ISG Assesses Finance and Accounting Outsourcing Providers

Report Preview: AI-Powered Finance Outsourcing Fuels Corporate Agility as ISG Evaluates Evolution of Strategic Partnerships

STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

In a rapidly shifting financial services landscape where cost-cutting models are now table stakes, Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III) is redefining the playbook for finance and accounting outsourcing (FAO). The research firm has initiated a comprehensive study exploring how FAO providers are leveraging generative AI to evolve from back-office operators into digital partners driving operational excellence and business insights.

Set for release in September 2025, ISG Provider Lens™’s Finance and Accounting Outsourcing (FAO) Services report will analyze AI-driven solutions across four critical domains: accounts payable optimization, order-to-cash automation, real-time financial reporting, and strategic planning frameworks. This evaluation arrives as enterprises increasingly outsource high-impact workflows once deemed too strategic for third-party involvement.

“We’re witnessing a tectonic shift in finance outsourcing,” said Jan Erik Aase, ISG Provider Lens Research global leader. “The combination of GenAI and agentic AI creates a digital co-pilot effect—transforming exception handling, unlocking predictive capabilities, and enabling CFOs to shift focus from transactional work to value creation.”

Spanning 48 providers across four quadrants, the research series will map the market’s integration of AI-enhanced solutions while preserving global coverage across U.S., U.K., Germany, and Asia-Pacific. ISG’s analysts, including Gaurang Pagdi and Sneha Jayanth, will examine how vendors are deploying technologies that turn spreadsheets into strategic dashboards.

• Invoice-to-Pay (I2P) Quadrant: Focused on AI-enhanced invoice processing where machine learning algorithms reduce manual approvals by 60% while real-time analytics flag compliance risks. SAP and Oracle integrations take center stage alongside blockchain-based audit trails.

• Order-to-Cash (O2C) Innovators: Credit scoring models that learn from historical data and chatbots resolving payment disputes instantaneously. Market leaders here might combine robotic process automation with customer sentiment analysis for intelligent billing.

• R2R & Tax Transformation: Reconciliation processes operating overnight instead of over weeks, supported by AI’s quarter-close precision. In the tax compliance space, local policy changes from the US to Singapore get auto-parsed and implemented daily.

• FP&A Strategic Hubs: Vendors now offer AI copilots that stress-test financial forecasts through thousands of variable permutations. Look for natural language queries letting CFOs explore hypotheticals like “What happens if China demand drops 15%?” without spreadsheets.

Enterprise adopters will find the report particularly valuable for benchmarking vendor capabilities against ISG’s proprietary CX experience metrics, which now incorporate feedback from over 500 C-suite interviews. Companies like DocuSign, Blue Prism, and those Canadian AI startups about to get acquired can expect digital credentials evaluated through both audit standards and innovation radars.

This digital briefing reveals participating vendors, while ISG Principal Advisor Shilpashree N highlights that unconventional candidates—especially fintech startups using LLMs for regulatory translation—merit inclusion. Customers can nominate emerging players performing moonshot EBITDA improvements.

Watch for the full report’s release ahead of the 2025 CFO Digital Summit circuit, where AI factory tours may start replacing dry presentations. In a market where 67% of procurement managers now view FAO vendors as “mandatory future partners”, ISG’s findings could reshape boardroom vendor evaluation processes globally.

For ongoing updates, contact Will Thoretz at [email protected] or follow the Provider Lens podcast for quadrant commentary. TPM members (third-party magic) will access CX case studies beginning August.

This research experience is brought to you via ISG’s Top 100 Tech Titans integrations, including Oracle NetSuite partnerships and SAP DirectLink agreements. Read more about democratizing financial intelligence in ISG’s 2025 Digital Governance Framework Update.

Original document formatting at BW wire: AI Evolution in Finance Outsourcing