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AI in Finance: Proceed, but Mitigate the Risks

/in /by BPM Partners

Craig Schiff , President and CEO, BPM Partners

Overview

After 30+ years tracking every cycle of technology hype and reality in enterprise finance, I can tell you that the AI moment feels different. The potential for transformative impact in finance is real. But so is the risk of taking a counterproductive AI approach. With our most recent BPM Pulse data showing 52% of finance teams either piloting or going into production with their AI initiatives I think it’s time we share our perspective and offer some guidance.

At BPM Partners, we impartially evaluate the AI-enhanced capabilities of leading EPM vendors. We survey and speak with many finance leaders navigating this landscape. An obvious early conclusion: your approach to leveraging AI in Finance will largely determine success or failure in receiving the potential benefits.

The Hype

Newly minted AI ‘experts’ will tell you all you need is their training, consulting guidance, or book of prompts, combined with the most popular AI tool of the moment, and you are all set. Just point AI at a data set and you can kick back and relax as the accolades pour in.

These same experts, along with some FP&A software vendors looking to reinvent themselves, may say ‘FP&A software is dead’ and ‘EPM will be wiped out in the SaaSpocalypse’.

You might even be excited to jump in and experiment with AI to create models, or vibe code a more complete solution. But before you do that ask yourself: are you ready to build—and take accountability for—a financial application that your entire organization will rely on? Finance demands 100% accuracy; what if you miss the mark? Unfortunately, even the most promising pilot is often followed by the realization that turning it into a trustworthy and scalable solution will take a lot more time, effort, and money (tokens).

The tools-and-prompts approach to AI is high risk. It lacks focus on the most important element of an AI platform for finance: high-quality unified data. Our BPM Pulse data shows that of organizations not currently pursuing AI 40% say it’s because they recognize that their data is not yet AI-ready.

The good news: there’s a better, safer way to leverage AI in Finance, and you may already own the necessary software.

The Reality

In spite of all the hype around standalone AI tools, many finance teams have started by leveraging the AI capabilities already embedded in their EPM solutions. While perhaps not as flashy and fun, this approach is much more practical and rewarding. It enhances accuracy, analysis, and productivity while minimizing risk.

When utilizing the AI capabilities in your EPM solution you gain access to:

  • A governed data foundation (the CFO’s system of record)
  • Governed, human-in-the-loop AI with guardrails
  • Decades of deep domain expertise built in
  • Existing dimensions, data definitions, business rules and workflows
  • Security, transparency, and trust
  • Auditability

The leading EPM vendors offer proven FP&A and Consolidation and Close solutions that have now been augmented with a suite of ML, GenAI, and agentic AI capabilities embedded in their platforms. These AI capabilities support a wide range of use cases including predictive forecasting, data quality, report generation, model creation, transaction matching (account reconciliation, intercompany), agents to automate tasks for planners, analysts, controllers and more.

AI offerings from leading EPM vendors that we have evaluated include: Anaplan Intelligence, CCH® Tagetik Expert AI by Wolters Kluwer, Jedox AI, JustPerform Lineos from insightsoftware, OneStream SensibleAI™, Pigment AI, Prophix One™ Intelligence, Una AI, and Vena AI. While documented ROI is still scarce, early feedback from customers is that they are in fact seeing measurable benefits from leveraging AI inside their EPM solutions.

Most EPM vendors are also rolling out MCP support to allow your AI tools of choice to work easily with their EPM solution. This combines the flexibility of modern AI with the governance and expertise of a purpose-built platform.

Conclusion

The end result of combining AI with EPM is faster cycle times, greater accuracy, enhanced analysis,  increased productivity, and trustworthy, auditable results. Finance is freed up from routine tasks (and experimenting with standalone AI tools) to take a more strategic role and lead the discussion of results.

Learn More

If you are currently discussing how to leverage AI in your Finance department let us share our research data and provide input. You can talk to us, or add us to your team. Further reading: Buyers Guide: AI-Powered Planning and Analysis Solutions | BPM Partners, Buyers Guide: AI-Powered Financial Consolidation and Close | BPM Partners

This post previously appeared in a condensed version on LinkedIn

 

BPM Partners Best Content of 2025

/in /by BPM Partners

Craig Schiff , President and CEO, BPM Partners

Overview

As we prepare our 2026 research, buyers guides, webcasts, and whitepapers, we wanted to make it easier for you to find all of our existing 2025 content. This blog entry brings together the best of our content from the past year. If you are looking to get caught up on the latest in BPM/CPM/EPM, AI, FP&A, Financial Consolidation and Reporting this is a great place to start.

