BlackLine

Yesterday, Blackline brought together a group of IT and Finance leaders for a conversation that’s increasingly hard to avoid: “The Unique Challenges of Applying AI in Highly Regulated Environments.” At Blackline, we regularly convene peers around the hard problems at the intersection of AI and enterprise finance — this was one of those conversations. Thank you to the leaders who showed up with candor and real experience: • Drew Delmonico, CPA , Chief Accounting Officer, Zscaler • Sachin Vaidya , CIO, Heritage Bank of Commerce • Rajesh (Raj) Ramachander , CIO, Anaplan • Venky Rangachari , CIO HPE Networking, HPE • Greg McAfee , CIO, Roku • Kevin S. Smith , CIO, Lyft The consensus was clear: applying AI to highly auditable functions like Finance requires an entirely different mindset than general use cases. Three things stood out: 1️⃣ Human oversight alone doesn’t build trust. Reviewers need to actually understand what the AI recommended and why. Explainability isn’t a nice-to-have — it’s the baseline for accountability. 2️⃣ Governance requires the right language. Governance frameworks designed for engineers don’t work for auditors. Finance AI needs audit trails that speak the language of the people accountable for the outcomes. 3️⃣ “Build vs. Buy” looks different in high-stakes environments. Building on generic AI in regulated environments isn’t just complex — it creates audit exposure. Finance needs AI that understands the rules of the domain, not just the rules of the model. These conversations don’t solve enterprise AI governance — but naming the real problems is where it starts. Special thanks to Daria Brainerd , SVP of Customer Success , David Pluto , Head of strategy and corporate development and Kim Smith , VP of IT Strategy at BlackLine for joining me to lead this conversation on such a timely topic. #AIGovernance #EnterpriseAI #CIO

Catch the BlackLine team at the Gartner Finance Symposium! Join our VP of Product Marketing, Scott Stern, and PenFed's Legh Penrod on Wednesday, May 27 at 11:45 AM to learn how AI is driving true execution in finance. Then, stop by Booth #313 to see Agentic Financial Operations live. Who's going to be in National Harbor?

Unlock the power of peer insights and hands-on training at our complimentary, full-day event next week in Plano, TX, designed exclusively for the BlackLine community. It’s your opportunity to accelerate transformation, exchange ideas, and return with actionable takeaways. Lunch and beverages are on us. Seats are limited, so secure yours now: https://ow.ly/ol2050Z0maL

I used to spend an entire week chasing numbers across disconnected systems—just to get everyone on the same page. Sound familiar? That’s exactly the challenge BlackLine was built to solve. This carousel breaks it down visually and shows how finance teams can finally move from chaos to clarity. Curious how? Swipe through 👉 #FinanceTransformation #AccountingInnovation #Automation #DigitalFinance #FinanceLeaders #BlackLine #ProcessImprovement #FinancialClose

The future of finance just got a major acceleration! Yesterday at SAP Sapphire, SAP announced the SAP Autonomous Enterprise, a bold vision for the future of business. For those of us at BlackLine, this is a validation of the journey we’ve been on with our customers toward a truly autonomous, intelligent financial close. Through our SAP Solution Extension partnership, we are extending the gold standard for Record-to-Report (R2R) with joint AI innovation on the SAP Business AI Platform. Together, we are helping our mutual customers automate the manual work and focus on what really matters: driving business impact. Check out the full details on how we’re innovating together in SAP’s latest blog: https://ow.ly/WYAY50YZA1g

The era of the autonomous enterprise is no longer just a concept—it is actively reshaping the Office of the CFO. SAP’s recent announcement of the SAP Autonomous Enterprise is a bold step forward for the future of business. For those of us at BlackLine, this vision perfectly aligns with our mission to pioneer Agentic Financial Operations (AFO) and deliver a financial close that is truly autonomous, intelligent, and highly collaborative. As a proud SAP Solution Extension partner, we are actively building this future together. By integrating our joint AI innovations with the SAP Business AI Platform, we are setting a new gold standard for the record-to-report (R2R) process. This isn't just about automating labor-intensive tasks. It’s about fundamentally elevating end-to-end accounting processes to give finance teams the scale, agility, and strategic bandwidth they need to drive maximum business impact. The synergy between our platforms is accelerating the journey toward a frictionless financial close. I highly recommend reading the full details on how SAP and BlackLine are innovating together in SAP's latest blog: https://ow.ly/zMRQ50YZwNz #SAP #BlackLine #AutonomousEnterprise #FinanceTransformation #ArtificialIntelligence #FutureOfFinance #AgenticFinancialOperations #CFO

We’re collaborating on joint AI capabilities designed to enhance and optimize the record-to-report process for our mutual customers. As a former SAP and BlackLine customer myself, it’s exciting to see finance and accounting teams gain more capacity to focus on strategic, high-value work that matters most. Proud to be part of the continued innovation shaping the future of finance. #SAP #BlackLine #AI #FinanceTransformation #AutonomousEnterprise

"CIOs are getting the mandate to 'be the referee of what makes sense or not.'" Fantastic insight from our CIO, Sumit Johar. Business lines want AI, but they need a CIO to ensure it happens with trust and control. Proud that this philosophy is at the core of BlackLine, delivering powerful AI inside a governed framework that CIOs trust.

Congratulations to the team at L'Oréal for their commitment to finance transformation. What Danielle Leonard and her team have accomplished is best in class. Want to hear from other retail and wholesale leaders on their keys to success? Message me for an invite to our virtual industry roundtable on June 11th! We’ve got an outstanding lineup of BlackLine customers and a limited number of seats! #financialoperations #blackline #financetransformation #customersuccess #retailbestpractices