ISG Software Research Analyst Perspectives

External Data Supports More Accurate Planning

Posted by ISG Research on 15 January 2025

I recently completed the latest edition of our Business Planning Buyers Guide, which reviews and assesses the offerings of 14 providers of this software. One of the points that I look at is whether and to what extent the software provider offers out-of-the-box external data useful for forecasting, planning, analysis and evaluation. What I discovered is that the availability of this type of vital... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Analytics, Business Planning, AI and Machine Learning

Let’s Put the “A” Back in FP&A

Posted by Robert Kugel on 09 January 2025

When considered at all, unintended consequences are expected to be negative. As enterprises and institutions rush to adopt artificial intelligence and generative AI, the focus is on the potentially unforeseen—and unforecastable—unfavorable outcomes. However, one very likely positive impact of AI investments in business computing is the near-effortless availability of consistently reliable data... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Analytics, Business Planning

Streamline Subscription Accounting to Increase Productivity

Posted by Robert Kugel on 08 January 2025

The subscription and recurring revenue business models became a significant part of the economy this century with the advent of streaming services for entertainment and software as a service. They have grown in popularity because they enhance customer lifetime value by evolving what had previously been a one-time-sale relationship into a delivery of ongoing services, which can create a more loyal... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, ERP and Continuous Accounting

Infor’s Velocity Summit Highlights Multiple Advances and Enhancements

Posted by Robert Kugel on 12 November 2024

I recently attended Infor’s Velocity Summit, designed to showcase the latest versions of its CloudSuite ERP software. Also center stage were Infor’s advances in artificial intelligence and process mining as well as its environmental, social and governance application and supply chain optimization enhancements. The company provides industry-specific enterprise software that enhances business... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, ERP and Continuous Accounting, natural language processing, AI and Machine Learning, Continuous Supply Chain & ERP

A Planning Center of Excellence Delivers Performance Improvement

Posted by Robert Kugel on 07 November 2024

Artificial Intelligence and generative AI are beginning to change how enterprises do many things, especially planning and budgeting. This technology has the potential to significantly redefine the mission of the financial planning and analysis group. It will do so by substantially reducing the time spent on the purely mechanical aspects of day-to-day tasks. AI is also making it easier for... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Analytics, Business Planning, Workforce Management, AI and Machine Learning

Generative Automation: An Alternative for Process Optimization

Posted by Robert Kugel on 05 November 2024

Agents are all the rage—and for a good reason. They are a way to automate work almost effortlessly so that repetitive and boring tasks get done with the least amount of effort on the part of the operator. In business, agents can be a boon for customer satisfaction and a way to improve worker productivity. They are alluring, with an almost unlimited number of potential use cases. However, as... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, natural language processing, AI and Machine Learning, Digital Applications, Order-to-Cash

Should I Stay or Go? Migrating to AI-Enabled Applications

Posted by Robert Kugel on 15 October 2024

Artificial intelligence-enabled business applications have advanced considerably over the past year as software providers have added a steady stream of capabilities. This includes customer facing, financial, supply chain and workforce software. ISG Research asserts that by 2027, almost all providers of business applications will use some form of generative AI to enhance capabilities and... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting

The Prophix One Platform Supports a More Effective Finance Department

Posted by Robert Kugel on 17 September 2024

Prophix launched its Prophix One platform earlier this year. CFOs of midsize enterprises should take a look at it because it supports a more effective approach to finance and accounting operations in growing companies. It facilitates the transition of organizations that can no longer make do with work-arounds of existing systems to those with formal, controlled core processes that can be... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, AI and Machine Learning

Sage Analyst Summit Details its Differentiated Strategic Path

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 August 2024

Sage recently held an analyst summit to take a deeper dive into its product and technology roadmap, complementing sessions it held at its 2024 user group conference that I commented on earlier this year. ERP systems have been central to the operational and financial management of enterprises since they first appeared in the 1990s. They are so familiar that they have become part of the background... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, ERP and Continuous Accounting

Technology Transforms ERP for a More Effective Finance Department

Posted by Robert Kugel on 20 August 2024

ERP systems have been the central nervous system of enterprises for more than three decades, handling business-critical process management and recordkeeping. While their basic outlines are unchanged, today’s systems are far more capable in their functional depth, adaptability, usability and manageability. Especially for cloud-based systems, they are far easier to maintain. Decades of refinement... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, ERP and Continuous Accounting, Order-to-Cash

