From Bytes to AI: A Brief History of Dataline
Companies and organisations that have successfully leveraged data and innovation to achieve their goals often began with voices telling them they couldn’t. Many success stories celebrate the future without reviewing the past that led them to their present. Dataline is an example of a future that has remembered to celebrate its milestones whilst breaking ground in the present.
Our achievement was born from competing voices and opinions in the business area of accounts payable, leading to AP automation as we know it today. We have been very receptive to the changes in the banking and payments industry, and it has paid dividends in our pursuit of making processes easier, faster, and more reliable for companies across small and medium and large-sized enterprises.
We have been providing payment, invoice, and process automation solutions to corporations, financial institutions, and businesses in Australia and New Zealand for thirty years. But did you know that Dataline’s success story is also a tale of grit, adaptation, and innovation?
1997
When doors closed, Windows were opened
The payments industry in 97’ saw significant changes and innovations. Hot on the heels of Windows 95 and its growing Office user base came a shared global interest in taking banking–and its processing–online. “Plug and Play” features and installation of programs became a competitive advantage to early adopters.
At the time, The Reserve Bank of Australia published a report on innovations and technological changes in financial intermediation and the payments system. It highlighted the pivotal role of the balance sheet and risk management for all financial intermediaries. Significant credit and market risks resulted as the consensus was that the finance industry steamrolled its growth much faster than the industry’s capacity to manage compliance. Born in this unique birthplace of competing opinions was Dataline.
Dataline was originally founded in Australia in 1997, with a focus on providing mission-critical software applications. We came up with solutions software that challenged–and resolved–the problems in payments reconciliation, market payments, and risk management.
2002
Links that bind us
What people remember most about Y2K was how little they knew about it. It transformed our understanding of technology, and for a time, even considered it a threat to society. The stress surrounding the advent of the 2000s brought friction in businesses and their decision-making. However, it is in this same breadth of tension that Dataline launched Links, our flagship product for data reconciliation in the banking and finance sectors, providing a comprehensive banking reconciliation and data matching solution.
Links streamlined accounting operations by automating high-speed data matching and exception handling.
2012
Rome wasn’t built in a day but automating your Accounts Payable can
Dataline continued to innovate and adapt to changing technology and in 2012 we launched our APA+ solution, a cloud-based accounts payable automation solution that allowed customers to access and approve their invoices from anywhere, on any smart device.
Our APA+ solution automated the accounts payable process which allowed processing conveniences previously deemed impossible, now available in real time. Invoice capture made data extraction easier and it expedited coding and approval. This allowed quicker payments to supply chains and a happier client and supplier base. Invoices that didn’t meet pre-determined business rules were lined up as exceptions for an accounting team’s end-of-day evaluation. Conveniences made possible by AP automation.
APA+ was also designed to be cloud-based.
Present
Wherever you are, is where your business will be
Today, Dataline is at the forefront of AP automation, providing cutting-edge solutions that help businesses streamline their payment and invoice processes. Dataline’s solutions are powered by AI and machine learning, and are designed to be flexible and scalable, so they can adapt to the needs of any organisation.
We built our business with yours in mind, which is why our cloud-based software is useable across multiple platforms and devices. Transactions are now mobile, figuratively, and literally, and so we made our system adapt by following you wherever there is an internet connection. Wherever you are, is where your business will be.
Future
Not a replacement, but an improvement
The new frontier is here with the release of our AI Digital support workers, a real game-changer for business automation and process transformation, able to process a 40-hour work week in 4 hours.
Dataline’s AI Employees are a significant development in our ongoing pursuit to harmonise AI and automation, and we believe in their combined potential to revolutionise the way we do business.
At Dataline, we’re proud of our history of innovation and adaptation. We’re committed to staying at the forefront of technology, so we can continue to provide our customers with the best possible solutions for their data, invoices, and business process automation needs.
