Finance Teams Move Past Excel with AI‑Powered Planning

The long‑standing habit of using spreadsheets for budgeting and forecasting is finally being challenged. A major cloud software company has introduced a new AI feature that promises to replace the messy cycle of pulling data into Excel, sharing copies, and losing track of the original source. The solution pulls information from its own human‑resource and financial systems, as well as external tools like Salesforce, Snowflake, Google Drive and OneDrive. By keeping everything inside a single governed platform, it removes the version‑control headaches that plague finance departments.Industry experts say the shift is part of a broader move toward autonomous finance. Static reports are giving way to real‑time scenario planning powered by artificial intelligence. In practice, analysts spend most of their time cleaning data and investigating discrepancies rather than building budgets from scratch. The new AI tool lets them ask questions in plain language, automatically pulls relevant figures, flags mismatches and even builds financial models while showing each step of its reasoning. Unlike generic language‑model services, the platform keeps all analysis within strict governance rules. This protects sensitive data and ensures that every calculation is auditable. The feature is still in early‑adopter testing, with a wider rollout planned for the fall. The company’s acquisition of an adaptive planning firm in 2018 helped it reach over 7, 000 customers worldwide, many of whom run the tool on top of non‑native systems. The upcoming AI enhancement is expected to streamline collaboration and reduce the time analysts spend on manual data wrangling.