[The Ultimate Guide]

Artificial Intelligence
for Order-to-Cash

HighRadius is transforming
how your teams work, using

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE


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Read this guide to learn how to leverage AI and

transform Order-to-Cash at your organization

HighRadius
[Freeda, Digital Assistant]

Good morning, Samantha, welcome to work! Let’s see what impact you could make with collections today.

Welcome to your workboard! You could call accounts that I have identified as critical, send some automated email correspondence, review new credit applications, or the latest credit risk updates.

[Samantha]

Let’s get started with the calls first!

[Freeda, Digital Assistant]

Sure! Bringing up your call workboard in a second!

Welcome to your call workboard: You have 27 customers to call today. I have already prioritized these accounts based on my AI-enabled prediction of their aging 30 days from now.

For instance, Permalink has one broken payment commitment for $68,000 and has more than 50% of their A/R balance past-due by more than 30 days. Would you like to start with them?

[Samantha]

Absolutely!

[Freeda, Digital Assistant]

Here are the key reasons for this call with Permalink – as you can see, this is their current aging, and here is my prediction of their aging 30 days from now. You can see a surge in their 61 to 90 day aging bucket – growing to 43 of their total open invoice value. They also have no upcoming payment commitments which you might want to touch upon on the call. They have already reached 85% of their credit limit – and you could use this to negotiate payment!

Jeremy Jones, Manager of Accounts Payables is your key contact at this account. Let me know when you’re ready to get started!

[Samantha]

All right, let’s call Jeremy.

[Freeda, Digital Assistant]

Sure – and I will stand by to take notes.

[Jeremy Jones, Customer, Permalink]

Hi, this is Jeremy at Permalink.

[Samantha]

Hi Jeremy, this is Samantha from Pentacore. I was expecting to receive payment for $68,000 yesterday – just calling to check whether you’ve already made the payment?

[Jeremy Jones, Customer, Permalink]

Hi Samantha, really sorry about that – my manager has been out sick the last few weeks, and he missed approving your payment. You will have to wait till the first week of March for him to get back

[Samantha]

Well I just wanted to let you know that you have over sixty thousand dollars in invoices which are over thirty days past due and i might have to escalate your credit utilization is already at eighty-five percent and new incoming orders are likely to get blocked

[Jeremy Jones, Customer, Permalink]

Yeah no no, I understand. See – I am only authorized to process payments up to $30,000. I would have got your payment approved, but my manager just fell sick and has been out of the office

[Samantha]

Well, Jeremy let’s see what we can do here I’m seeing two invoices that total up to around $28,000. Could you help me with payments for these, since these are well within your authorization limit?

[Jeremy Jones, Customer, Permalink]

Sure, I can do this by next Tuesday! Could you please send me the invoices?

[Samantha]

Sure! I’m sending them to you right now – you should be receiving an email. Thanks, Jeremy!

I will be looking forward to the payment on Tuesday for two invoices for $28,000. Thanks, and have a nice day!

[Freeda, Digital Assistant]

That was a great first call to start the day! I have already captured the key action items from the call – I will create a payment commitment and set a reminder for you to follow up with Jeremy.

Are you good with these?

[Samantha]

Thanks! Please save these.

[Freeda, Digital Assistant]

All right! I have drafted a summary email for you to send to Jeremy by using an available template from the library. I have also attached the invoices they need to refer to.

Let me know if you are good with this email, and I will send this out!

[Samantha]

This looks good – please send this.

[Freeda, Digital Assistant]

Done! Let’s keep the day rolling here’s your next customer…

Table of Contents

01.

The role of CFOs, CIOs, & GBS Leaders is evolving

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02.

Evolution of Software in Order-to-Cash

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Skip to Section
03.

Moving beyond RPA and leveraging AI

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Skip to Section
04.

The Future of Accounts Receivable is here

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CHAPTER ONE >>

How the role of CFOs, CIOs, and GBS leaders is evolving

AI IS NO LONGER A BUZZWORD
EXCERPTS FROM CEO FIRESIDE CHAT

Featuring Leaders from Genpact, Gartner, & HighRadius


The role of a CFO has very quickly evolved into a ‘digital CFO’ as the financial industry is being disrupted by tools such as cloud platforms, machine learning, and artificial intelligence

Sashi Narhari

Sashi Narhari, CEO

Highradius LOGO

Having access to instantaneous data and insights sets the precedent for organizations and their employees alike; keeping up with this curve separates those who will remain competitive in the marketplace, and those who will not.