AI

AI Evolution in Finance Drives a Productivity Revolution: This white paper looks at the evolution of AI in CPM and the benefits to Finance at each stage. Agentic AI has the potential to greatly enhance productivity and this report will examine this as well as the ROI implications. Request whitepaper

AI in CPM Interview with theCube + NYSE WIRED: In this interview from the New York Stock Exchange, Craig Schiff joins theCUBE’s John Furrier for the Mixture of Experts series and discusses why the hype surrounding the shift toward agentic AI is legitimate, emphasizing that successful implementation starts with a robust data foundation. The conversation highlights how performance management vendors are now embedding AI directly into their platforms, removing the need for complex third-party integrations and allowing finance teams to bypass the heavy lifting often associated with data science. This sets the stage for the new era of autonomous finance. Watch the interview

FP&A/Finance

Buyers Guide for Budgeting and Planning Solutions: This is not an analyst report, but a consumer-oriented guide that leverages data from our annual BPM Pulse Research Study and Vendor Landscape Matrix report. It is the most comprehensive  Buyers Guide for Budgeting and Planning Solutions available today with detailed sections on requirements, vendors, and the evaluation process. Information on 24 vendors, with detailed ratings for 16. Download

Equipping Your Finance Team to Lead Strategically: The pressures of market volatility, regulatory changes, and geopolitical disruptions demand more than just resilience. They call for strategic leadership guided by data-driven decisions delivered through unified solutions that streamline planning, closing, and reporting. Request whitepaper, Watch webcast

How CPM Modernizes Finance for Banking and Financial Services: To continue success and growth, FSI entities need maximum efficiency and accuracy from their finance team. Yet many FSI entities are hindered by fragmented financial data, disconnected systems, and manual processes. This white paper examines how modern CPM solutions can address these challenges for finance teams in banks. Request whitepaper

How a Complete CPM Solution Boosts Enterprise Resilience: This white paper describes how an end-to-end CPM solution boosts enterprise resilience and fuels finance leadership, especially under volatile conditions. Request whitepaper

Forecast Methodologies and Technologies – Latest Trends and AI: During this webcast you’ll learn how your forecasting approach compares to peer organizations, understand how AI is shaping forecasting accuracy and adoption, and key factors to consider when selecting a new forecasting tool. Watch webcast

How to Navigate CPM Market Dynamics: Learn how data-driven strategies are transforming budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and decision-making. This session will unpack the key trends shaping CPM adoption and priorities, giving you the knowledge to enhance your organization’s performance and stay ahead in a competitive landscape. Watch webcast

The Hallmarks of a Modern, Mature Finance Team: What separates good finance teams from great ones? In this special episode of The CFO Show, host Melissa Howatson brings together insights from more than 20 finance leaders to answer one deceptively simple question: What is the hallmark of a mature finance team? Watch podcast

Financial Consolidation

Buyers Guide for Financial Consolidation, Close, and Reporting Solutions: Just like the Budgeting and Planning Guide, this is a consumer-oriented guide that leverages data from our annual BPM Pulse Research Study and Vendor Landscape Matrix report. It is the most comprehensive Buyers Guide for Financial Consolidation, Close, and Reporting Solutions available today with detailed sections on requirements, vendors, and the evaluation process. Information on 13 vendors, with detailed ratings for 10. Download

7 Things They Never Told You About Financial Consolidation: This white paper and webcast looks at some things you might not have been told about financial consolidation solutions. Awareness of these seven key factors will build your perspective, understanding and confidence when it comes to selecting the best CPM consolidation solution for your organization. Request whitepaper, Watch webcast

Beyond the Close – How Financial Consolidation Creates Strategic Advantage: On this episode of The CFO Show we discuss why financial consolidation is essential to performance management, and how the options and customer interest have evolved over time. Watch podcast

Research

The State of Strategic Finance – Finance Teams Grow Up, Glow Up, and Warm Up to AI: Get insight into finance teams’ key challenges and priorities across several topics such as navigating the economy, people management, organizational processes and technology. Download, Watch podcast

