Publishers are done with the patchwork pain of order-to-cash—from manual pacing updates to reconciliation gridlock. Here’s why ad ops leaders are turning to automation to transform the process.
Ad ops has always been the engine behind the curtain. Unseen, underpraised, and too often overburdened. And in 2025, the engine’s still coughing on manual fuel.
The order-to-cash (O2C) process—the backbone of campaign delivery and revenue recognition—is broken. Not metaphorically. Literally. Sputtering along on fragmented tools, disconnected teams, and workflows patched together with digital duct tape.
A couple of months ago, I sat down with a group of sell-side ad ops and revenue leaders to talk about it. They swapped war stories, yes. Like, the burden of emailing spreadsheets back and forth. Or, hoping the latest pacing doc didn’t vanish in someone’s inbox abyss
But mostly, they wanted to know what comes next. They were looking for a blueprint.
Here’s what I heard—and what I believe is coming next.
“We Still Don’t Have a Single Source of Truth.”
That line came early in the conversation and hung in the air.
It’s the usual scene where a campaign goes live, but half the team is working from an outdated screenshot. Errors pile up. Reconciliation takes weeks. Makegoods become the norm, not the exception.
And in a world where every impression counts, that’s not just a workflow issue—it’s a revenue drain. There are stats to back this up.
According to Theorem’s latest survey, one in four ad ops pros say their company delivers too many makegoods. Three in five don’t have enough time to be proactive. These are deep, systemic inefficiencies leaving money on the table and talent burned out.
But what struck me most was the resolve in the room. No one was willing to stay stuck. Everyone was looking for a way out—and increasingly, that way out looks like automation.
Automation Isn’t a Luxury—It’s Liberation
Fear not. Automation is not about replacing people. It’s about replacing the grind.
The broader trend is clear. End-to-end O2C automation is becoming a strategic priority. These tools have moved beyond simply digitizing invoices or auto-sending emails.
We’re talking about fully integrated systems that connect orders, inventory, trafficking, billing, and reporting. All with a side of AI that flags pacing issues before your client does.
Publishers are looking to move beyond point solutions. They want scalable, future-proof systems. Platforms that can adapt to programmatic and direct, video and display, print and retail.
They need real-time visibility into campaign health, revenue forecasting, and client communications. Because when your O2C flow is clean, your revenue isn’t just faster—it’s smarter.
For example, automation can surface pacing issues early, reduce errors, and give better insights into campaign health. So revenue isn’t just coming in more quickly—it’s coming in with fewer hiccups and more visibility. This supports more intelligent decision-making across ops, sales, and finance.
Where Theorem’s Upward Comes In
It was fortunate for the publishers I was speaking with that day that leaders from Theorem were also present in the room. Upward by Theorem is part of the broader movement reshaping ad ops from the ground up.
It’s designed to tackle the very frustrations publishers shared in our roundtable—from disconnected workflows to the endless manual lift of campaign reconciliation.
It maps directly to the real-world campaign lifecycle: pre-sale, pre-launch, post-launch, and post-campaign.
“The conversation used to be, 'Can we offshore this?' Now it’s, 'Why aren’t we automating this?'”
In practice, it means:
- Reducing manual reconciliation
- Automating status reports
- Flagging underdelivery before it’s a crisis
- Delivering post-campaign reports without the scramble.
And because it integrates with your CRM, OMS, and ERP, it unifies your org instead of adding yet another layer of complexity.
This shift in mindset—from outsourcing to automating—was echoed across the roundtable.
As one publisher leader in the room said, “The conversation used to be, ‘Can we offshore this?’ Now it’s, ‘Why aren’t we automating this?’”
O2C Real Talk from the Ops Frontlines
The stories I heard in the room that day weren’t just about tools. Publishers talked about time a lot. Time wasted on checking spreadsheets—time stolen from strategy. Time teams will never get back. Thankfully, some publishers are already rewriting this narrative.
One leader shared how their team used to spend hours compiling pacing updates. Now, it’s automated. The time they got back goes into refining audience segments or testing creative variations.
Another publisher discussed establishing an internal AI council, comprising teams from operations, sales, and product. They are all working together to define use cases, test outputs, and train prompts. They’re not replacing jobs. They’re redefining them.
They were talking about moving from executors to orchestrators. From ticket-takers to signal-makers. They’re building cross-functional muscle and rigor.
Several publishers reported that automation freed up time for operations to attend product roadmap meetings, shape data strategy, and even lead innovation pilots.
One media company shared that they conduct quarterly internal experiments, where account managers test new AI tools and report back on what works. Another brought interns in to audit and streamline their internal wikis, turning documentation into a dynamic resource that supports automation.
They’re all building new capacities and capabilities.
Is This the O2C Automation Evolution?
As my favorite cultural thinkers might say, transformation starts when we’re willing to question what we’ve normalized. In this case, automation is the radical act of refusing to normalize the grind.
bell hooks taught us that systems reproduce themselves unless we actively intervene. Automation, when done right, is that intervention. Not to sustain the status quo. But to dismantle what no longer serves us—and reimagine what’s possible.
“It still needs human eyes. Automation is great, but someone’s got to know when the wheels come off."
Greg Tate might say it’s like jazz, where structure meets improvisation. Automation gives the structure. Publishers bring the rhythm. Together, they’re creating a new tempo for ad ops.
But even the best improvisation needs a bandleader. When it comes to quality control, automation doesn’t erase human discernment—it requires it.
“It still needs human eyes. Automation is great, but someone’s got to know when the wheels come off,” one publisher reminded us.
And what does that discernment look like?
- Knowing when a pacing anomaly needs escalation vs when it’s just noise
- Spotting when an automated report feels off, even if it technically checks out
- Catching edge cases that automation isn’t trained for (yet)
- Deciding how to prioritize a makegood based on advertiser relationships and not just the data
As James Baldwin once wrote, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Well, publishers are facing it. And they’re changing it.
Want In? Let’s Talk.
Does the evolution of O2C feel overdue in your organization? Are you still clinging to processes better suited to the last decade than this one? Maybe it’s time to rethink your stack and unlock the full potential of your team.
📅 I’m hosting a private dinner in NYC with Theorem and SiriusXM’s John Harris next week, on Wednesday, June 11, to dive deeper into this conversation.
✅ If you’re leading ad ops, revenue, or cross-functional teams at a media, streaming, or retail publisher, I’d love for you to join us.
It’s a space to reimagine, with your peers, what the future of this work could look like.
👍🏾 RSVP here by June 5, 2025.
There will be great food. Real talk. And, big ideas.