From ideas to innovation: AI in action at Xelix's first Hackathon
May 2025
At Xelix, we’re always looking for smarter, faster ways to solve complex finance problems. That means pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with AI - both in our product and in how we build it.
Two recent moments brought this into focus: a speaking session at the AWS Summit in London and our first internal Hackathon. Together, they tell a clear story - Xelix is committed to making AI real, practical and impactful.
Turning ideas into impact: AI at Scale
We were proud to be invited to speak at the AWS Summit in London - first to present, then to join a panel discussion alongside other industry leaders in AI. Paul Solomon, our Head of AI Engineering, took to the stage to share how we’re embedding AI into the Xelix platform and what we’ve learned taking it from idea to production.
The session he joined, Getting AI from Idea to Production, focused on real-world lessons from our journey, offering practical advice for teams looking to move beyond the prototype phase.
Key takeaways include:
- Use foundation models from leading providers - they’re powerful, scalable and efficient for most use cases.
- Prepare for scale early - anticipate growth and avoid technical debt.
- Monitor and iterate - use real-world feedback to improve continuously.
- Don’t wait – build - AI is more accessible than ever; the best way to learn is to ship.
Our ongoing partnership with AWS has been a valuable part of that journey. We connect regularly with their teams for architectural guidance, infrastructure advice and technical input that helps us move fast while building responsibly.
Innovation in motion: The Xelix Hackathon
Following the Summit, we continued that momentum with our first internal Hackathon - an opportunity for our team to take bold ideas and bring them to life. When we opened submissions, we received nearly 50 concepts from across the company. Eight were selected to prototype over four focused days.
Many of the projects explored how AI can enhance our engineering practices and improve the experience we deliver to Accounts Payable teams. We also used the Hackathon as a testing ground for new AI tools—evaluating what’s hype and what’s truly helpful.
AWS joined us throughout the week, offering generous service credits and time from their Solutions Architects to help teams explore new tech, solve tricky challenges and push boundaries. It was a great example of what’s possible when you combine a curious team with the right support.
“Innovation doesn’t happen in isolation - it happens when smart people come together, challenge each other, and try things that might not work. That’s what this Hackathon was all about.”
Phil Watts, Chief Product Officer & Co-founder at Xelix
Here’s the inside scoop from some of our Tech team:
Product Manager Geyin Lee explains her team's project, which was improving the speed and ease of supplier statement reconciliation.
AI Engineering Team Lead James Farr explains how his hackathon team experimented with AI tools to make reporting easier for our customers.
Building the future of finance
Whether it’s a feature released to customers, a prototype from a Hackathon or a lesson shared on stage, everything we do is about making Finance operations more efficient and far less painful.
We’re rethinking how Accounts Payable teams work - reducing inefficiencies, preventing errors and giving Finance professionals better tools to do their jobs. AI is a big part of that future, and we’ve got some very exciting launches on the horizon.
Innovation is how we build. Partnership is how we scale. And our mission is clear: to deliver real outcomes for our customers.
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