Instead of asking what AI can do for you, ask what you don’t want it to do. Then ask the AI to do it for you.
This is a complete reversal of how most people use AI. Because we tend to ask AI to do things that it’s already good at. That’s a mistake, IBM ANZ CFO Jason Codespoti pointed out. Because what we’re good at tends to be where value is created and added. “Necessary but terrible” administrators and the bureaucracy that surrounds them are things we want AI to eliminate.
Codespoti spoke at IBM Platinum Partner CorPlan’s CoreEPM launch. It is an “out-of-the-box” business intelligence solution that helps organizations overcome what CorPlan and its Australian sister company CorTell identify as major hurdles in BI implementation.
Likes and dislikes about spreadsheets
people are busy. And even if you know your company’s spreadsheets are harmful, you don’t have the time to do anything about it, especially if you’re not at all certain of the benefits of the proposed solution.
Matthew Hill, Director of CorPlan, explained:[Finance professionals] You want to break free from the constant cycle of spending every waking moment calculating budgets and forecasts using spreadsheets and manual tools. This is a common standard problem, and it takes a huge amount of time when trying to access data that already exists in the source system. ”
Because this is exactly what CorPlan has discovered in its engagements with more than 1,600 customers across Australia and New Zealand, where it has delivered IBM Planning Analytics solutions. It doesn’t matter what your organization does: mining, healthcare, local government, retail, financial services. The problem is the same, or at least similar.
That was evident not only in Mr. Hill’s argument, but also in the apparent nod of approval from the room packed with finance and operations executives. Most of the people gathered are already using Planning Analytics, but it’s clear that the harrowing memories of spreadsheet hell run deep.
Rapid enterprise performance management
“How do we resolve this?” Hill continued. “Use an enterprise-wide performance management solution.”
Either way, accessibility always comes with its own challenges. Certainly, cloud SaaS addresses that issue to some extent, Hill said. But not completely. “Even after spending 30 years solving Excel challenges, we’re seeing common problems. No one has time to fix or improve these processes. No one wants to wait for a nine-month consulting project, and no one has the budget to do it. No one is going to reach out and say, ‘Hey, I have $250,000 to help you with this.’
However, in such cases, CorPlan can be of great help, Hill joked.
In response, the product team worked to deliver CoreEPM, which is built on IBM Planning Analytics. “CoreEPM allows you to configure performance management applications over days or weeks.”
He emphasized configuring rather than customizing (because one is quick, the other is expensive and complex). “We have strategic, long-term, short-term budgeting, forecasting, and planning. We have actual, consolidation, financial, and all the reporting we need. We have administrative legal, KPIs, and operational dashboards. And we have AI built into the entire application.”
Modern AIs need catchy names, and the nickname assigned to this AI, which combines an AI and an AI face, is simply “Bob.” Bob then performs several advanced analytical functions within CoreEPM, within the strict limits of IBM governance. This is the governance that Hill highlighted by leveraging Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, which puts Big Blue at the top of guardrail issues.
What AI can remove
So, back to Codespoti. “We often argue over what can be done. [with AI]. Instead, talk to your partner and make a list of things you want to stop doing. ”
Financial professionals and planners understandably loathe the stagnation of spreadsheets and the associated challenges of finding, entering, and processing data. That’s not what they signed up for (as Hill said, “If you want to hire great people, you don’t want to hold them back with the wrong tools”), and it’s not what they want to do.
Of course, IBM is a big name, and Codespotty said the results of focusing on what employees want to cut out of their day are clear. “Some of the areas we focused on were planning, forecasting, and commercial performance, which resulted in the reduction of over 200,000 hours of manual treasury time. This freed up our treasury organization to spend time on IBM’s highly valuable content.”
Finally, in addition to introducing CoreEPM for rapid deployment, Hill further addressed the accessibility of business intelligence solutions. No need to worry about whales or minnows. “The great thing is that IBM is no longer just for the most upscale, large customers. We can scale from 3 to 5 users to 10,000 users with a pricing model that’s appropriate for enterprise size.”
The opportunity is at hand, as AIs like Bob and CoreEPM can quickly demonstrate what 1,600 CorPlan customers have gained from their engagements. Yes, spreadsheets have their place. The question on every finance and operations manager’s mind right now is: Are those spreadsheets helpful or a hindrance? Because, as CorePlan has proven, there is a better way to get there in 2026.