The Pulse of Performance Management: AI + BI + CPM: This is the 22nd edition of our annual web event designed to quickly get you and your team up to speed on everything important happening in budgeting, financial planning, forecasting, operational planning, consolidation and close, financial and operational reporting, ESG planning and reporting, AI, and analytics. Watch webcast

Vendor Landscape Matrix 2025-2026 Edition: This 70-page analyst report covers budgeting, financial and operational planning, forecasting, consolidation and close, financial reporting, performance dashboards, analytics and AI, in a single document. Detailed coverage of 17 vendors.  Order report

Vendor Snapshots 2025-2026 Edition: Before you invest your valuable time and resources in evaluating (or purchasing) a particular vendor’s products, make sure you have all the facts. Validate your vendors with unbiased facts from their customers and our analysts. Vendor Snapshots contain data from our Vendor Landscape Matrix for two vendors of your choosing. Request  snapshots

BARC/BPM Partners Global CPM Trend Monitor 2026: Research, analysis, and recommendations from two of the leading analysts in the CPM space. What are the hottest performance management trends for 2026? How have they evolved over time? What are the implications for your projects?  Compare your thoughts with the results of our latest survey and learn what almost 1,000 CPM practitioners think. Learn which CPM trends are making waves in the market. See how best-in-class companies differ from the rest. Get infographic/Request report, Watch webcast

That’s all for now. We’ll be back soon with new content.

Global CPM Trend Monitor 2026

/in /by BPM Partners

Sponsored by Prophix, Vena

  • Research, analysis, and recommendations from two of the leading analysts in the CPM space.
  • Authors: BPM Partners (Craig Schiff) and BARC (Dr. Christian Fuchs)
  • Date: November 2025
  • Pages: 54
  • Request your copy today by completing the White Papers Request form.
  • See the infographic here.
  • View related webcast here.

Executive Summary:

Our primary goal for this report is to equip end-user organizations with the most current and complete information as they embark on new or expanding performance management projects. Although our focus is on end-user organizations, vendors can benefit from the data and analysis contained in this report as well, which in turn also benefits end-users. Topics covered include:

  • Self-service and Ease of Use
  • Data Management
  • Scenario and Driver-based Planning
  • Integrated Financial and Operational Planning
  • Integrated Financial Consolidation
  • Generative and agentic AI

7 Things They Never Told You About Financial Consolidation Solutions

/in /by BPM Partners

Sponsored by Anaplan

  • This white paper looks at some things you might not have been told about financial consolidation solutions. Awareness of these seven key factors will build your perspective, understanding and confidence when it comes to selecting the best CPM consolidation solution for your organization.
  • Author: BPM Partners
  • Date: September 2025
  • Pages: 15
  • End-user organizations request your copy today by completing the White Papers Request form.
  • Consultants/vendors request your copy today from the Sponsor.
  • View related webcast here.

Executive Summary:

Even the most experienced controllers, CFOs, chief accounting officers, and consolidation managers will have certain gaps in their knowledge of the latest systems and technologies for financial consolidation. This report should prove useful to you in discerning strengths and weaknesses of prospective consolidation solutions, identifying the platform that best meets your needs, and deploying it to strengthen your finance department as a business partner to the broader organization.

Equip Your Finance Team to Lead Strategically and Survive the Chaos

/in /by BPM Partners

Sponsored by insightsoftware

  • This white paper looks at how a unified, scalable EPM platform streamlines complex planning, closing, and reporting processes, enabling Finance to accurately guide the enterprise through volatile conditions.
  • Author: BPM Partners
  • Date: June 2025
  • Pages: 15
  • Request your copy today by completing the White Papers Request form.

Executive Summary:

The people of the Office of the CFO have experienced a perfect storm of business changes, tariffs, regulatory shift in different geographies, uncertainties around the use of AI, geopolitics, and disruptive technology. These forces could overwhelm finance teams struggling with legacy processes and methods. Yet the same people are expected to progressively improve their planning, analysis, consolidation and reporting, and data quality.

