16. How Embedded Payments Are Transforming Law Firm Financial Operations with Michael Dunn, CEO of Centerbase

Embedded payments are starting to change the role ERPs play in a business. In this episode, Michael Praeger is joined by Michael Dunn, CEO of Centerbase, to talk through what that looks like inside mid-size law firms. As accounts payable (AP) payments move directly into day-to-day workflows, ERPs are evolving from systems that record transactions to systems that actively execute them. This gives firms better visibility into how money is tracked, managed, and tied back to client work and profitability.

Dunn shares where firms tend to lose visibility, how that impacts profitability, and why getting payments right has become more important as firms scale. He also gets into how he approaches partnerships at Centerbase—why they prioritize fewer, deeper relationships, and how tools like AI are starting to shape product decisions and pricing.

With more than 20 years in SaaS and technology leadership, including roles at Match.com, Stack Sports, and Dex Media, and a prior partnership with AvidXchange as CEO of ResMan, Dunn brings a practical perspective on how these systems evolve over time.

Key takeaways from this episode:

• Your ERP should do more than track transactions. It should help manage them. As payments become embedded directly into workflows, firms gain better visibility into where money is going, how it ties back to client work, and where profitability may be slipping through the cracks. This helps mid-market law firms to scale.

• Where you place payments in your system impacts more than efficiency—it affects control and risk. When payments aren’t clearly tied to matters or accounts, it becomes easier to miss billable expenses, mismanage trust accounts, or lose track of financial performance at a granular level.

• Not all partnerships are created equally. Dunn emphasizes that fewer, deeply integrated partnerships tend to deliver more value than a long list of surface-level integrations.

• Building your own payment infrastructure rarely makes strategic sense. When the complexity of money movement is already solved at scale by a dedicated partner, ERP platforms can focus on what they do best: the front-end workflow, compliance logic, and tying transactions back to the business. That's where the real competitive advantage lives.

“The Power of Change” is an AvidXchange podcast hosted by Michael Praeger, CEO and Co-Founder of AvidXchange. On this show, business leaders discuss leadership topics, industry trends, and embracing change.   

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