The rise of the data-driven enterprise has solved many issues however launched some new ones too — whereas corporations now have entry to extra data than ever earlier than, they now battle with issues like disconnected and siloed knowledge, disparate monetary processes and lack of dependable decision-making instruments within the trendy enterprise atmosphere. OneStream Software program, primarily based in Birmingham, Michigan, goals to deal with these issues by means of a unified finance platform, with the last word objective of changing the number of legacy company efficiency administration purposes, cloud level options and spreadsheets with a single supply of reality for stakeholders.
In 2012, OneStream was based by veterans from the CPM options market who noticed a chance to create a unified platform that might tackle a broad vary of enterprise challenges and exchange a number of purposes to cut back complexity and streamline the finance perform. It has spent over a decade rising and enhancing its product whereas increasing its places of work throughout the U.S., Asia, Europe and the Center East. In 2019 it reached unicorn standing with funding from KKR Funding, which pushed its valuation previous $1 billion.
CEO Tom Shea mentioned OneStream’s latest victories in addition to its future objectives with Accounting Right this moment.
CEO Tom Shea of OneStream
How would you greatest describe what your organization does?
Shea: OneStream Software program offers a market-leading clever finance platform, constructed to allow assured decision-making and maximize enterprise impression. We empower each finance and operations groups with actionable insights every single day. Our company efficiency administration platform unifies knowledge administration, monetary shut and consolidation, planning, reporting, analytics and machine studying to assist at the moment’s companies compete in a dynamic panorama.
What’s in your product line, and what’s your flagship product?
Shea: Our flagship product is the OneStream platform, which empowers clients by unifying finance processes and knowledge and providing actionable monetary indicators, forecasts and analytics. This eliminates silos and establishes a single supply of reality for all stakeholders by changing a number of legacy CPM purposes, cloud level options and spreadsheets.
As a complement to the platform, we even have the OneStream Resolution Change, which helps clients prolong their funding with greater than 75 pre-built options constructed by OneStream, our companions and clients which might be able to be downloaded, configured and deployed to rapidly tackle new necessities. These vary from enterprise to productiveness to operations options.
One new resolution we’re enthusiastic about is Wise Machine Studying, an Auto ML resolution that enhances the pace and accuracy of demand planning and forecasting and creates a greater understanding of key enterprise drivers. Wise ML seamlessly integrates into present planning processes to reinforce forecast accuracy and effectivity. By offering better transparency and belief to customers, these capabilities enhance agility, time to worth, and enterprise worth associated to operational planning processes. This resolution caters to the rising demand amongst OneStream clients to align monetary planning with operational planning processes like gross sales planning, demand planning, and gross sales and operations planning. Clients can incorporate Wise ML effortlessly into their planning, reporting and dashboard processes, enabling improved insights and extra assured decision-making. With Wise ML, organizations can remodel their enterprise planning processes by making ML forecasting accessible and intuitive for FP&A groups and operational analysts.
What product of yours do you suppose must be higher identified amongst accountants?
Shea: Whereas OneStream has expanded our buyer base and market recognition lately, we’re not as effectively referred to as the mega-vendors we compete with, so are at all times striving to develop market consciousness of our firm and platform. However one of many particular options that we provide that might actually profit extra accountants is our Account Reconciliations MarketPlace resolution. A lot of our clients have downloaded and evaluated the answer, then deployed it to exchange spreadsheets and level options they could have been utilizing. This has saved their corporations actual cash and streamlines the monetary shut course of by aligning account reconciliations with the remainder of the monetary shut, consolidation and reporting course of.
What was the final massive initiative or challenge your organization accomplished?
Shea: As I discussed earlier, OneStream not too long ago launched the Resolution Change, which somebody not too long ago described as an “app retailer for CFOs.” It’s an progressive functionality that enhances the event expertise for OneStream’s ecosystem by incorporating partner-built and neighborhood shared options alongside our current OneStream-created MarketPlace options. Our Resolution Change is designed to expedite the creation and implementation of latest options forour clients, thereby maximizing the returns on their platform investments. There are three distinct resolution portals: MarketPlace, PartnerPlace and OpenPlace. These portals present a variety of assets and choices to cater to the various wants of customers and foster collaborative progress throughout the OneStream neighborhood.
What’s the most fun new factor you are engaged on?
Shea: OneStream has been investing closely prior to now few years in incorporating AI and ML capabilities into our platform, to be able to break down the boundaries to adoption of those superior applied sciences and to make them extra simply accessible and adoptable by finance and accounting groups. Our preliminary work on this space resulted within the creation of our Wise ML resolution for demand planning and forecasting. Most not too long ago we now have been working with generative AI, creating an answer we’re initially calling Wise GPT. The truth is, at our latest OneStream Splash person convention we demonstrated a number of use instances for the know-how.
One in all these use instances concerned having the software eat OneStream documentation, white papers, books and different content material and utilizing it to supply technical and software help to customers getting into questions by way of a chat interface. One other use case was primarily based on the software consuming company data, then answering questions on authorized contracts, gross sales forecasts and the impression of investments in promoting on the P&L. We’re early within the lifecycle of huge language fashions reminiscent of ChatGPT, and the know-how is evolving rapidly — however the potential is clearly compelling.
What differentiates your organization from others just like it? What makes you totally different? Distinctive, even?
Shea: What makes OneStream totally different from different distributors within the CPM market is that we offer the one actually unified platform that may combine monetary and operational knowledge to assist not simply month-to-month reporting and planning cycles, but additionally present every day and weekly operational insights to managers throughout the enterprise to assist selections that may impression the month-end outcomes. We name this idea CPM+. One other key differentiator is which you can write software program on our software program platform — so we’re capable of supply a Resolution Change that features over 75 OneStream and partner-developed options that clients can obtain, configure and deploy into the platform to rapidly tackle new necessities in finance and past.
What’s the greatest tech problem going through accountants at the moment?
Shea: With the entire buzz out there about AI and automation, many accounting and finance professionals might concern for his or her jobs being changed by these instruments, however we do not see it this fashion. At OneStream, we see these applied sciences as offering a chance to unencumber accounting employees from mundane duties and make them extra productive to allow them to concentrate on extra value-added evaluation and determination assist for the enterprise. We’re approaching our R&D round these applied sciences to assist this idea.
What’s the greatest problem with promoting to this market? Of being an organization whose clients are primarily accountants?
Shea: Given lots of our staff are ex-accountants ourselves (together with me), we see the challenges and pressures they face and are at all times trying to make life simpler and extra productive for accounting and finance professionals. We additionally acknowledge that accountants are sometimes risk-averse to vary and can maintain onto legacy techniques and processes effectively previous their helpful life. We attempt to make the transition course of as seamless as doable for them to allow them to embrace change and have a look at the chance new applied sciences can present to cut back prices, streamline processes, improve productiveness and improve the worth accountants can ship to the enterprise.
OneStream HQ
OneStream at a look:
North American Headquarters Workplace: 191 N. Chester St., Birmingham, Michigan 48009
Staff: 1,300
Clients: 1200
Implementation companions: 230
Web site: https://www.onestream.com/
This has been a part of our common Vendor Highlight collection. To see earlier Vendor Spotlights, click on right here.
