What happened at Prophix Live! ‘24

Last week, under the warm Arizona sun, Prophix customers and partners came together in person for the first time since 2019 for Prophix Live!

What is Prophix Live!?

Prophix Live! is the must-attend event of the year for finance and accounting leaders. It was an opportunity to explore the priorities and trends impacting the Office of the CFO, in addition to networking, collaborating – and some fun too!

Who attends Prophix Live!?

Prophix Live! is a wonderful opportunity for customers and partners from around the globe to meet, discuss best practices, and network to build a community of like-minded finance leaders and Prophix users.

ICYMI, here’s a quick recap of what happened at Prophix Live! ‘24 in Phoenix, AZ.

Prophix One, a Financial Performance Platform is the future

President and CEO, Alok Ajmera, kicked off day one. He started with a reflection on conferences past, but dedicated most of his time on stage to platforms and how they will impact productivity in the Office of the CFO over the next 5+ years. A few years ago, the concept of a platform was scary. But now, a platform is the future. Tools and applications built on top of a shared ecosystem will fuel productivity and be a game-changer for finance teams around the world.

Following Alok’s session, Chief Platform Officer, Geoff Ng, took the stage. Businesses are tasked to do more with less. There is a demand for greater accuracy and to spend more time on analysis and less time on the mundane. But there’s also an exponential growth of data. How can we solve this? Geoff introduced, for the very first time, Prophix One, a Financial Performance Platform.

Prophix One will accelerate efficiency, boost collaboration, and improve trust throughout the Office of the CFO.

Additionally, Geoff announced that Account Reconciliation is coming to the Prophix One platform in 2024. Account Reconciliation will accelerate your financial close with smarter, faster processes so you can make data-informed decisions.

CFO as the Chief Future Officer

CFOs wear many hats. Chris Ortega, CEO of Fresh FP&A led a panel discussion with Prophix CFO, Aaron Levine, Denise Feece, CFO/COO at Sequel Wire, and Howard Dresner, Founder and Chief Research Officer at Dresner Advisory Services, on the core skillset you must have to embrace the future of the CFO.

One piece of advice resonated with us: Sit down with leaders across your business—from marketing, sales, revenue, HR—and ask them one question: What are the challenges, opportunities, and frustration inside of your functional organization and how can I help solve them? Businesses are used to finance commanding the way forward, but the future is collaborating on the path forward.

See what our panelists said when asked: Where do you see CFOs in the next 10 years?

1. Accounting and finance leaders aren’t going away, but AI is going to make it easier.
2. CFOs can be the bridge between finance and operations. Finance can own the data, but it’s not just finance data. Operational data also feeds and supports what your numbers are saying.
3. Don’t use technology just for the sake of technology. It’s about applying technology to business to be more competitive.

On anticipating what’s next

Kimberly Ellison-Taylor, Founder and CEO of KET Solutions, spoke about talent leadership and building for the next generation. How do you prepare for what’s next and bring your team along with you?

The best catalyst for change is the finance leaders in the room. The best consultants come from within your organization. You can change your world. Your business, your communities—bring people together to change the world and the environments we operate in and set them up for success.

On generative AI changing the world of finance

Christina Kite, Director, WW Strategy and Operations at Amazon Web Services gave an inspiring keynote on generative AI. For finance leaders, AI isn’t set to eliminate roles. Instead, it’s going to help teams do meaningful work so you can focus on the tasks that will help your organization grow. Finance is a leader across the organization – and this is a key opportunity to lead through generative AI. Christine noted the #1 question being asked in the boardroom: How should we get past the hype of AI and incorporate it into our business strategy?

The two-day conference was also packed with breakout sessions that focused on specific use cases or functionality within the Prophix One platform.

Account reconciliation coming to the Prophix One platform

Zachary Di Sabatino, Senior Product Manager, spoke to a full room on Prophix One Account Reconciliation, coming to the Prophix One platform later this year.

For many finance teams, close is often chaotic. There’s lack of visibility, undocumented or scattered processes, and a lack of source of truth. Zac dove into how to streamline your close process with all-new Prophix One Account Reconciliation. No more Excel ambiguity and no more back and forth. Instead, you’ll know the status of your close in real time thanks to standardized and centralized processes and a single version of the truth.

Celebrating our customers and partners

We regularly recognize our customers and partners for their innovative approaches to financial planning, financial close and consolidation, accounting and compliance, budgeting and reporting, resulting in integrated financial plans. We also celebrate the individual involvement of the Prophix Red Carpet customer advocacy portal. Our partners are recognized for their excellence in guiding the Office of the CFO to leverage Prophix One to improve their operational planning and strategic decision-making.

• A huge congratulations to our 2024 award winners:
• Customer of the Year (North America): USA Properties Fund, Inc.
• Customer of the Year (Global): SGM magnetics SA (Italy)
• Most Innovative Prophix Customer of the Year: Lee Company
• New Customer of the Year: Openroad Auto Group Ltd.
• Partner of the Year (North America): Strategic Information Group, Inc.
• Partner of the Year (EMEA): Solemis (Poland)
• Partner of the Year (Global): KPI Management Solutions (South Africa)
• Emerging Partner of the Year: Mazars Group
• Red Carpet Customer of the Year: Sabrina DeYoung, SoundOff Signal

Next-gen finance is here to stay

If there’s one message we heard from attendees at Prophix Live!, it’s that next-gen finance is the future. And with Prophix One at your side, you’re equipped with a Financial Performance Platform that will simplify and transform the processes in the Office of the CFO.