OneStream Releases Finance Operating Model as CFOs Take Lead on Enterprise AI
OneStream, a software company that handles financial and operational processes, released a framework called Forward Finance on May 18 to guide CFOs building AI-ready finance organizations. The blueprint emerged from research with hundreds of finance teams, CFOs, and business leaders working to integrate AI into their operations.
The framework addresses a real gap. Gartner predicts global AI spending will exceed $2 trillion, and CFOs are increasingly expected to shape enterprise strategy. Yet most organizations still operate with fragmented systems, poor data quality, and processes designed before AI existed.
Data Quality Remains a Stubborn Problem
OneStream's research found that 96% of executives say accurate, trusted data matters to their organization's success. But 47% admitted to making a material business decision based on faulty data in the past year. Those errors cost 72% of organizations at least $500,000.
The cost of bad decisions drives the urgency behind the Forward Finance model. Finance leaders can no longer treat data quality as a back-office concern.
Five Operating Roles Define the Model
Forward Finance describes how finance operates at its best through five leadership personas:
- Data Steward: Builds trusted insight by ensuring every figure is auditable and traceable to its source.
- AI Strategist: Moves AI from experimentation to enterprise value by targeting high-impact workflows and proving results through clear metrics.
- Chief Operator: Places finance at the center of operational decision-making by combining financial data with real-time operational signals.
- IT Collaborator: Creates a strategic alliance with IT to co-architect the digital agenda and build secure, scalable systems.
- Workforce Architect: Reshapes talent strategies-from hiring to role design-to prepare teams for an AI-enabled environment.
The model treats workforce change as central to AI adoption, not an afterthought. Finance teams need different skills, different roles, and different ways of working.
The Shift in the CFO Role
CFOs are moving from historical record-keeping to real-time business strategy. That shift requires finance to operate differently. The Forward Finance framework gives CFOs a practical starting point for rebuilding operations, data practices, and teams around that new reality.
Learn more about AI for CFOs or explore resources on AI for Finance.
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