Highlights From Perform25 in London

This week in London, finance, accounting, HR, marketing, and business leaders gathered at Perform25 to experience the future of finance and the power of financial performance management.

Nearly 200 planning professionals joined us for our first-ever European user conference to share real-world stories, connect with industry experts, and engage with Planful partners to elevate their teams, tools, and processes.

Hot on the heels of Perform25 in Miami, our London edition of Planful’s annual user conference focused on the challenges facing finance teams today and how Planful’s latest AI-enabled product innovations help teams automate tasks, collaborate across the business, and rethink planning and execution— all critical capabilities as CFOs take on shrinking talent pools and increasing demands.

Whether you missed out on Perform25 in London or want to share a session with a colleague, dive into our recap below. Or, skip to the bottom for details on how to watch the London sessions on demand.

Grant Halloran, Planful CEO, opened Perform25 in London with a sharp understanding of the challenges CFOs face today: the impending retirement of many CPAs, fewer students pursuing accounting degrees, and the growing demand for finance teams to do more with fewer resources. This pressure is unsustainable, and it’s worsening by the day.

However, Grant shared how finance teams can gain the confidence to lead by embracing innovation and redefining success. He outlined a vision where automation augments people instead of replacing them, collaboration strengthens partnerships across the business, and AI-powered tools give teams instant access to insights that once took days or weeks.

With AI at its core, finance teams can elevate their impact by moving beyond manual tasks and driving better decision-making. This shift is already happening: our recent global survey of 450+ finance leaders found that nearly 90% of finance teams are moving towards AI-powered FP&A tools.

AI and automation are already transforming teams across the business. Throughout the event, Planful customers shared how our innovations with AI and automation accelerate decision-making, reduce manual tasks, and free up finance teams to focus on strategy, collaboration, and guiding business decisions.

Here are some of the stories shared by our customers at Perform25 in London:

• Lyre’s Spirits Co, headquartered in Leichhardt, New South Wales, offers alcohol-free classic spirits globally. Ross Aird, CFO at Lyre’s, discussed how the company uses Planful to replace spreadsheet-heavy processes, empowering teams to take an active role in budgeting. With Planful, they streamlined reporting, improved visibility, and transitioned from GBP to USD in a single day.
• Wise, based in London, processes £9 billion in cross-border transactions monthly for its 16 million customers. Gaëlle Constant, Senior Business Reporting Specialist at Wise, shared how automation and self-service via Planful help Wise eliminate bottlenecks and deliver accurate, on-demand reports. She also shared best practices for implementation and the company’s plans to optimize reporting efficiency further.
• Safety National is an insurance and reinsurance provider based in the US and a member of the Tokyo-based multinational Tokio Marine Holdings. Ruby Tan, Planning and Reserving Manager at Safety National, explained how Planful reduced their reporting time from six hours to just 30 minutes. The company also streamlined its budgeting and forecasting processes, gaining premium forecasting capabilities and real-time financial insights.

At Perform25 in London, Chris Argent, Founder and Head of Community at GENCFO, offered his guidance for reinventing finance. Chris encouraged attendees to embrace change as a catalyst for leading organizations into the future, drawing on recent GENCFO research to show how CFOs can modernize the finance function.

Our partners at CFO Solutions, Trintech, Verostone, and Bakerfield Solutions also took the stage to share insights on finance transformation, highlighting key strategies for CFOs as they increasingly rely on AI-powered innovations to improve consolidations, forecasting, and budgeting.

Planful’s executive team and product leaders demonstrated the latest innovations at Perform25 in London, offering a sneak peek into the future of finance. They presented product roadmap deep dives into Planful solutions for Workforce Planning and Accounting.

A dedicated session also looked at what’s next for Planful AI and provided a glimpse of Planful’s new AI applications, how agentic AI and generative AI are used, and how Planful AI is set to surpass expectations.

Product experts from across Planful also delivered sessions tailored to unique financial scenarios, product capabilities, and hidden gems. Topics and products covered included:

• Planful Spotlight
• Consolidations
• Budget Manager Experience
• Agile planning
• Dashboards
• Workforce planning best practices
• Getting started with Planful AI

Thank you to the hundreds of attendees who joined us in London. The energy and enthusiasm shared by attendees, speakers, and sponsors were a testament to the event’s theme: You, Elevated. We offer continued encouragement and support as you strive to reach peak financial performance.

If you missed a session or couldn’t attend the event, you can catch Perform25 sessions on demand. And, if you’re ready to define the future of finance, register for Perform26 while you’re there!