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In a world awash with data, the real power lies in turning that information into insights—fast. Nowhere is this more urgent than in the office of the CFO, where decisions must be both precise and timely. Yet, as the demand for automated, intelligent analytics soars, a critical shortage of skilled technical professionals threatens to slow progress. Enter Savant Labs—a generative AI-powered analytics automation platform co-founded by Chitrang Shah, Matt Mesher, and other former leaders from Lattice Engines. Born from the need to close this gap, Savant Labs is reimagining how enterprises unlock value from their data. With scalable, secure, and intuitive tools, the company is quickly becoming a catalyst for a new era of decision-making—where analytics is no longer a bottleneck, but a built-in advantage. The Analytics Supply-Demand Imbalance At the core of Savant Labs’ inception lies a fundamental observation: while businesses are generating data at an unprecedented pace, the technical expertise required to analyze and automate insights has not kept up. Shah, Co-Founder and CEO, explains the critical nature of this gap: “There is an incredible mismatch between what I call the supply and demand for analytics, especially in the office of the CFO,” he says. “There are about three million data engineers who can program and build analytics, yet there are 60 million business analysts who are data-savvy but not programmers. That’s the problem we’re solving.” Business analysts—deeply familiar with the operational side of their organizations—are typically proficient in data handling but lack the programming skills to build and scale automation. As a result, they’re often stuck in repetitive tasks, regenerating the same reports day after day. Enterprises are essentially left with an army of capable professionals unable to scale their impact due to technological barriers. This structural issue not only leads to inefficiencies but also throttles the ability of organizations to become truly data-driven.
Accounting Seed, the #1 accounting solution built entirely on Salesforce, is changing the way companies use financial data with a platform built for adaptability, speed and customer success. Natively built on Salesforce, Accounting Seed delivers CRM and accounting in a single platform, offering real-time visibility across sales, finance and operations, from first interaction to final payment. For small and mid-sized businesses (SMB), this eliminates the inefficiencies of juggling disconnected tools and manual processes. The platform also automates key workflows—most notably through its AR and AP Automation features—and delivers deeper operational insights, helping teams allocate resources more effectively. That clarity empowers businesses to do more with less, scale without the usual pains and stay focused on what matters most: growth. “One of our superpowers is just how flexible and adaptable our system is when it comes to the growing and changing needs of SMBs,” says Ryan Sieve, CTO. Unlike traditional accounting systems that are often more rigid in nature, Accounting Seed evolves with its users, adapting seamlessly to changing needs without disrupting operations. Its flexibility goes beyond setup, letting teams tailor workflows, data fields and automation without rebuilding core processes. While most financial systems enforce fixed workflows, Accounting Seed allows teams to roll out new services, adjust billing models or reorganize teams, without manual workarounds or heavy development costs. “Not all of us have unlimited resources,” Sieve adds. “We're helping put time back into their business where they can really focus on strategy, what's going to help them grow in the best way possible and take on new initiatives, new product lines, whatever that might be.” Without Accounting Seed, businesses often stitch together disconnected systems—slowing progress when they need to accelerate. A single client engagement might pass through a CRM, a project tracking platform, a billing application and finally land in accounting software. Each step is siloed, with different customer records and no easy way to connect the dots. Teams lose time reconciling data, chasing payments and bridging systems instead of focusing on growth. For lean SMB teams, these inefficiencies can be growth blockers.
Today’s CFOs are no longer just financial stewards—they’re technologists, strategists, and first responders when disruption strikes. Spreadsheets, manual checks, and disconnected systems once held things together, but those days are long gone. This generation of finance leaders must make split-second decisions with flawless accuracy across sprawling datasets and shifting regulations. As AI rewires the core of how business runs, CFOs face three seismic shifts: their tools are transforming, their teams are evolving and staying competitive means outthinking challenges before they even arise. Enter MindBridge Founded in 2015, MindBridge’s Financial Decision Intelligence continuously analyzes every transaction through the dual lenses of risk and integrity—empowering finance leaders with real-time insights into financial health, surfacing operational inefficiencies, and flagging issues before small errors become strategic failures. Whether consolidating global entities, auditing trillion-dollar operations, or preparing finance for 2030 and beyond, MindBridge is the bridge between the demands of modern finance and the power of modern technology. “Our software allows you to look at everything, all the time, against the controls that determine financial integrity—which was impossible before,” says Stephen DeWitt, CEO.
Alex Carriles, EVP, Chief Digital Officer, Simmons Bank
Richard Kung, Chief Financial Officer, CTBC Bank Corp. (USA)
Paul S. Young, Chief Financial Officer, Liberty Bank – CT
Rebecca Bacon, VP & Head of Financial Institutions, Upgrade, Inc
Argyro (Iro) Tasitsiomi, PhD, Head of AI, Investments Data Science & Research, T. Rowe Price
The New Era of Intelligent Ledger
A quiet revolution is unfolding in finance departments, elevating CFO’s daily workflow with an unprecedented blend of speed, accuracy and foresight. Built on Salesforce and integrated with AI financial intelligence, modern accounting engines automate reconciliations, streamline audits and forecast risk before it shows up on the balance sheet. Where it once took entire teams to track payroll, taxes and regulatory reporting across systems, it now takes one intelligent interface. Generative AI not only crunches the numbers; it explains them. Ask a question in plain English, and it returns actionable insights drawn from every corner of the enterprise. Cash flow anomalies, spend patterns, vendor risk—all surfaced before the next call with the board. It’s a rewrite of how finance works. In a world of razor-thin margins and growing compliance pressure, real-time decision-making is a requirement. Generative analytics platforms are filling the gap, connecting data from sales, ops and procurement into a single, predictive narrative. The future of finance isn’t just automated; it’s intelligent. And it's projected to push this market north of $60 billion by 2030. This edition of CFO Tech Outlook offers insights into the latest advancements in AI-driven financial intelligence, accounting automation and generative analytics and how leading companies are aligning their strategies to stay ahead in this evolving landscape. It features a thought-provoking article by Frida Roneus, Head of Digital Strategy & Transformation at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Jennifer Skeggs, Assistant Director of Credit at Carter Lumber. The publication spotlights Savant Labs as the cover feature, recognizing its expertise in delivering a generative AI–powered, no-code analytics platform-built cloud and AI native for CFOs and finance teams. By combining spreadsheet interfaces, natural-language prompts and CI/ CD governance, it empowers spreadsheet-savvy analysts to automate workflows without code. We hope this edition offers insights that help finance leaders navigate uncertainty, unlock smarter decision-making, and stay prepared for what’s next in a world where data moves faster than ever.
