Is Predictive Planning the WhatsApp Moment for FP&A?
Muthu Ranganathan
Intrapreneur | Product Management |Analytics | Finance | Startup Mentor | Larger mission: Supporting people in realizing their dreams to grow and be successful
WhatsApp changed how we communicate — it was fast, reliable, intuitive, and quickly made older methods feel clunky. Once adopted, there was no going back. 📲
To me, any technology that forces people to rethink how they fundamentally operate — and do so effortlessly — earns the “WhatsApp moment” tag.
That’s exactly how I see Predictive Planning reshaping the world of FP&A.
For decades, planning has relied on traditional processes — spreadsheets, intuition, manual reviews, and siloed insights. But now, with predictive models powered by AI, planners can get automated forecasts, uncover patterns, and model scenarios in minutes — not weeks.
It’s fast. It’s smart. It’s going to change how we plan. It's a Game Changer.
But here's the twist: is this replacing the human planner. Don't think so. In fact, it’s about elevating them. Here's why
👤 Why Humans are relevant in this world of Predictive Planning
Strategic Judgement: Humans bring contextual insight, intuition, and foresight — things no algorithm can replicate.
Handling Black Swan Events: Planners can adjust course when facing unprecedented disruptions — like a pandemic or a major policy shift — where models fail.
Cross-Functional Empathy: Humans understand organizational dynamics, leadership styles, and unspoken realities that don’t exist in the data.
Creative Problem Solving: Humans can propose new business models, product lines, or go-to-market strategies — not just optimize existing ones.
Ethical & Governance Decisions: AI may suggest layoffs to optimize costs; a human may choose to protect jobs based on long-term cultural impact.
Balancing Stakeholders: Business planning often requires navigating the needs of investors, regulators, employees, and customers — a deeply human task.
Visionary Thinking: Humans can plan toward aspirational goals like sustainability, brand reputation, or new markets — beyond the data horizon.
Predictive Planning combined with Human input is going to be a new way of how FP&A teams will do their Business Planning.
And yes, this might very well be the WhatsApp moment for FP&A
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you see Predictive Planning fundamentally changing how planning teams operate? What excites you or worries you about it?
#FP&A #PredictivePlanning #AIinFinance #CFO #FinanceTransformation #HumanInTheLoop #OracleEPM #WhatsAppMoment #ConnectedPlanning
Vice President I Finance & Operations | Software, Payments & Professional Services | FP&A Leadership | Operating Models & Business Strategy | Private Equity Value Creation
2moMuthu Ranganathan - you are correct - FP&A needs to move towards predictive planning i.e. from reading the news to writing the news. This can be done with existing tools and the process can be matured as tools and processes mature. No need to wait!
Oracle EPM | Planning | PCM | Data Management | Machine Learning
2moMulti-variate models would really push forecasting to newer heights. It would be good to understand a few concepts such as what would be a good architecture for EPM with ML - i.e would models sit outside EPM, so as to handle data pre-processing / enrichment. Or perhaps a hybrid approach wherein certain tasks are done outside EPM while some ML tasks are done within EPM. How EPM would handle conversion of time series data into a supervised ML format. Look forward to knowing more!
Planning | Data | Analytics | AI | Digital Transformation
3moThis is fantastic, we have many use cases that we are banking on this capability. Automating process would be so much easier with these assistants will make FP&A focus more on business partnering, let AI draft the first iteration and then leverage human intelligence that draws upon experience and intuition as you called out to overlay the plan, makes it more attainable. This is critical and logical step by your team!
Carl Bingefors
You hit the nail on the head. AI gives humans tool to make decisions and take more informed decisions faster and more reliably. right now is the time to learn, adopt and evolve. AI revolution is real and definitely a game change in FPA.