AI: An extension of the FP&A Brain: Didi Gurfinkel Co-Founder and CEO of Datarails
Jan 30, 2024
auto_awesome
Didi Gurfinkel, Co-Founder and CEO of Datarails, talks about the two directions for AI in finance - extending hands or brain. Using AI as an extension to the brain is a life changer, allowing CFOs to analyze businesses at scale with historical, internal, and external data. Didi shares his journey of setting up Datarails, challenges faced, and finding product-market fit. The podcast also explores the benefits of AI in finance, advice for implementation, and the potential of AI to push boundaries.
AI can be used to extend hands by automating processes, but the real game-changer is using AI as an extension to the FP&A brain.
Data Reels is developing a virtual FPA assistant that leverages AI to analyze historical and real-time data, providing valuable insights to CFOs.
Deep dives
Data Reels: Transforming Excel into an Enterprise Application
Dee Dee Garfunkel, CEO of Data Reels, discusses the journey of Data Reels, a financial planning and analysis platform for Excel users. He explains that the company's vision is to connect organizational spreadsheets into one centralized database, transforming Excel from a personal tool to an enterprise application. The focus is on automating processes, consolidating data, and providing analysis and visualization capabilities. Finance departments, especially those in small to medium-sized businesses, can benefit from this platform, which saves time, reduces errors, and enables better data analysis. Data Reels is experiencing impressive growth and continues to invest in technology, with a particular focus on the potential of AI in their product.
AI and the Future of Finance
Dee Dee explores the impact of AI on the office of finance, particularly the CFO's role. He presents AI as an extension of hands and brain for finance professionals. AI can automate processes, increase efficiency, and provide analytics and visualization capabilities. However, the true potential lies in using AI as an extension of the FPA manager's brain. By leveraging AI to analyze historical and real-time data, it helps CFOs identify trends, exceptions, and opportunities that may have gone unnoticed. Data Reels is developing a virtual FPA assistant that can answer questions and provide valuable insights to the CFO.
Challenges in Scaling a Company
Dee Dee shares the challenges faced by Data Reels in scaling their business. One significant challenge was transitioning to enhanced efficiency while maintaining the same pace of growth with reduced expenses. This required a shift in the company's mindset and changes in each department. Data Reels successfully improved their unit economics and became more efficient, allowing for continued growth. Dee Dee highlights the importance of thinking about business in terms of unit economics rather than just benchmarks, focusing on whether the business makes sense on its own and can scale to any desired level.
Advice for Implementing AI in Finance Functions
Dee Dee offers advice for finance professionals seeking to implement AI within their functions. He emphasizes the importance of looking at AI not just for current applications, but also for future possibilities. Planning for the long term is crucial, choosing the right partners and technologies that will enable finance professionals to leverage the true potential of AI. Rather than being overwhelmed by the hype and confusion surrounding AI, finance professionals should chart a path that aligns with their goals, ensuring that their chosen tools and technologies can keep up with the evolving AI revolution.
There are two different directions for AI in finance, says Didi Gurfinkel, Co-Founder and CEO of Datarails.
You can use AI to extend your hands.
Or, your brain.
He says: ”Using AI to extend your hands involves automating processes, making everything faster, reducing headcount shortening time to deliver, which is amazing. But it’s not a life changer. In this situation maybe you can reduce the gap between 10 employees to five employees but this will not be what will save your business or ultimately make it successful.
“The more interesting part is to look at AI as an extension to your brain. Here, I think this is a life changer. Letting the CFO or the FP&A manager have a tool that can be like an extension to the FP&A brain. If you take your analysis or approach to analyze your business, the AI can run it at scale with all your historical data, internal data and external data.”
In this episode Didi Gurfinkel talks about setting up Datarails, the FP&A the AI-powered Financial Planning and Analysis platform for Excel users and the multiple challenges and learnings along the way.
He reveals:
Starting his career at Cisco the biggest IT company in the world (“I imagined that everything will be automated end of month – I was wrong”)
Setting up Datarails in 2015 and the challenges of getting traction for an initial concept of “connecting organizational spreadsheets into one centralized database”
Four years of trying (and How he finally found product market fit)
Understanding the power of Excel as core to finance allowed us to focus on finance
How FP&A use cases are the classic consolidation challenge because every FP&A process starts from collecting data from multiple sources in different structures, different shapes, and different systems.
Our capability to transform semi-structured data into structured data landed a very strong competitive edge,
Our “SaaS wake up call” – how we learnt to grow at the same pace with 50% less expenses
AI is either an extension of your head vs AI as an extension of your brain and why the latter is the real game-changer
From a good CFO to an amazing CFO with AI
My expectations as a CEO from my finance team
Why ChatGPT is amazing at text but the challenges come with replicating this with accurate numbers
My favorite Excel function
Surprising fact you wouldn’t know about me
Didi was previously a GM at Cisco. He has extensive senior management experience with a focus on growth and innovation. Didi oversees business, strategy and operations. He holds a B.Sc in economics and computer science, and an MBA in business management.
Follow Didi Gurfinkel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/didigurfinkel/
Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts
Save insights instantly, chat with episodes, and build lasting knowledge - all powered by AI.
