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

FinOps Dashboards Don’t Fix Cloud Waste

Posted by Jeff Orr on 08 April 2026

Multicloud was supposed to deliver flexibility, leverage and lower costs. Instead, many enterprises are paying a complexity tax that exceeds the savings. Dashboards light up with granular cost data across hyperscalers, yet total spending continues to climb. Visibility is improving. Accountability is not. The multicloud thesis was straightforward: distribute workloads across providers and reduce... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, digital finance, CloudOps, IT & Technologies, FinOps, Business & Technologies, Cloud Infrastructure, IT Management & Operations, Multicloud, Cloud Cost Management, Hyperscaler

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

The Saas-Pocalypse That Isn’t Happening Soon

Posted by Robert Kugel on 09 February 2026

The term SaaS-pocalypse has been popularized lately to summarize the idea that the traditional business software providers’ business model is about to undergo a tectonic structural shift because artificial intelligence will change how work is performed, rendering applications and their subscription pricing models obsolete. In this telling, AI assistants or agents can reduce the need for humans to... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Operations & Supply Chain, Office of Revenue, AI & Technologies, Business & Technologies

A Data Pantry is the Foundation of AI-Enabled Business Software

Posted by Robert Kugel on 04 February 2026

I have been using the term “data pantry” (somewhat tongue in cheek) to describe a curated, governed and readily accessible collection of enterprise data that business users can draw on to support the use of core business software. This includes ERP, CRM and supply chain management software, as well as essential business processes such as analytics, forecasting and planning. This form of data... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Analytics, Digital Business, digital finance, Generative AI, Customers and CX - Business & Technologies, Employees & HCM - Business & Technologies, Office of Revenue - Business Technologies, Supply Chain and Operations, AI & Machine Learning

Reimagining Procure-to-Pay With AI

Posted by Robert Kugel on 27 January 2026

Digitally transforming finance operations has been a priority since 2020. Especially with the application of artificial intelligence in all its forms, software can streamline purchasing and the procure-to-pay (P2P) cycle, shorten process times, reduce unnecessary costs, provide greater visibility into cash flows, increase control and improve results. The application of AI will increasingly... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, ERP and Continuous Accounting, Procure-to-Pay, Generative AI, Business & Technologies, AI & Machine Learning

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

You Can’t Spell ERP Without AI

Posted by Robert Kugel on 15 January 2026

The reason why artificial intelligence (AI) has been the focus of endless keynote speeches, product roadmap announcements by ERP providers and development efforts across all categories of business software is that AI-embedded systems promise (and will ultimately deliver) software that more closely molds its operation to the needs of a specific enterprise and individual user. The technology is... Read More

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

Addressing Critical Audit Matters With AI and Virtual Audits

Posted by Robert Kugel on 09 December 2025

Spectacular accounting frauds happen with enough regularity to beg the question, how did the auditors miss that? In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the U.S. established the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB or “peekaboo”) with the aim of protecting investors and lenders by overseeing the audits of public companies to ensure the reports and opinions are accurate, independent... Read More

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

AI Is Coming for the Tax Department (Good!)

Posted by Robert Kugel on 04 December 2025

Managing corporate income taxes effectively is important since these represent the second or third biggest expense for many enterprises. However attractive minimizing them might be, following all applicable tax laws and regulations is equally as important because failure to pay what the laws require can result in significant monetary fines and, potentially, reputational risk. Since there can be... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Tax, ERP and Continuous Accounting, digital finance, Generative AI, Business & Technologies, AI & Machine Learning, Tax Provision, Tax Avoidance

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

Tokenizing Working Capital to Improve Performance and Efficiency

Posted by Robert Kugel on 13 November 2025

Tokenization is an emerging topic for business software providers. Tokenization is the process of representing something valuable or complex with a simple computer-readable substitute to enhance security or improve the efficiency and usability of a system. Tokens are already widely used in commerce. It’s now common for sensitive data used in a transaction, such as a bank account number or credit... Read More

Topics: Governance, Office of Finance, Operations, Analytics, ERP and Continuous Accounting, digital finance, Procure-to-Pay, Generative AI, AI and Machine Learning, Order-to-Cash, 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

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

Use AI and Technology to Optimize Working Capital

Posted by Robert Kugel on 03 September 2025

Working capital includes current assets (short-term items such as cash, money due from customers and inventory) and current liabilities (typically payments due to suppliers and loan amounts that must be repaid within one year). Working capital management is a prime function of the finance organization, designed to balance often-conflicting objectives related to revenue, liquidity, risk and... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, ERP and Continuous Accounting, Procure-to-Pay, Order-to-Cash, Business & Technologies

FloQast Gives Accountants an AI Hack to Improve Productivity

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 August 2025

FloQast offers close management, reconciliation and accounting workflow automation software that streamlines processes and achieves reliable accuracy with less effort while providing real-time visibility into financial operations. The word “hack” originally referred to an ordinary horse, and later to a third-rate writer. More recently, it has come to mean—in a business context—a clever strategy... Read More

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

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