EPM helps Finance meet the moment. To meet their imperative to lead strategically through chaotic conditions over the next decade or more, they need faster finance operations and the most reliable, complete data possible. That implies the automation and unification of data that an enterprise performance management (EPM) system can make available. Modernization via EPM can bring all finance workflows under one roof (one UX, one data foundation). It also enables more flexible, accurate planning, quicker reforecasting, and much faster closings.

Understanding insightsoftware’s Acquisition of JustPerform

/in /by BPM Partners

Craig Schiff , President and CEO, BPM Partners

Overview

Today insightsoftware announced its acquisition of JustPerform, a Singapore-based CPM vendor. This is a major event in the CPM world that will expand the list of viable vendor options to choose from for both midmarket organizations and large enterprises. Let’s look at the details to understand why we believe this deal makes good sense.

JustPerform

JustPerform is a relatively new software vendor that we named our ‘Best New Vendor of the Year’ in 2022, joining the ranks of prior selections such as OneStream Software, Vena Solutions, Fluence Technologies (now part of Anaplan), and more recently Pigment. What impressed us most was that they came to market with strong planning capabilities along with equally strong financial consolidation functionality. That’s a rare occurrence that we hadn’t seen from a new vendor since OneStream entered the market over 12 years ago. In addition, they have a small, but very experienced team. Prior to launching JustPerform they had been implementing SAP BPC for several years and learned what customers liked and where there was room for improvement. Leveraging that experience they set out to build their own CPM product. What also sets the product apart is its unique process-centric approach.

As a small company, JustPerform has faced challenges competing with the more established players. While they have a strong product, they lack the financial resources to add the sales and marketing staff they need, and are also unable to easily extend their geographic reach. Most of their sales so far have been in their home region of Asia, although this past year they started to show up in deals outside of Asia and won a sizeable deal in the UK competing against some of the better-known vendors. Still, there are companies that won’t even consider them because of their size, location, and the usual questions around the long-term viability of a newer vendor.

insightsoftware

insightsoftware is a large global software company targeting the office of the CFO with numerous successful products, but lacking a modern, comprehensive, CPM solution with global appeal to lead the charge. They tried to address this by acquiring Longview Solutions several years ago, and Tidemark came along for the ride as well (having previously been acquired by Longview along with arcplan), but while Longview Tax has been very successful, Longview Plan and Longview Close have not fared as well competing against more modern solutions, and the more modern Tidemark was still building out its offering when it was acquired. JustPerform on the other hand, is ready to fill this gap today.

insightsoftware can provide the financial and people resources that JustPerform needs, as well as the infrastructure and ecosystem to accelerate their growth. In addition, their large product portfolio includes several complementary solutions such as Longview Tax and Certent (disclosure management), that can extend JustPerform’s capabilities, while also providing additional entry points for sales.

The Result

We believe this is a near perfect combination of companies and products with a mutually beneficial outcome.  While integration always takes time, we think it can be relatively quick in this instance for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the existing JustPerform product can stand on its own and is ready to go as is. Secondly, insightsoftware is very experienced when it comes to software acquisitions and in this case there is only a relatively small team to merge into the organization.

So how does this impact you? insightsoftware plans to roll out JustPerform globally (in phases), targeting both midmarket and enterprise organizations. When the dust settles you will have an additional modern and very capable CPM solution to consider, that is sold and supported by a large well-funded global organization.

Learn More

End user organizations can get our detailed report on JustPerform, or if you prefer speak to one of our analysts.

Have a project? We are one of the few advisory firms with the depth of vendor-specific knowledge and experience to help you evaluate and compare solutions such as JustPerform/insightsoftware with OneStream Software, CCH Tagetik by Wolters Kluwer, Anaplan, Oracle, SAP, Vena, Prophix, Planful and many others. Get the details.

Prophix Launches Prophix One™

/in /by BPM Partners

Craig Schiff , President and CEO, BPM Partners

Overview

When organizations are in the market for a new financial performance management solution there are many competing priorities. The FP&A team is looking for a capable but easy to use budgeting and planning solution along with management reporting and analytics. Operational leaders are looking for an integrated business planning solution that is highly flexible, can integrate with numerous source systems, as well as store and analyze large volumes of detailed granular data with adequate performance. The accounting group wants a consolidation and close solution that is fast, accurate, supports global regulatory requirements, integrates seamlessly with their ERP or general ledger, can handle complexity with out-of-the-box functionality, and of course deliver trustworthy financial reporting.