Tiger Tyagarajan

Tiger Tyagarajan, CEO

Genpact LOGO

The role of the CIO seems to be gradually shifting to that of a chief digital transformation officer. CIOs are under pressure to produce game-changing AI strategies.

Greg Leiter

Greg Leiter, Sr Director Analyst

Gartner LOGO

[00:00:00]Anchor:

This next group of panelists is going to talk about the evolution and past, present, and future of the digital CFO. So I’m very excited to have up on stage and first introduce Tiger Tyagarajan, President and CEO of Genpact. Welcome, Tiger. And last but not least, we have Sashi Narahari, Founder and CEO of HighRadius. And finally, up on stage, we’d like to welcome back Greg Leiter, Senior Director Analyst from Gartner. Thank you so much for joining us, gentlemen.

[00:00:52] Greg Leiter:

So let’s talk about the past first and maybe the first question is for Tiger. A really difficult question is how did you get your name, Tiger?

Tiger Tyagarajan:

Oh, it’s a very difficult question. It goes back to when I was 4 years old. My name was very difficult to pronounce even by my friends in India where I was growing up. We went to an English class. We studied the- poem ‘Tiger Tiger Burning Bright’ by William Blake. We came out of the class, my friends looked at me and said, “We’re going to call you Tiger because we can’t pronounce your name.” And it stuck.

Greg Leiter:

Fantastic. You’ve been associated with General Electric and now Genpact for more than 20 years. Can you give us a little background about how Genpact was born and what did you sell to achieve that?

Tiger Tyagarajan:

So we were born as a subsidiary inside General Electric on really two propositions. Proposition number one- Actually, can we do finance for the GE companies? It actually started with finance. So sitting here listening, Sashi, to you talk about receivables, et cetera, is one of the ways we started. We used to do that for the GE companies and the other portion was supporting G.E. Capital. And again, there we started with supporting the small business lending world of G.E. Capital with collections and cash applications. So in our history, dating back to 1998, receivables and managing receivables for the GE financial services and industrial companies, the way we started. And then in 2005, with fourteen thousand people all serving G.E., we spun off into an independent company. And now we serve eight hundred customers. About half of what we do is financed, about a quarter of what we do is manage receivables. So, therefore, it’s the reason I’m here.

Greg Leiter:

Great story. Great. Fantastic. Sashi, a question for you. Is that your real name as well, Sashi?

Sashi Narahari:

Yeah, it is a very similar story. My actual name is Sashidhar. I was in denial for about 10 years as to why others cannot pronounce it. And then I said, “Okay, let’s change it.” So it’s just a short form of that.

Greg Leiter:

Great. And tell us the story behind HighRadius and Genpact, about how they come together.

Sashi Narahari:

Yeah. So I think for a good amount of time, we actually thought of Genpact as a competitor, you know, he is sitting here. So I think in order to cash space. I think Genpact has the really best messaging and how to talk about business transformation, a message that echoes with the large enterprise clients. And then I think we have all this kind of subtly competed. Although, we are a tech company and Genpact is a business sense of mission company. But I think it just made logical sense, given that we have a lot of mutual customers, including Adidas. And the customers started telling us, “I think you guys do two different things, but in the same area, it might make sense to partner.”

Greg Leiter:

Obviously, three of you have seen companies make this digital pivot from the old world legacy world into new digital transformation. Which single company has inspired you to do that?

Tiger Tyagarajan:

So the natural answer is Apple. So that’s one example. But we think a lot about large enterprises and industries that have 100-200-year history and strength and a fabulous customer base and reputation and half of them are driving change. And therefore they’re going to be very different 10 years from now. And half of them are not driving change, so they’re going to die. And we think we learn lessons from every one of them and every industry. And I find it fascinating that there are two competitors that are equally strong in the same industry. One is willing to cannibalize itself to drive change, and therefore it’s going to be hugely successful. And the other is saying, “No, no, we have a good business”, are dead. So we learn lessons from so many of them. I just can’t call out to anyone.

