ISG Software Research Analyst Perspectives

Becoming a Predictive Finance Department

Posted by Robert Kugel on 21 April 2026

By now it should be obvious that artificial Intelligence (AI) and agents in all of their forms are on the brink of changing how finance and accounting departments operate. The basic outlines are already in place, but it’s not clear how or how rapidly day-to-day operations will evolve, as well as (by definition) what surprises are in store. One of the most profound impacts of AI will be on the... Read More

Topics: Governance, Office of Finance, Analytics, Business Planning, digital finance, Generative AI, Data Intelligence, AI & Machine Learning

Agents and Process Intelligence Facilitate Digital Process Reengineering

Posted by Robert Kugel on 15 April 2026

If you’ve been around for more than a few years, watching some emerging trend in information technology can seem like coming full circle. Something new sounds a whole lot like something old. This may be true from one perspective, like looking down, but I’ve long thought that this progression is helical. That’s because, viewed sideways, we actually are at a higher level of capability, lower cost... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Analytics, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, digital finance, Generative AI, Consolidate and Close Management, AI and Machine Learning

The Growing Strategic Importance of Sales and Operations Planning

Posted by Robert Kugel on 26 March 2026

The growing strategic importance of sales and operations planning (S&OP) reflects the confluence of two major trends evolving outside of enterprise operations. One is the ongoing disintegration of the post-World War 2 liberal trade environment that began in the early 2010s and has accelerated since. The second is the increasing sophistication and approachability of S&OP software. These... Read More

Topics: Supply Chain Planning, Analytics, Business Planning, Operations & Supply Chain, Enterprise Resource Planning, supply chain management, Generative AI, AI and Machine Learning

Cash Flow Forecasting for Agility in Uncertain Times

Posted by Robert Kugel on 05 March 2026

A great deal has changed in how finance and accounting departments operate since the start of the decade. Elevated levels of uncertainty and change, beginning with the pandemic, have forced departments to question and refine their processes and operating methods, which has led to using technology to improve agility and resilience. While these events instill a greater sense of urgency for... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, digital finance, Business & Technologies

Gain an Edge With ISG’s Supply Chain Planning Buyers Guide

Posted by Robert Kugel on 29 January 2026

We are kicking off our Supply Chain Planning Buyers Guide™ for 2026. ISG Software Research defines supply chain planning (SCP) as the business discipline of coordinating the future supply of materials and services used in the creation of specific products and services with the expected demand for them. The purpose of planning is to optimize the flow of goods and materials with related services... Read More

Topics: Supply Chain Planning, Business Planning, supply chain management, Supply Chain and Operations

Prophix Offers Large Enterprise Capabilities to Midsize Enterprises

Posted by Robert Kugel on 21 January 2026

Prophix One is a finance and accounting platform that provides enterprises a single point of entry and common authentication for financial applications. It uses in-memory cube technology to enable enterprises to handle complex planning tasks built on very large datasets to eliminate barriers to integrated business planning. The platform and its dedicated data store support the use of artificial... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Analytics, Business Planning, digital finance, Generative AI, Consolidate and Close Management, Business & Technologies, AI & Machine Learning

Midsize Enterprises Need a Technology Update

Posted by Robert Kugel on 20 November 2025

The Chief Financial Officer of a midsize enterprise faces a different set of challenges than their counterparts in larger or smaller enterprises. Midsize enterprises have grown to the point of requiring capabilities similar to larger businesses but typically lack the staff or financial resources afforded to bigger ones. The past decade of IT innovation—especially the expansion of cloud... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, Business, ERP and Continuous Accounting, digital finance, Consolidate and Close Management, Business & Technologies

Oracle Shows Off AI Agents for Performance and Productivity

Posted by Robert Kugel on 05 November 2025

The recent Oracle AI World event did not unveil much that was stunning “new” news for its business applications, because much of what has been evolving was presented already and has been in front of analysts for some months. What was on display, though, was steady progress to its advancing capabilities coming out every quarter. The company has focused on the development of agents and an agentic... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, digital finance, Generative AI, Consolidate and Close Management, AI and Machine Learning

NetSuite Next: Productivity by a Thousand Cuts with AI

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 October 2025

Oracle NetSuite’s presentations and announcements at its recent user group meeting, SuiteWorld, focused on an initiative called NetSuite Next, a set of artificial intelligence (AI), generative AI (GenAI) and agentic AI capabilities that will be an inherent part of the NetSuite suite of applications starting in 2026. The company’s objective is to facilitate customers’ transition to this AI-centric... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, Digital Commerce, ERP and Continuous Accounting, digital finance, Procure-to-Pay, Generative AI, Order-to-Cash, Business & Technologies, AI & Machine Learning

Data Is the Structural Steel of Finance Departments

Posted by Robert Kugel on 15 October 2025

There's a saying among military historians that amateurs debate strategy while professionals talk about logistics. In a similar vein, those rooted deeply in the workings of information technology (IT) pay close attention to data because it is fundamental to the proficiency and effectiveness of any IT system. Visionaries speak of data being the oil or gold of the information economy; practitioners... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, Procure-to-Pay, Generative AI, Consolidate and Close Management, AI and Machine Learning, Order-to-Cash, Business & Technologies

