. The near‑term opportunities Molly highlights include maturing case management for inquiry and response and tackling policy interpretation at scale; for example, in complex policy scenarios where consistency is difficult. The team’s guiding question is diagnostic: is this a labour problem, a process problem or an efficiency problem? Only with that clarity can teams fix what they need to.
Final thoughts: Technology enables, people deliver
Automation brings scale, consistency and control. People design the process, manage the change and exercise judgement where it matters. The P2P teams that win won’t chase tools for their own sake. They’ll pair the right guardrails and automation with a culture of learning, clarity and accountability to elevate the work people do, not eliminate it.
A huge thank you to Molly for sharing her insights on building high performing P2P teams.
If you’d like to feature alongside some of the industry’s finest at The AP Arms, please get in touch – we’d love to share a tipple with you down the pub!
READ MORE AP ARMS
Will AI replace outsourcing?
Keep your master vendor file clean, secure and up-to-date
How to embrace new invoicing regulations