Greg Leiter:

Okay. Sashi? How about you?

Sashi Narahari:

Yeah. For me, there are a lot of good companies. Amazon is one that has inspired me in not just technology disruption, but their ability to get into different businesses and be really successful at it.

Greg Leiter:

Okay, great. Fantastic. Let’s pivot to the president now. Tiger, a question for you. You know, digital transformation is the buzzword you see in industry for some time now. How much of it is real in your view?

Tiger Tyagarajan:

It’s funny you say that because we actually do think it’s a buzzword, like lots of other hypes. There is a hype around it, which is why our tagline is- “There’s only one place where it happens, it happens here, which is in Genpact.” Just trying to crack a joke. We think that change is what is most important in organizations in order to grab new ways of doing things, new technologies and leverage them for value. And we think the struggle that companies have is actually driving change. And therefore, when we think about transformation most often, 80 percent of the time, we think about the people involved, the politics involved, the biases people have, the relationships people have. You know, what are they going to embrace and why are they going to embrace it? What’s in it for me? All of those become incredibly important. So in that context, we do think change and transformation are what leaders spend time on. We spend time on reclines. So while it is a buzzword, it is real. A hundred percent of our clients are grappling with it in their own way. As I said, half of them are grappling with meaning- they think about it and they say they don’t want to do anything with it because it is too painful. The other half do stuff.

Greg Leiter:

Thanks. Sashi, a question for you. The role of the CIO seems to be gradually shifting to that of a chief digital transformation officer. You know, CIOs are under pressure to produce game-changing A.I. strategies. How do you see them partnering with the business to do this now? What’s your view on that?

Sashi Narahari:

Yeah, I think so. First of all, what we’re seeing is in companies right now, there is a chief digital officer, which is a separate role to a chief information officer. If I had to forecast into the future, I think those rules would likely emerge. We don’t know what will be retained. It doesn’t make sense to have two roles and who reports to whom and all that stuff. But I think in terms of their roles itself, it’s not very different from how it has been in the history of time. It’s just that their ability to embrace and bring these new technologies to partner with the businesses. I feel like there are two ways, that it’s the business teams that go find something and they pull the I.T. teams and then vice versa. I don’t really see a change. I think the pressure from the board and the CXOs on bringing the change are much more now unique versus how it was in the past.

Greg Leiter:

Sure, of course. Obviously, artificial intelligence is a big buzzword here. You know, there’s still quite a bit of hype that we associate with it, but your HighRadius seemed to embrace A.I. Can you give us maybe some background in how much of it’s driving your customer success stories right now?

Sashi Narahari:

Yeah, sure. So I think we have various products. So four of our products- Deductions, Collections, Credit and Cash Application- are all native A.I. right now. That was the biggest pivot we embraced for a period of time. I do agree that it’s a buzzword, but if you just assume it’s a buzzword then you’re wrong, you’re done. So we think the word hype just creates additional force behind a general initiative or in general. EIPP is not A.I. based, but it is a simple customer portal and all of our treasury products are A.I. based. So we pretty much think that the next version of enterprise software, if you think about On-Prem followed by Cloud. The native A.I. software companies will win just like our salesforce took over the world after the cloud. I think the next big software companies which can embrace A.I. would be a highly differentiated play.

Greg Leiter:

Tiger, this must be impacting your business quite a bit. You see it evolving how your people work and how you’re serving your customers.