Collaborative Supply Chain Forecasting Faces Serious Challenges

Posted by Robert Kugel on 16 September 2025

Collaborative Supply Chain Forecasting (CSCF) is a business discipline involving multiple supply chain stakeholders, including suppliers, distributors and sellers, that is aimed at producing a more accurate forecast of future demand and supply. Participants share supply and demand data, forecasts, assumptions and insights to improve visibility, reduce inefficiencies and attenuate supply-demand... Read More

Topics: Supply Chain Planning, Business Planning, Enterprise Resource Planning, supply chain management, Business & Technologies, Supply Chain and Operations

Planning for Uncertainty with AI

Posted by Robert Kugel on 10 September 2025

We live in a time of uncertainty, not unpredictability. Planning charts the course of an enterprise through a sea of uncertainties, making fact-based predictions of potential outcomes to inform decision-making by executives and managers. Companies do a lot of planning—some formal but much of it informal. People in companies plan sales, they plan how to produce products and deliver services. They... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, digital finance, Generative AI, AI and Machine Learning, Business & Technologies

Minimize Costs with Supply Chain Agility and AI

Posted by Robert Kugel on 26 August 2025

The era of ever-liberalizing trade that began in earnest in the 1950s (albeit with periodic ups and downs) came to an epochal end in the 2010s. Over the past decade, the ever-more demanding environment for supply chain planning and execution has forced enterprises to take a more strategic approach to managing these processes. The need for resiliency and adaptability in a rapidly changing world... Read More

Topics: Supply Chain Planning, Business Planning, Enterprise Resource Planning, supply chain management, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Generative AI, AI and Machine Learning, Automotive, Business & Technologies, CPG & Retail, Supply Chain and Operations

IT Is at the Heart of the AI-Enabled Economy

Posted by Jeff Orr on 26 August 2025

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept but a current reality, and enterprise leaders are recognizing its profound impact on the IT sector. The development and deployment of AI-driven applications across various industries hinge on a robust IT infrastructure and skilled expertise. The words of industry leaders reinforce this sentiment: Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy indicates that... Read More

Topics: GRC, Operations, Learning Management, Business Planning, Cybersecurity, Generative AI, IT & Technologies, AI and Machine Learning, IT Management, Skills Gap, Bias, Risk Management

AI Agents in the Supply Chain offer a Competitive Edge

Posted by Robert Kugel on 21 August 2025

Agents offer almost effortless automation, so repetitive and boring tasks get done with the least amount of work and, perhaps, more consistently. Agents are an important evolutionary step in the design of business software, similar to the transition from procedural programming to event-driven programming that accelerated in the late 1980s. That paradigm shift created the business software... Read More

Topics: Supply Chain Planning, Business Planning, Operations & Supply Chain, Enterprise Resource Planning, supply chain management, Manufacturing, Automotive, Business & Technologies, CPG & Retail, Vertical Industry

Successful AI Adoption: Change Management is Essential

Posted by Robert Kugel on 07 August 2025

Organizational change management is the discipline and process of guiding individuals, teams and organizations to a desired future structure. This is frequently an issue when implementing new technology designed to enable new strategies or business models. It is often a challenge because of human resistance to change, which is driven by a desire for stability, fear of personal consequences and... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, AI, Procure-to-Pay, Consolidate and Close Management, AI & Technologies, Order-to-Cash, Business & Technologies

OneStream Roadmap for AI and Agents

Posted by Robert Kugel on 12 June 2025

OneStream offers a platform designed to serve the needs of accounting and financial planning and analysis (FP&A) organizations. The software handles financial close and consolidation, planning and budgeting, analysis and reporting. OneStream recently held its annual user conference, Splash, in Nashville. In attending this meeting, my focus was once again on the progress the company has made over... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Analytics, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, digital finance, Consolidate and Close Management, AI & Technologies, AI and Machine Learning

AI-Enabled Contingency Planning is More Accessible Than Ever

Posted by Robert Kugel on 20 May 2025

We live in a time of uncertainty, not unpredictability. Especially when a business finds itself on an undefined journey with an unclear destination—whether caused by internal events or the world at large—having plans to deal with a range of outcomes increases the odds of success. Or, at least enduring the least amount of damage. Managing an organization in uncertain times is always hard, but... Read More

Topics: Machine Learning, Office of Finance, Supply Chain Planning, Business Planning, Supply Chain, Enterprise Resource Planning, Artificial intelligence, digital finance, Generative AI

Gaining Financial Management Effectiveness in Midsize Enterprises

Posted by Robert Kugel on 15 May 2025

Doing more with less is the defining characteristic of finance and accounting departments in midsize enterprises, which ISG research defines as organizations with between 100 and 999 workers. One frustrating truth confronting executives in these organizations is that, once their company stops being a small business, it has many of the same challenges that large enterprises face but with fewer... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, natural language processing, Procure-to-Pay

Kinaxis Demonstrates Accessible AI-Enabled Supply Chains

Posted by Robert Kugel on 23 April 2025

I recently attended Kinaxis’ annual user group meeting, Kinexions. The most important theme of the event was the trifecta of artificial intelligence (AI), generative AI (GenAI) and agents. Supply chain planning and execution software are the business software domains that are going to be major beneficiaries of AI and agentic AI automation. However, they also are going to be two of the more... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Supply Chain Planning, Business Planning, Supply Chain, supply chain management