ISG Software Research Analyst Perspectives

Business Planning Buyers Guide: Market Observations

Posted by Robert Kugel on 18 October 2023

The 2023 Ventana Research Buyers Guide for Business Planning research enables me to provide observations about how the market has advanced. The purpose of business planning is not simply to create a plan — it is to make better decisions. Planning and budgeting software should make the process faster, more agile, less burdensome and more intelligent so that managers can make better decisions more... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning

AI for Working Capital Management

Posted by Robert Kugel on 13 September 2023

In accounting terms, 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,... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, CFO, ERP and Continuous Accounting, Accounts Payable, Treasury, Accounts Receivable, Working Capital

With Generative AI, Any Dog Can Write a Contract

Posted by Robert Kugel on 29 August 2023

This title plays on the now-ancient meme from the 1990s: “On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog,” which pointed to a challenge of anonymity posed by new technology. In this case, though, I’m using it to highlight an opportunity that generative artificial intelligence presents in streamlining routine business functions that require some level of individual skill and experience to handle.... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Digital Technology, robotic automation, AI and Machine Learning

Adopt the Virtual Audit to Improve Audit Quality

Posted by Robert Kugel on 22 August 2023

Over the past three years, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (or PCAOB, sometimes pronounced “peekaboo”) has found an increasing prevalence of auditing deficiencies in its inspections of accounting firms. PCAOB was established as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in the wake of several major accounting scandals. The agency acts as the auditor of auditors with the objective of... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, audit, ERP and Continuous Accounting, virtual audit

Advanced Technology Enables Analytic Autonomy

Posted by Robert Kugel on 17 August 2023

A century ago, the big breakthrough in telephones was the ability to dial your party’s number directly. Dialing became necessary when enough people had telephones to require a shift from people-assisted to fully automated connections. But direct dialing was only a local option – you still needed an operator to make long-distance calls. In the 1920s, commenting on their forecast for the expected... Read More

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

Not Your Grandpa’s Consolidate and Close Software

Posted by Robert Kugel on 27 July 2023

The six costliest words in managing a finance department are, “we’ve always done it this way.” Closing the books is the process of finalizing and summarizing the financial activities of a business for a specific accounting period (typically a month, quarter, or fiscal year). It involves completing various tasks to ensure that all revenue, expense, and other financial transactions are properly... Read More

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

The Question of Generative AI Costs

Posted by Robert Kugel on 25 July 2023

As we celebrate the first half of what seems to be the year of generative artificial intelligence, with an apparently unlimited discussion of use cases and bogeymen, my attention is turning to the very mundane question of costs. Specifically, how costs incurred – through investment and operation – will be distributed along the value chain and how this will affect the demand for AI ‒ by whom and... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Continuous Planning, Business Planning, Enterprise Resource Planning, natural language processing, AI and Machine Learning, Continuous Supply Chain & ERP

Sage Positioned to Gain from Seismic Shift in ERP Market

Posted by Robert Kugel on 06 July 2023

I recently attended Sage Software’s Partner Summit. Implementation partners account for most of the sales and implementation of finance and accounting applications designed for small and midsize businesses, so they are important to the success of the software vendor. These events are designed to inform partners of product enhancements and the product and technology roadmap as well as provide a... Read More

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

Planful Invests in Finance and Accounting Effectiveness

Posted by Robert Kugel on 13 June 2023

Planful, a financial planning and consolidation software vendor, held its annual Perform23 user conference in May. The event showcased the company’s ongoing investments to provide finance and accounting departments with the means to improve effectiveness by enhancing efficiency. Over the past four years, Planful has steadily improved its planning platform to address the growing demand for... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning

Data is the Strategic Raw Material of Finance Departments

Posted by Robert Kugel on 07 June 2023

The Office of Finance can be compared to a numbers factory where the main raw material, data, is transformed into financial statements, management accounting, analyses, forecasts, budgets, regulatory filings, tax returns and all kinds of reports. Data is the strategic raw material of the finance and accounting department. It is the key ingredient in every sale and purchase as well as every... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, embedded analytics, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Management, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, data operations, analytic data platforms, AI and Machine Learning