Tiger Tyagarajan:

Oh, a lot. If you think about the nature of our business, about 60-70 percent of our business is people taking information from one place, comparing it to information somewhere else, doing some math, calling some people, asking for approval and then taking some decisions. All of that can be done through a combination of various technologies, including A.I. and machine learning. So we are seeing, bringing A.I. and machine learning into a number of these areas really changes the way work gets done. But there’s a big caveat. All learning has been the approach to using machine learning is I want to find a way to automate and I want to find a way to reduce labor, then it’s not worth it. There are better, easier, faster ways to do it. If, on the other hand, the objective is, of course, I’ll get some automation, I’ll get labor, I’ll get lower-cost, et cetera. But the real objective is I want to find a way to approve someone on a credit in four hours instead of one week, I’m going to win more business. By the way, I’m going to charge an extra 100 basis points on my interest rate. And the customer doesn’t care. If I use A.I. to actually say, “I’m not going to pay out insurance claim because I think this is a fraudulent transaction”, that could save millions of dollars for an insurance company. In the receivables world, if you call a customer for collections before they are overdue because you know, that customer is probably going to default and you don’t call a customer even after 15 days of being in default, because that customer always pays 30 days late and actually ends up paying overdue interest? That’s a great customer. That’s value. That’s a lot of money. That’s a lot of margins. So when companies go after use of A.I. to capture a bigger value, better experience, better working capital, you know, more business, then they end up with success if they go after it only for reducing labor, it’s not a success.

Greg Leiter:

Well, let’s pivot to the future. Sashi, you talked about the 10x economy in your keynote today. How would you advise a CFO to prepare for this driven 10x economy? How to go about doing it?

Sashi Narahari:

Yeah. So I think no different than any role, my role as a CEO or an analyst. I was a collections analyst. I think the CFO role is very quickly evolved into a digital CFO. And there is a lot of stuff happening, whether it is all the various functions they manage from FBNA to procure, to pay or to order the cash. And for them to be a Dot One that I use as a term. For the next five years, I think they have to rapidly evolve.

Greg Leiter:

Sure.

Sashi Narahari:

I think the CFOs are probably at a bigger risk of being obsolete in terms of the older way of doing things and the paper-based process. And I think they’re a bit of that based on the conversations that I have had.

Greg Leiter:

Tiger. How about you with the expectations of CFOs and the customers you deal with? You know, what do you think is their next frontier in terms of digital-first economy?

[00:11:44] Tiger Tyagarajan:

So if you paint a picture of the future of finance and therefore the future of the CFO and the CFO’s organization, we think about the world of the CFO as one where, you know, the machine A.I, HighRadius, and technologies will basically allow them to make decisions every minute. So why can’t we close the books every minute? Why can’t we collect cash exactly when it’s needed from the person who’s ready to pay? And we know that. Why can’t we pay the supplier at the last moment exactly when you know that they’re going to get pissed and you do it only at that time? And so on and so on. So. So our view is the future of finance is where those types of things all are done in real-time, using real-time digital technologies with real-time prediction. Think about ways that allow you not to map your journey before you start the journey. No one maps the journey before they start the journey. They start the journey and then every minute you’re saying, “Okay, where do I turn? Left or right?” And five minutes back it may have told you to turn left when you get to that crossing. By the time you get there, it may actually ask to turn right because traffic has changed. That’s the way we think about the world of the future. Therefore, what’s the role of the CFO? The role of the CFO is, I think, Sashi, you called it out in your presentation.

Prediction is what the machine will do. Decision and judgment are never going to go away from human beings. And the experience is never going to go away from human beings. Empathy. So humans are going to spend more time than they do today on judgment, decisions, and experience. If you go to a CFO today and you ask what is it that you really would like to do, I want to spend my time thinking about what decision I should take. Where do you spend your time? I spend my time collecting data. That’s going to change.

Greg Leiter:

Thank you. Final question for everybody. You know, it’s February 5th, 2020. Apart from Radiance 2025. What would you think February 5th, 2025 would look like?

Tiger Tyagarajan:

Apart from the fact that we’ll probably be even bigger than we are and we’ll probably be the best in what we do and HighRadius will be equally very big and best at what they do and we’ll be great partners. I think the future of finance that I just described as given bottom becomes more and more real. So, therefore, I would argue that finance professionals today, who are evaluated on their financial skills will also have to get evaluated much more on their softer skills, on their right brain thinking, on their ability to actually relate to people and tell them what decision to take and pass judgment. More and more, I think in general, leadership is going to become half right brain, half left brain, which is the opposite of what people think. People think the world is going to go more and more towards them. We think actually be careful because machines will actually help you do a lot of things. So, therefore, what’s your job? Your job is to actually bring everything that a human can bring.