Ideally, the CFO (along with IT) would like to purchase a single unified all-in-one performance management solution to address all of these requirements. Does such a system exist? Yes and no. There are many unified solutions available today. However, most of them are very strong in one primary area and somewhat weaker in the others. Some are unified in name only and are really a collection of disconnected modules. The best of the unified solutions can be costly and are targeted at the largest companies. Due to the unified nature and bundled pricing you can also end up paying for functionality that you don’t require today.

All of this has generated renewed interest in considering best-of-breed solutions focused on each major area. The challenges with this approach include contracting with multiple vendors, IT having to build integration between the various data models, and users that need to access more than one of the solutions having to sign in and out of each solution as well as adjust to their different interfaces. This leads us to Prophix One.

Prophix One™

The goal of Prophix One is to provide the benefits of a best-of-breed approach (products architected and optimized for specific use cases and audiences), but minus the challenges, by delivering solutions through a unified platform framework from a single vendor.  Have they achieved their goal? Let’s take a look.

In its initial release Prophix One, a Financial Performance Platform, offers solutions for financial planning, budgeting, financial consolidation with intercompany management, disclosure management (utilizing IRIS CARBON), and reporting and analytics. It’s a good start that addresses the most pressing needs of many organizations today. The next items on the roadmap to be delivered as part of Prophix One this year include account reconciliation, close management, and integrated business planning. On day one the Prophix One platform itself includes the following capabilities: a centralized starting point and single sign on for all solutions, centralized user management and authentication, seamless data integration and sharing across the platform, and a consistent user experience. The concept is certainly compelling, we’ll have to wait to see how well it all works in practice once it’s being actively used by Prophix customers.

   

The Future

The Prophix One approach will allow Prophix to easily add new solutions over time. In addition to the planned product releases for later this year, they will also be adding a solutions marketplace to greatly expand the offerings available as part of Prophix One. While Prophix One should be attractive to many companies, it would appear to be a particularly good fit for rapidly growing midmarket organizations. They can purchase and use just what they need today, and as their needs evolve, they can add new purpose-built solutions without having to worry about integration, setting up user security, or learning a new interface.

Learn More

Prophix PerformancePlace

The performance management market is rapidly evolving. If you plan to purchase a new solution make sure you don’t base your decision on outdated (or biased) information. Talk to us first, or better yet: add us to your team.

Fluence and Pigment Partner to Offer Consolidation and Planning Solutions

/in /by BPM Partners

Craig Schiff , President and CEO, BPM Partners

Overview

Fluence just announced that they have partnered with Pigment to enable organizations to combine their consolidation solution with Pigment’s planning solution. We realize this is yet another partnering announcement, and we see many of these in the technology world every day that never amount to much more than a press release. However, this one addresses a real need, and does have the potential to deliver value to customers. It also provides some interesting insights.

3 Key Takeaways

  • Consolidation continues to grow in importance as a key component of performance management. While we hear a lot about enterprise planning, FP&A solutions, xP&A solutions, at the end of the day it’s all about reporting: internal management reporting focused on actual performance against plan, and external reporting (where required). Consolidation is key to both.
  • Pigment and Fluence understand the market requirements and their own core strengths. This is impressive. I can’t tell you how many vendors claim to offer consolidation solutions but don’t fully understand what that requires. Pigment recognized the need for consolidation, but with their focus on rapidly expanding the capabilities of their planning solution, knew they wouldn’t have their own consolidation solution anytime soon. Fluence since its inception has had a laser-sharp focus on consolidation and has been partnering with FP&A vendors for mutual benefit. A perfect match.
  • A new category of vendor is emerging. Fluence has been pioneering a best-of-breed approach to performance management as demonstrated by this partnership and their previously announced one with Vena. The vision is of two focused solutions coming together to offer a compelling performance management solution that is greater than the sum of its parts. Most prospects prefer an all-in-one unified performance management solution, which we agree with, but there are certain things they may not be considering:
    • What may appear to be a unified solution in many cases is not, it is two separate products sold by the same vendor, often with different data structures and UIs, with at least one of the products typically having come through an acquisition
    • Only a handful of true unified solutions are equally strong at consolidation and planning, and it’s often the consolidation piece that is the weak link
    • If the FP&A group and Controller’s department are on different timelines, or have different needs (e.g., one of them is happy with their current solution), then a new unified solution may not make the most sense

To learn which category the vendors you are considering fall into speak with one of our experts.