Accounts Receivable Automation is More Valuable Than You Think

Posted by Robert Kugel on 30 May 2023

Ventana Research expanded its core Office of Finance focus areas this year to reflect new and important opportunities to use technology to gain effectiveness through greater efficiency. The focus area we caption as “Purchasing, Sourcing and Payments” also includes receivables. Doing a better job of record-keeping and organizing paperwork, especially in a minutiae-laden process like order-to-cash,... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance

Technology Enables Working Capital Optimization

Posted by Robert Kugel on 10 May 2023

We’ve experienced an unusual, decades-long monetary policy in the developed world that emphasized interest rate repression as well as supply chain practices designed for lowest cost. This has produced a generation of chief financial officers likely unprepared to address the impact of fundamental changes now shaping a new, technology-driven approach to working capital optimization. Today’s CFOs... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Enterprise Resource Planning, continuous supply chain

OneStream Advances Generative AI to Improve Productivity

Posted by Robert Kugel on 01 May 2023

OneStream offers a platform designed to serve the needs of accounting and financial planning and analysis organizations. The software handles financial close and consolidation, planning and budgeting, analysis and reporting. The most notable part of the company’s presentations at its annual user group meeting – Splash – was the strategy and roadmap for its two artificial intelligence initiatives,... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, AI and Machine Learning

Using Continuous Accounting to Improve Performance

Posted by Robert Kugel on 26 April 2023

In 2015, I began using the term continuous accounting to call attention to technology advances that enable finance and accounting departments to improve performance. These advances have continued, making an even more compelling case for adoption of continuous accounting. In my definition, the approach rests on three pillars: Managing processes end-to-end to reduce workloads, using workflows while... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, ERP and Continuous Accounting

Reasons Your Midsize Organization Needs a Finance Technology Update

Posted by Robert Kugel on 05 April 2023

The chief financial officer of a midsize organization faces a different set of challenges than those in larger or smaller enterprises. These organizations have grown to the point of requiring capabilities similar to larger businesses, but typically lack the staff or financial resources afforded to bigger organizations. The past decade of IT innovation – especially the expansion of cloud computing... Read More

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

Now with the Miracle Ingredient AI!

Posted by Robert Kugel on 30 March 2023

Early last December, just before ChatGPT became the new, bright, shiny object, The Economist magazine ran a story proclaiming that we had finally arrived at the age of boring artificial intelligence (AI). From my perspective, it’s unfortunate that didn’t last and that AI has been relegated back to the buzzword league. AI will be an increasingly important feature of business software through the... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Intelligence, Business Planning, Enterprise Resource Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, natural language processing, continuous supply chain, AI and Machine Learning

Close Automation is Essential for Digital Finance Transformation

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 March 2023

As a rule, I dislike terms like “digital finance transformation” because there’s a wave-the -magic-wand quality to it that obscures the not-so-simple people and process elements necessary for true transformation. Six of the most common – and expensive – words used in an accounting department are “we’ve always done it this way.” Persuading staff to change can be a struggle, even if change makes... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance

The Continuous Audit Improves Quality and Efficiency

Posted by Robert Kugel on 22 March 2023

An external audit examines an organization’s performance of accounting tasks. It validates the soundness of accounting systems and policies and compliance with generally accepted accounting principles in preparing financial statements – chiefly the income statement, balance sheet and statements of cash flow and equity. The auditor certifies that there are no material errors or omissions, and that... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance

Our Focus on Close, Consolidate and Report in Finance

Posted by Robert Kugel on 14 March 2023

For 2023, the Office of Finance practice of Ventana Research introduced Close, Consolidate and Report as one of its six focus areas. The change reflects the recent evolution of technology that supports this part of the finance department calendar. Ventana Research expects that the increasing investment in software to streamline these processes will, by 2026, result in two-thirds of finance and... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance

Accounts Payable Automation is More Valuable Than You Think

Posted by Robert Kugel on 10 March 2023

We added purchasing, sourcing and payments to our core Office of Finance focus areas this year to reflect new and important opportunities to use technology to gain effectiveness through greater efficiency. Doing a better job of record-keeping and organizing paperwork – especially in a minutiae-laden process like source-to-pay – may seem trivial. Yet digitally transforming core business processes... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, ERP and Continuous Accounting