[00:14:38]Greg Leiter:

Sashi?

Sashi Narahari:

So as a starter, I would like to see the Texans win the Superbowl in the next five years. And maybe beat the Cowboys on their turf. On a serious note, I think I already covered this. So I think our goal is to kind of, what we would like to see in the next five years is to deliver and become the best in class companies, the Dot One companies to all of our customers. That’s where the substantial result matters and then everything else is hype.

Greg Leiter:

So, fantastic. Well, great. Thank you so much, Michael, Tiger, and Sashi. I really appreciate your taking the time to speak with the group today. It’s been very, very informative.

HighRadius helps companies deliver
business results with AI

mike-pettyjhon
“We have eliminated disconnected systems deploying HighRadius cloud solutions.”
MICHAEL PETTYJOHN

Director of Customer Financial Services

DANONE
marijolovic-marinko
“We started seeing immediate results upon implementation: 100%+ efficiency gain”
MARINKO MARIJOLOVIC

Director, Corporate Credit Services

shurtech
coleen-zdrojewski
“With HighRadius, we have seen Financial Services costs decline by $2.5M”
COLEEN ZDROJEWSKI

Vice President – Financial Services,

KDP

Learn how HighRadius delivers REAL $$$ Savings using AI

Get started now by requesting a

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CHAPTER TWO >>

Evolution of technology:
how AI-powered software vs. regular Software

Enterprise applications have evolved where out-of-the-box, function-specific AI-powered software is the way to
go and superior choice versus building and maintaining an army of RPA bots.

<<past

Everything started with the on-premise CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) system – SAP and Oracle were leaders of the game – it could manage finance data, inventory data, etc.
C.R.U.D
System
Update for
On-Premise ERPs
Users weren’t able to deliver extremely rich functionality at individual process level, they were still stuck in the on-premise world, unable to offer the “single solution.” This led to the rise of function-specific Cloud Systems.
CLOUD
Software
Process Specific
Cloud Software
RPA automated the clerical work by working on simple rules based programs for example copying user actions from one screen and then repeating them indefinitely.
RPA
System
Copy user actions from one screen to another
Advanced RPA was now able to perform more complex tasks by not just aggregating info, but analyzing, processing, and linking pieces together. HighRadius created RPA when it was not even used as a term.
Advanced
RPA
Process data, and links pieces together
AI helps A/R teams with better decision making- helps in prioritizing worklists, predicting when invoices will be paid, identifies the validity of deductions, based on data and enables proactive collections.
Artificial
Intelligence
Prioritise worklist, predict payment dates, and more!

future>>

C.R.U.D
System
Update for
On-Premise ERPs
Everything started with the on-premise CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) system – SAP and Oracle were leaders of the game – it could manage finance data, inventory data, etc.
CLOUD
Software
Process Specific
Cloud Software
Users weren’t able to deliver extremely rich functionality at individual process level, they were still stuck in the on-premise world, unable to offer the “single solution.” This led to the rise of function-specific Cloud Systems.
RPA
Systems
Copy user actions from one screen to another
RPA automated the clerical work by working on simple rules based programs for example copying user actions from one screen and then repeating them indefinitely.
Artificial
Intelligence
Process data, and links pieces together
Advanced RPA was now able to perform more complex tasks by not just aggregating info, but analyzing, processing, and linking pieces together. HighRadius created RPA when it was not even used as a term.
Advanced
RPA
Prioritise worklist, predict payment dates, and more!
AI helps A/R teams with better decision making- helps in prioritizing worklists, predicting when invoices will be paid, identifies the validity of deductions, based on data and enables proactive collections.
CHAPTER THREE | PART 01 >>

Moving beyond RPA Systems & leveraging AI:
RPA could cost you 10X what you expect

“RPA may require additional support from third-party software, such as AI or ML, which adds to the cost of RPA, which can increase by 3 – 10 times”

Gartner LOGO

“30 – 50% of the RPA projects fail due to unsatisfactory ROI arising from hidden costs of outsourcing or implementing additional technologies and non-compatibility with changing industry practices”

EY LOGO

Debunking Common RPA Selling Points

Source: Gartner | How to Defend Against the Threat of RPA (April 2019)

Selling Point

Popular Myth
Reality of RPA
LOW-COST Software Icon

Low Cost
Software?

