Perform 2022 Kicks Off With Powerful Keynotes, Customer Stories, And a Shark

We’re underway at Planful Perform 2022! It’s so exciting to be back in-person with hundreds of CFOs, finance and accounting professionals, industry analysts, Planful partners, and Planful product experts, all descending on ARIA Resort in Las Vegas (and virtually!) for the year’s best finance, accounting, and FP&A conference.

Yesterday started with a meeting of Planful’s Customer Advisory Board, where we talked about the top challenges facing the Office of the CFO, learned how those teams are preparing for the future, and shared a sneak peek of Planful’s upcoming products. That session was followed by deep-dive Planful product trainings on dynamic planning model design and new reporting tools.

Today, however, saw the official kickoff of Planful Perform 2022. If you were unable to attend or missed the live stream, read on for a quick recap.

Grant Halloran, Planful CEO, delivered the opening keynote for Planful Perform 2022. He applauded the finance and accounting professionals in attendance for their perseverance over the past few years, dealing with massive change, competitive disruption, and data overload. The combination, according to Grant, has driven companies to unprecedented levels of organizational and technological friction. But, during it all, finance and accounting have been pushed harder than ever to elevate and accelerate how they work with the business, provide strategic advice, and guide the C-suite forward.

Those who navigate this era will reap the rewards of this Golden Age of the CFO, said Grant. Of course, many of those at Perform 2022 are Planful customers who have been transforming finance and accounting and solving these issues. But Perform 2022 showed everyone how to further accelerate close and consolidation cycles, improve reports, and create more reliable plans and forecasts⁠.

Today also featured guest speaker Barbara Corcoran, self-made real estate mogul and Shark Tank star. She spoke about leading through change and transformation, and explained how she turned a $1,000 loan into The Corcoran Group, the largest and best-known brand in the brokerage business. Beyond her business success and entrepreneurial celebrity, Barbara wowed the Perform 2022 audience with her business insights, experiences as an investor on Shark Tank, and her thoughts on how business leaders can flourish even as we expect uncertainty to continue.

Perform 2022 also featured several finance and accounting industry experts who brought their deep domain experience and broad industry insights to various sessions and discussions, including Bryan Lapidus, Director, FP&A Practice at the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP). Bryan talked about integrative intelligence and how it defines work, distributes it across a fluid and disparate team, and pulls it back together to drive decisions. It’s a concept with profound implications, and Bryan’s framework for integrative intelligence and helpful tactics were presented as ways attendees can better manage information and people

A diverse and engaged group of Planful customers flocked to Perform 2022, filling the sessions, interacting with speakers, and networking with finance and accounting peers. We also saw the first few customer-focused and customer-led presentations, including:

• Kimberly Simms, Chief Customer Officer at Planful, talked about “finance as a team sport” with a group of finance and accounting leaders from Imagen Dental Partners, Kiewit, and Golden State Foods. Panelists also shared how they’re working alongside their business partners to elevate the financial IQ of the entire organization.
• Kelly Wills, CPA, Manager of Financial Systems & Accounting at CCI explained how this holding company designs, builds, and distributes dashboards in Planful so stakeholders can easily spot trends, identify performance gaps, and stay in front of business goals.
• Gaylord Miller, Senior Director of FP&A at Imagen Dental Partners, demonstrated how this collaborative community of dental practices accelerated its adoption of Planful by engaging users and using Planful’s easy customization of budgeting and forecasting templates.

Teams of Planful experts from our own ranks and those of our eminent partners used the opening of Perform 2022 to explore the Planful Platform’s deep and broad capabilities. Today’s sessions included:

• Lauren Vysohlid, Solutions Consultant at Planful, explained how Planful customers are giving stakeholders quick and easy visualizations of the metrics needed to drive their corner of the business.
• Jonathan Li, Senior Solutions Consultant at Planful, showed how you can build better board books in Planful with automated financial and business data collection that delivers a trusted source of truth so you’re prepared for every meeting.
• Melissa Dreuth, Planful’s Chief of Staff to the CEO & Chief People Officer, and Justin Merritt, Senior Director, Solutions Consulting at Planful, explained how Planful eliminates the drag of manual analysis and replaces it with fast, accurate workforce scenario modeling that lets you course correct in hours, not weeks.
• Planful solution architects Margaret Powell and Linda Lifchez explained how teams can automate critical tasks to expedite planning processes and financial close and consolidation cycles.
• Adam Leash, Financial Business Analyst at Planful, showcased how Planful simplifies variance analysis and enhances your monthly close process.
• Marisa Loyer and Joel Jarratt from Planful partner KeenVision explained close management insights on automated cash flow reporting as well as managing multiple sets of books in Planful, all with the goal of accelerating and streamlining your close management process.
• Cash Collins and Joe Martins from Planful partner CFO Solutions explored the expanding possibilities of dynamic planning with use cases and real-world scenarios.
• A team from UHY Consulting explored the 3 statement model and why this elusive combination of income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement is easily achievable…but only if you follow their tips!
• Cogenics’ Managing Director Naveed Salman discussed ways to fast-track Planful implementations in days instead of months using agile methodologies. He also showed how continuous improvement techniques can evolve financial processes in sustainable ways.

Finally, the first day of Perform 2022 also featured “Ask Us Anything: FP&A with the Experts,” where a team of our in-house solution and implementation experts answered questions, shared tips, and provided speed-saving ways the Planful Platform can provide businesses with greater advantage.

What a packed agenda for the first part of Planful Perform 2022! There’s still more to come in tomorrow’s final day so stay tuned.