Black Diamond Podcast

Remember when Tom Shea showed IBM Watson back in 2017 and shocked everyone by saying "this is really hard, I'm not gonna sell it to you"? That honesty was refreshing, but also showed the problem - AI was expensive, complicated, and required data scientists writing Python for years. Fast forward to today and OneStream's cracked the code on what they call "applied AI" - purpose-built for finance, no coding required, delivering results in weeks instead of years.

But here's what's really interesting - the use cases have exploded beyond what anyone expected. Started with demand forecasting, expanded to P&L, now customers are doing workforce planning, cash management, even trying to forecast the materials needed to produce steel. That's not your typical FP&A use case, but when you have a tool that's agile enough to iterate quickly, people start getting creative.

Tiffany breaks down why OneStream renamed Sensible Machine Learning to Sensible AI. Machine learning is quantitative - numbers forecasting numbers. But they've added generative AI for automated commentary and variance analysis, plus agentic AI with their new agents. They couldn't box themselves into "machine learning only" when the solution does way more than that.

John Kowalkowski, Senior Manager of Financial Systems at BradyPLUS, shares the wild story of taking over a failing OneStream implementation, managing consolidations across 35-40 different ERPs, and building a roadmap for a newly formed $5 billion distribution company. Plus, insights on AI from someone with actual machine learning background.

John's machine learning background makes his AI takes carry weight. He thinks OneStream is taking the right track with a plug-and-play approach. With about a third of Splash sessions being AI-related, you could be cynical and say it's just positioning, but "their hearts are in it" and they're making good decisions building it into the platform.

Ricky LaBerge shares how a global manufacturing company transformed both consolidation and planning processes with OneStream. 

Their old planning system was basically just a repository. Offline models everywhere, constant data loading issues, and fire drills that ate up valuable time. Instead of discussing the business, they were stuck trying to get numbers into the system. 

After their OneStream implementation, there were no more fire drills. They were consistently closing books and issuing results to management on day four instead of day five. On the planning side, they started working before books are even closed thanks to the accordion setup. Thorough reviews happen a week earlier than before, and they keep shaving days off every year.

DexKo was an amalgamation of an American firm and a German firm with completely different planning processes. BDA's Accordion Rolling Forecast helped bring them together while keeping separate models for different brands. The challenge wasn't technical - it was getting everyone aligned on new processes.

Phil Kaplan, FinTech Manager at Unifi, joins Cameron and Celvin to discuss running OneStream for a complex aviation services business. From contract-level planning across US, Canada, and UK airports to exploring AI for flight forecasting - this is real-world FP&A in action.

Unifi is doing everything at airports except flying planes - baggage handling, cleaning, maintenance for Delta, Southwest, and other airlines.

They have a CFO-driven AI initiative with a tangible use case: improving flight count forecasts. Weather, events, and seasonal patterns make flight forecasting ideal for AI. External data sources could dramatically improve accuracy of their departure-based revenue planning. OneStream's AI library could leverage multiple data sources for better volume predictions. What's your use case?

Heather from Attain Finance sits down with Cameron and Celvin to share her journey from the early days of Hyperion consulting to running OneStream at a financial services company today. This is a refreshingly honest conversation about career transitions, platform evolution, and trying to figure out what AI actually means for finance professionals.

Like everyone else at Splash 2025, AI came up a lot. Heather's take is refreshingly measured - she describes herself as "excited but optimistic but skeptical." It's an initiative for Attain Finance this year to figure out where AI fits, so she's attending sessions and trying to separate signal from noise.

The honest assessment from both sides: yes, AI will change things. The timeline is uncertain, and it'll probably be more evolutionary than revolutionary. But the professionals who are actively learning, experimenting, and figuring out how to augment their work with AI will be the ones who thrive in that future.

Join Allie, Senior Director of Corporate FP&A at Generac, as she shares how they transformed their financial planning process using OneStream. Discover how this leading generator manufacturer eliminated weeks of manual work and gained unprecedented visibility into their business.