Bots are significantly less expensive than human FTEs.

The TCO of RPA can be 3-10 times higher than of the software license costs after factoring in process analysis, development, maintenance and other software licences

Integration Icon

Integration?

The ability to access applications at the UI level allows RPA to integrate with nearly any enterprise application.

UI-based integration is incredibly brittle and prone to breakage when the desktop environment changes from common scenarios such as app updates and pop-ups.

Low / No Code? Icon

Low / No
Code?

RPA has intuitive, visual, development environments, thus making script creation accessible to business users with limited technical experience.

Outside of very simple automations, the vast majority of high-value, RPA-based automations will require training, experience and coding knowledge.

Flexibility Icon

Flexibility?

RPA can automate business processes across functions like finance and accounting, supply chain, HR, and IT.

RPA-based automations lack best-practice knowledge and only integrate at the task level instead of automating the entire end-to-end process.

FTE = Full Time Equivalent | TCO = Total Cost of Ownership | UI = User Interface

CHAPTER THREE | PART 02 >>

RPA is not AI: RPA is rule based and
it will fail to process new formats

Why RPA is not enough: Example from Cash Application.

Screenshot

RPA systems are inherently rule based and they rely on templates to capture remittance data.

If the RPA system encounters new information it is just not able to process it.

Why RPA is not enough: Example from Cash Application.

Screenshot

RPA systems are inherently rule based and they rely on templates to capture remittance data.

If the RPA system encounters new information it is just not able to process it.

Why RPA is not enough: Example from Cash Application.

Screenshot

Artificial Intelligence – or more categorically Machine Learning – relies on algorithms which help it self-learn.

It enables an almost human-like behavior and being able to process new information based on previous experiences

Why RPA is not enough: Example from Cash Application.

Screenshot

HighRadius is leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Cash Application to bridge the 16% automation gap to empower teams with ‘no-touch posting’.

This completely mimics the behaviour of a human FTE, so that teams can now focus on strategic decision making!

CHAPTER THREE | PART 03 >>

Real AI Use Cases for Order-to-Cash

HighRadius Credit Management:Blocked Order Resolution using AI
Credit Management

Blocked Order Resolution using AI

Fast-track the resolution of blocked orders as the Rivana Artificial Intelligence Engine predicts the likelihood of future orders being blocked by studying parameters including credit availability, past purchase frequency, and current payment behavior.

Predicting blocked orders enables credit teams to direct the collection efforts for the identified accounts proactively.

HighRadius Collections Management:Payment Date Prediction using AI
Collections Management

Payment Date Prediction using AI

HighRadius Rivana allows collection analysts to focus on only the most critical customers and invoices. Leveraging regression using Decision Trees, Rivana can predict an actual payment date for every invoice.

Analysts can use this additional insight available for each insight to determine the right course of action when following-up with a customer.

HighRadius Deductions Management:Identifying Invalid Disputes using AI
Deductions Management

Identifying Invalid Disputes using AI

Deduction Management teams process hundreds of thousands of deductions every year. However, even if a deduction is valid, it still requires a set of manual, time-consuming tasks to be executed before an analyst can determine its validity. HighRadius Rivana allows teams to focus on resolving disputes which are more likely to be invalid. Employing classification algorithms, Rivana is capable of identifying valid deductions and can resolve them automatically or move them or de-prioritize them on the analyst’s worklist.

At HighRadius, we believe in the power of

Humans + Machines

to transform Accounts Receivable to a Strategic Function


Take the first step on your Accounts Receivable transformation
and learn about the power of Artificial Intelligence!

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Humans + Machine : Autonomous Receivables
CHAPTER FOUR >>

The Future of Accounts Receivable
is Autonomous

Watch: Launch Video of Autonomous Receivables – Future of Order-to-Cash!

Sashi Keynote: HighRadius CEO Sashi Narahari Keynotes

Tech giants like

UBER AND BAKER HUGHES LOGO

have leveraged Autonomous
Collections to complete

200,000+ Collections calls
in 2020 alone!

Learn More
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