CFOs and finance leaders are being tasked with more to accomplish than ever before. With stagnant budgets and increasingly complex regulatory hurdles around the world, this can be a daunting challenge.
To help the office of the CFO understand how to best leverage their ERP to drive value and innovation, ERPToday recently sat down with Michael Ross, Chief Strategy and Product Officer at Trintech.
Filling the Gaps
Ross highlighted how important it is to find the right partner to help guide the way in the financial close automation landscape. Though platforms like Oracle and Workday are powerful on their own, companies like Trintech help to “fill the gaps” by providing functionalities that these ERPs don’t inherently cover in detail, particularly in the complex area of Record to Report (R2R) activities.
Explore related questions
“I’d say the office of the CFO and Financial Services was later to technology. We see that that is a market that is going through a transformation cycle, with new banking cores, new GLs, and new ERPs. We also see new compliance obligations really targeting financial services, with banks and capital markets. That really drives scale requirements. We’re seeing that as a space that we want to make more accessible to more customers because we see that scale for financial services just continuing to grow,” said Ross.
A key tool companies can rely on in this area is Artificial Intelligence (AI). Trintech is working to develop an in-house LLM with unique capabilities and the exploration of agentic AI models for tasks like matching, reconciliation, and journal entry automation. There are varying levels of AI readiness across industries, especially in heavily regulated sectors like financial services, so companies need flexible solutions that can adapt to different compliance environments.
Finding the Right Solutions
The most effective solutions are not one-size-fits-all. By offering platforms like Cadency for large enterprises and Adra for mid-sized organizations, Trintech caters to a wider range of organizational needs and complexities.
“We believe fundamentally that there are different segments and industries that need unique capabilities, right. Trintech is a great example; we run Adra. If we ran Cadency, it would be like driving a Mack truck when we need a Porsche. If you’re a Fortune 10 company, Cadency is a great choice. They’re both great cars, but every car has a great buyer,” said Ross.
Ross also highlighted Trintech’s vertical market focus, particularly in financial services and retail. The company is investing in solutions tailored to the unique needs and scale requirements of these industries, including leveraging technology gained through acquisitions to enhance banking-specific capabilities. This targeted approach emphasizes the importance of specialized solutions in addressing complex reconciliation and close challenges within specific sectors.
While Trintech remains open to opportunistic inorganic growth, Ross emphasizes the strong focus on organic growth driven by the significant opportunities to improve financial close processes for existing and potential customers across their target ERP and vertical markets.
In his advice to a prospect navigating digital transformation in the office of the CFO, Ross stresses the critical importance of understanding their business readiness for AI and the need to ensure data quality. Though tools like those that Trintech provides can play a vital role in achieving financial reporting accuracy and controls, but companies must ensure that their data is AI-ready.
“If you look three to five years out, everything will evolve around your view of data and AI. If you are at a you are AI centric, it all comes back to your data. You need to think about how to get the data clean and crisp, whether it’s for tools like Cadency for financial access and controls or other tools. This is one of the areas where we’re starting to have customers come to us because they realize they need to get their data in order to use AI. And we’re a tool that helps with financial reporting accuracy and controls,” said Ross.
What This Means for ERP Insiders
Filling the Gaps in ERP Functionality
White ERP platforms like have powerful for financial management functionalities, they often lack detailed coverage for important activities like Record to Report (R2R). Companies must seek out partners like Trintech to fill these gaps with automation solutions for reconciliation, transaction matching, journal entry automation, and compliance reporting. The financial services sector, in particular, faces growing complexity with new compliance obligations and evolving banking structures. Trintech’s solutions help finance teams handle these challenges and scale effectively.
Leveraging AI is challenging, but likely will prove to be a worthwhile investment. The role of AI in financial close processes is slowly expanding. AI adoption varies across industries, but has been slower in highly regulated sectors like financial services, making flexible and adaptable AI-driven solutions essential. Ross advised companies to ensure their data quality is AI-ready to maximize the benefits of automation and improve financial reporting accuracy. Trintech is developing its own RN LLM and exploring agentic AI models to automate complex tasks like reconciliation and journal entry management.
Tailored Solutions for Different Business Needs. Trintech offers specialized solutions based on business size and complexity. Cadency is designed for large enterprises, while Adra caters to mid-sized organizations. Ross compared the two to a Mack truck and a Porsche—both effective, but suited for different needs. Trintech also focuses on specific verticals like financial services and retail, providing targeted solutions to meet industry-specific challenges. The company aims for organic growth while remaining open to strategic acquisitions to enhance capabilities.