The brutal reality of their old process: "finger in the air hoping the wind hits it right" for anything beyond annual budgets. Sound familiar?

What actually changed:

The best part? Allie says she now takes for granted what used to be impossible. Her users went from confused about the system name to constantly asking "Can OneStream do this too?"

This is what real transformation looks like - not just new software, but fundamentally changing how finance operates. Perfect timing too, since they went live right before a business downturn and actually needed the agility.

Hosts Greg Beaton and Ryann Hristovsky sit down with Adrian Griffin, Financial Systems Manager at Subaru of America, to explore an incredible transformation story. Recorded at OneStream Splash 2025 in Nashville, this episode reveals how Subaru evolved from skeptics to enterprise-wide advocates through strategic implementation and smart change management.

Key Discussion Points:

Adrian shares honest insights about user adoption challenges, the balance between summary-level reporting and transaction detail requirements, and how OneStream's platform capabilities enabled custom solutions beyond traditional financial consolidation. This episode demonstrates the power of how gradual transformation can turn into important change.

We sit down with Dane Arbuckle from Richardson International to explore how a 160-year-old agribusiness company successfully transformed their finance operations through strategic OneStream implementation. This compelling conversation reveals the critical lessons learned from scaling digital transformation across complex business models.

Key Discussion Points:

Dane shares candid insights about Richardson's journey from fragmented Excel-based reporting to unified OneStream consolidation, planning, and forecasting. This episode offers valuable lessons for finance leaders managing complex, multi-entity organizations seeking to scale their digital transformation efforts.

Our expert panel discussed on the revolutionary impact of AI in finance and corporate performance management. This candid conversation features Carl Yost, Vincent Valentine, Daniel Hopson, and Randy Werder as they explore how artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing the way CFOs and finance executives approach planning, forecasting, and decision-making.

We dive deep into the practical realities of AI implementation, moving beyond the buzzwords to discuss real-world strategies, challenges, and opportunities. From understanding executive mindset shifts to navigating the evolution from Excel-based processes to AI-enhanced workflows, this discussion provides actionable insights for finance leaders at every stage of their AI journey.

Recorded at the premier OneStream user conference, this podcast captures the urgency and excitement surrounding AI adoption in finance, featuring real client stories, implementation strategies, and candid advice from industry experts who are actively guiding organizations through this transformation.

Key Discussion Topics:

Executive AI Interest:

AI vs Traditional Performance Management:

Two Categories of AI in Finance:

1. Sensible AI (Platform-Based):

2. Large Language Models:

From Driver-Based Planning to AI:

Practical Implementation Strategy:

Crawl, Walk, Run Approach:

Platform-First Philosophy:

Cycle Time Revolution:

Client Maturity Evolution:

Walmart Case Study:

Implementation Readiness Assessment:

Black Diamond's Advisory Role:

Key Takeaways:

Warning Signs:

Perfect for:

Transform your finance function from traditional forecasting to AI-enhanced decision making with practical guidance from Black Diamond's expert panel.

Join Cameron Lackpour and Celvin Kattookaran as they sit down with Peter Fugere, Chief Solutions Officer at OneStream Software, to explore the rapid evolution of the FP&A platform ecosystem. From his early days as a Navy veteran discovering Hyperion Enterprise to becoming employee #9 at OneStream, Peter shares his unique perspective on building communities around complex financial software.

The conversation dives into OneStream's strategic approach to democratizing enterprise planning through CPM Express—a solution that brings sophisticated consolidation and planning capabilities to mid-market companies in just five days. Peter reveals how OneStream's publishing initiative and Architect Factory are creating new pathways for knowledge sharing in the FP&A space, while addressing the critical balance between platform innovation and partner ecosystem development.

Key insights include the transformative impact of AI on financial planning, the importance of creating multiple learning channels for technical adoption, and why the next generation of finance professionals will have an entirely different relationship with data. Peter also discusses the challenges of maintaining community connections as OneStream grows from a startup above a sporting goods store to a major player reshaping the FP&A landscape.