Originally aired March 23, 2026 on Extropy On AIr.
At SSON 2026, AI was on every booth and in every session, but most finance and shared services leaders still didn’t know where to start. In this episode, Extropy CEO Ravit Gutman and Mike Jasper recap what the conference revealed: a growing gap between AI ambition and a practical roadmap, open questions on governance, why purpose has to come before technology, and why Dexcom’s award-winning, people-first transformation is the story worth paying attention to.
Listen: Extropy On AIr podcast page | Spotify
Key takeaways
- Every vendor at SSON was talking about AI, but most attendees were still asking “where do we start?”
- Leaders want proof from someone who has actually done it, and AI governance, security and compliance are still largely unanswered.
- Too many AI use cases are being priced on headcount savings instead of preparing people to lead the change.
- Dexcom was recognized at SSON for a people-first AP transformation with Basware and Extropy Advisors: no overtime, more volume, same team.
- Outsourcing a problem is not the same as transforming it.
What did SSON 2026 reveal about AI in finance?
Ravit went to SSON as an attendee rather than a vendor, so she could sit in sessions, talk to people at lunch and experience the conference the way finance leaders do. Her biggest takeaway was how fast things are changing. Everything was AI first. There wasn’t a single booth on the floor, or a single outsourcing provider, that wasn’t talking about how it uses AI.
The audience was also very mature. Many of these organizations started digitizing finance a decade ago. Now they’re trying to figure out how to break apart the ecosystem they built and work AI into it. Do they start with the ERP? The data? Something else? Plenty of great solutions were presented, but the question Ravit kept hearing was simple: what does my Monday morning look like, and what do I tell my team? For a lot of people, the distance between the vision and the next step just kept getting bigger.
What are finance leaders actually looking for?
When Ravit asked attendees what they hoped to get from the conference, the answer was consistent. They were excited about the art of the possible, but what they really wanted was to find someone who had actually done it, a mature organization that could explain the steps, the process and where to begin.
Most sessions and round tables ended up as brainstorming, with people sharing success stories and failures, which are equally important. What was missing was clarity on governance. Ravit specifically wanted to understand what layers of AI mean for enterprise security and compliance. Even with the Big Four in the room, that conversation stayed high level, and it’s still one of the biggest unknowns.
Why should purpose come before AI in finance transformation?
Mike framed it with a phrase Extropy uses often: people, process, purpose, rather than people, process, technology. Technology is the next layer on top. At SSON, the focus leaned heavily toward the technology.
There was a dedicated process track, and leaders are clearly working through big questions like whether to offshore and how to structure their global service centers. But Ravit saw a miss on the people side. Many AI use cases are being sold on efficiency and headcount savings, instead of on how to prepare people, find where the real value is and turn teams into champions for the change. Extropy’s approach starts with purpose: what you’re trying to accomplish and how you define success, then working backwards into the process, the people and the technology.
What did International Women’s Day at SSON focus on?
SSON dedicated a full day to International Women’s Day, which was one of the main reasons Ravit attended. One discussion that stood out: a man will often apply for a job when he meets about 60% of the requirements, while a woman feels she needs to meet 100%, and even then may talk herself out of it. Naming that pattern matters, because part of the change is recognizing the limits we set for ourselves.
Sessions also covered setting boundaries to avoid burnout, especially in a virtual world, and continuing to lift up female leaders even as diversity and inclusion fall off some corporate scorecards. For Ravit, as the leader of a women-owned business, it reinforced what Extropy already does, including normalizing a calendar that shows school events and gym time alongside meetings, so the team knows it’s okay to do the same.
Why did Dexcom’s finance transformation win at SSON?
At the awards gala on the last night of the conference, Dexcom won the 2026 North American Finance Transformation Award, in a field that included Johnson & Johnson and Siemens. Extropy Advisors partnered with Dexcom on its accounts payable transformation with Basware as the AP automation platform.
The project was led entirely by women on Dexcom’s side, Kathy Tanner and Kaitlynn Williams. One of their biggest wins was eliminating overtime for their team, giving people time back at home. Dexcom now processes much more volume with the same team, without hiring, and continues to roll the program out globally as the company grows. You can read the full story in our Dexcom success story.
What made the recognition meaningful for Ravit was that it wasn’t only about metrics and cost savings. It was about how the transformation changed people’s work. When people get time back, they get to think, meet, create and do so much more. As Mike pointed out, the award is about results, and Dexcom can feel those results every day.
Is outsourcing the same as transformation?
Ravit believes Dexcom’s choice deserves its own celebration: it chose to transform and do more with less instead of taking the outsourcing path. At a conference built around shared services and outsourcing, she kept coming back to the disconnect between wanting to outsource and wanting to transform.
Many large organizations have outsourced their purchase-to-pay or order-to-cash work entirely. The internal team wants change, but the outsourced team has little reason to be part of it, and there’s no continuous improvement loop between them. Outsourcing firms like IBM and Genpact are now presenting their own AI tools, but people are still working out the purpose and the new roles that will exist after outsourcing.
What’s next for AI and finance technology?
Ravit left hopeful. Some of the most exciting solutions at SSON were newer players, many from the last two years, that are rethinking what AP, order to cash and the rest of finance will look like. She sees a future where finance is orchestrated across different AI agents and skills, and Extropy is evaluating these tools closely. Expect more episodes on that, and on outsourcing versus transformation.
In their words
When people get time back, they get to think, they get to meet, they get to create, and they get to do so much more.
Ravit Gutman, Extropy Advisors
AI is part of a strategy, it isn’t the whole strategy.
Mike Jasper, Extropy Advisors
About the speakers
Ravit Gutman is the CEO of Extropy Advisors, a women-owned finance transformation consultancy focused on people-first AP and AR transformation.
Mike Jasper is VP of Finance Transformation at Extropy Advisors, where he leads digital transformation and client success, working hands-on with clients to set success criteria, optimize their people, process and technology, and measure the results.
FAQ
What was the biggest takeaway from SSON 2026 about AI in finance?
AI was everywhere, from every vendor booth to every outsourcing provider, but most attendees were still asking where to start. Ravit Gutman heard the same question over and over: what does my team actually do on Monday morning? The gap between where the technology is going and how organizations plan to get there is getting wider.
Why did Dexcom win a finance transformation award at SSON?
Dexcom was recognized for a people-first AP transformation with Basware and Extropy Advisors. The team eliminated overtime, processes more volume with the same headcount and no new hires, and continues to roll the program out globally. The recognition focused on how the transformation changed people’s day-to-day work, not just cost savings.
Is outsourcing the same as finance transformation?
No. Ravit calls the split between wanting to outsource and wanting to transform a broken model. When a process is outsourced, the internal team often wants change while the outsourced team has little incentive to be part of it, and there is no continuous improvement loop between them. Dexcom chose to transform and do more with the team it had instead.
Keep exploring
- More episodes of Extropy On AIr
- Previous episode: Execution Beats Experimentation: Agentic AI in AP
- Next episode: The Digital Transformation Myth: Technology Comes Last
- Why Extropy
Not sure where AI fits in your finance roadmap? Book a discovery call with our team.