OneStream Splash Highlights Practical AI Advances

Posted by Robert Kugel on 15 August 2024

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 Las Vegas. In attending this meeting, my focus was on progress the company has made in the areas of... Read More

Topics: Performance Management, Office of Finance, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, AI and Machine Learning, Digital Applications

Gain Finance Department Productivity with Straight-Through Processing

Posted by Robert Kugel on 13 August 2024

Improving data management is at the forefront of my Office of Finance research practice because, when not managed well, it can have a profoundly negative impact on departmental efficiency, individual performance, organizational agility and sustainability. Conversely, straight-through processing (STP), a business process design and data management methodology, reduces process friction throughout... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, ERP and Continuous Accounting, Order-to-Cash

Competitive Innovation is Improving the Economics of GenAI

Posted by Robert Kugel on 09 August 2024

At this stage of the development of Generative AI, there’s much we can see clearly (at least we think we can), but there’s even more likely to surprise us. As that great 20th-century philosopher and hall-of-fame catcher, Yogi Berra, famously said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” The breadth and speed of innovation today in all aspects of GenAI rivals that of the... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, ERP and Continuous Accounting, Model Building and Large Language Models, Order-to-Cash

The Buyers Guides for Financial Consolidation and Close Classifies and Rates Software Providers

Posted by Robert Kugel on 30 July 2024

I am happy to share insights gleaned from our latest Buyers Guide, an assessment of how well software providers’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. The Financial Consolidation and Close: ISG and Ventana Research Buyers Guide is the distillation of a year of market and product research by ISG and Ventana Research. The financial records of an enterprise must be periodically reviewed and... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance

AI is Changing the Market for Consolidation Software

Posted by Robert Kugel on 11 June 2024

Until recently, dedicated consolidation software had been a sleepy category. First introduced in the 1980s as a tool designed to run on personal computers (freeing the accounting department from reliance on its IT department), offerings basically achieved feature and function parity by the next decade. The last major technology innovation—moving the software to the cloud—began in the mid-2000s.... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, ERP and Continuous Accounting

Oracle Demonstrates Embedded AI for Productivity Gains

Posted by Robert Kugel on 21 May 2024

Oracle held an industry analyst summit recently where the focus was on artificial intelligence (AI) and embedded AI. At the event, Oracle demonstrated progress in adding useful AI-enabled capabilities to its business applications, especially in finance and accounting, supply chain, HR and revenue management. To put this into context, across the software industry, AI is already at work in many... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Analytics, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, AI and Machine Learning, Order-to-Cash

Automation Addresses VAT Tax Challenges

Posted by Robert Kugel on 16 May 2024

Value-added tax is a consumption tax levied at every point in a supply chain—from production to final sale. It’s based on the difference between the cost of production and the selling price of a product or service, or the value added. Sales taxes are different in that they are generally collected only at the final point of sale to the ultimate consumer. Enterprises collect the value-added tax... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Tax, tax compliance, VAT, Order-to-Cash, Value-Added Tax, Sales Tax

The CFO AI Trilemma: Cut Costs, Accomplish More or Both

Posted by Robert Kugel on 13 May 2024

We’re quickly approaching the moment when it becomes clear that artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) will not be free. As that happens, we will discover who’s willing to pay how much and for what. After nearly 18 months of unlimited use-case fantasizing, it should be obvious that not all the potential applications of AI can be realized over the next three to five years because... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Analytics, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, Order-to-Cash

Digitizing Tax Provision to Streamline the Close, Reduce Risk

Posted by Robert Kugel on 09 May 2024

The tax provision process is an essential part of the close process and a core responsibility of tax departments. This process estimates the amount of income tax an enterprise will have to pay tax authorities in the jurisdictions in which it operates. Tax accountants derive the number by adjusting the reported net income with a variety of permanent differences, such as expenses that are not... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, ERP and Continuous Accounting

AI Increases the Value of Order-to-Cash Automation

Posted by Robert Kugel on 07 May 2024

If you search “for want of a nail” on your browser, you’ll discover the age-old wisdom that seemingly trivial things can have a far-reaching impact. It’s a parable for artificial intelligence used in business. Deconstruct the imagined big-picture impact of AI and there are thousands of minor tasks that soon will require little or no human involvement in the interstices of an end-to-end process.... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Order-to-Cash