Our Verdict

This partnership is Good for:

  • customers of Fluence and Pigment who can now more easily add additional components to expand the capabilities and value of their performance management solutions
  • performance management prospects looking for a comprehensive solution who now have an additional option (Pigment + Fluence) to evaluate
  • the performance management industry as two newer vendors team up to join the ranks of the more established solution suite vendors in delivering a broader offering

This partnership is Not Good for:

  • the shrinking pool of standalone FP&A vendors who still don’t have a consolidation strategy, unless they are content to focus on the lower end of the market where consolidation is not as critical

Learn more about Fluence and Pigment on their PerformancePlace pages (just click on their names), or for more details view our Vendor Snapshot reports.

Vendor Selection Advisory Services for FP&A Groups and Controllers

As the performance management vendor landscape continues to rapidly evolve with partnerships, acquisitions, new entrants, and product line extensions it is more important than ever to leverage an expert when selecting your own budgeting, planning, consolidation, reporting and analytics solutions.  Learn about our offerings here.

The New Leaders: Budgeting, Planning, Consolidation and Reporting Solutions 2023

/in /by BPM Partners

BPM Partners VLM 2023 w/notes

Craig Schiff , President and CEO, BPM Partners

Overview

For the 20th Anniversary Edition of our Vendor Landscape Matrix (VLM) report we decided to add something that other analyst reports have had for years: categories for leaders, competitors, challengers, etc. Of course our VLM offers many things others still do not: a single report that covers budgeting, financial planning, operational planning, consolidation and close, as well as financial reporting and analytics, objective placement on the report grid based on measurable metrics: number of customers/deal size (for market momentum), and overall BPM Pulse customer  satisfaction ratings (for customer success), comparative pricing charts, along with the usual comparative customer satisfaction charts.

In the 2023 report Leaders are defined  as having an Excellent or Outstanding overall customer satisfaction rating combined with an Established or Dominant position in the market. Vendors that are both Outstanding and Dominant are categorized as Premier Leaders. Now it’s time to acknowledge the Leaders for 2023. You can learn more about them including their actual overall numeric rating, industry success, current offering information, latest news, analyst reviews, articles, blogs,  and current job openings by clicking on their name which will take you to their PerformancePlace page on this site.

 

Outstanding Customer Satisfaction

and Dominant Market Position

 

Target Market: Upper Midmarket to Enterprise

Wolters Kluwer CCH Tagetik

 

Excellent or Outstanding Customer Satisfaction

and Established Market Position OR

Excellent Customer Satisfaction and Dominant Market Position

Target Market: Upper Midmarket to Enterprise

Board International

OneStream Software

Target Market: Midmarket to Large

Fluence Technologies

Planful

Prophix

Talentia Software Group

Vena

Bonus: Top Rated Vendors in 2023 by Functionality:

PerformancePlace Filter: Top Rated for Budgeting and Financial Planning

PerformancePlace Filter: Top Rated for Comprehensive Consolidation

PerformancePlace Filter: Top Rated for Reporting

You can add additional filters to sort these Top Rated vendors by target market, price range, and more.

For each vendor’s complete chart of 16 detailed BPM Pulse ratings, plus Recommendation Rate and much more, read the 2023 Vendor Landscape Matrix report.

If you are part of an end-user organization you can request a report sample (Vendor Snapshots) featuring two vendors of your choosing.

Consolidation and Planning: Unified or Best of Breed

/in /by BPM Partners

Sponsored by Talentia

  • For midmarket controllers and FP&A managers, integration matters but performance comes first.
  • Author: BPM Partners
  • Date: May 2023
  • Pages: 12
  • This white paper is available in both English and French versions
  • Request your copy today by completing the White Papers Request form.
  • View related webcast here.

Executive Summary:

The goal of all performance management ultimately is to report accurately and quickly on performance and facilitate making the best management decisions. Both consolidation and planning are integral to those aims. This white paper focuses on consolidation, but to avoid creating silos neither consolidation nor planning solutions should be chosen in isolation, without taking the other into consideration.