Economic change, supply chain disruption, and AI-enabled innovation now all require decisions at the speed of light. Your finance function should act as the engine for executing strategy.
For too many organisations, however, it is little more than a clunky relic-mired in disconnected systems and data silos that make insight an afterthought. Forecasts are late, resources misaligned, and strategies stall before they ever get off the start line.
The 2025 FP&A Trends Benchmarks show that a mere 11% of organisations have fully aligned strategic, financial, and operational planning; a majority are stuck in siloed processes that erode competitive edge.
“The purpose of FP&A is to enable informed, data-based decision making. “Michael Coveney, FP&A Trends 2025 Benchmarks.
It’s a business optimisation engine, an integrated AI-powered ecosystem that connects data, processes, and people to deliver real-time outcomes focused on value. Drawing from insights for 2025 from KPMG, EY, PwC, and McKinsey, this post examines why strategy is undone by disconnected systems, and how to build an engine to underpin sustained performance.
The Hidden Cost of Disconnected Systems: Fragmentation’s Impact on Performance
Disconnected systems create far more than IT headaches; they sabotage strategy. Fragmented data across legacy ERPs, spreadsheets, and cloud tools forces FP&A teams to waste hours reconciling numbers rather than analysing trends. According to KPMG’s 2025 Connected Enterprise report, “systems are disconnected, AI and automation don’t scale, and manual work drains capacity,” driving higher costs, eroded trust in insights, and outdated workflows.
The implications are stark, especially in the case of finance. More than 60% of teams were still hindered by manual processes and inconsistent data, according to the 2025 FP&A Trends Benchmarks, where 46% of the time is spent collecting and validating. Some 29% of organisations experience delays in forecasting; outputs take over 10 days, which makes them obsolete in fast-moving markets.
“In today’s volatile business environment, such delays render forecasts obsolete and hinder decision-making.” – Pras Chatterjee, FP&A Trends 2025 Benchmarks.
PwC’s 2025 integration insights warn that point-to-point connections create “operational roadblocks, higher IT costs, business underperformance, and risks in regulatory compliance and cybersecurity.”
How Silos Undermine FP&A: From Reactive Reporting to Strategic Paralysis
Silos amplify the damage of disconnection and turn finance from a strategic partner to a bottleneck. According to EY’s June 2025 report, ‘’How AI is Transforming FP&A’’, 52% of departments still rely on Excel and 16% on legacy BI systems, which are causing fragmented data and unreliable forecasts. Only 22% of companies have a single structured data source.
This fragmentation cascades into execution failures: data-driven decisions have fallen to 59% of organisations, down from 64% last year. According to McKinsey’s September 2025 analysis on bottom-line performance, siloed systems foster “competition for resources, leadership focus, and credit,” producing duplicated work and organisational fatigue.
“Governance gaps create blind spots and can slow down organisations just when they need to move faster.”-Simone da Silva Collins, EY How AI is Transforming FP&A, June 2025.
The Rise of the Business Optimisation Engine: Integration as the Path to Agility
A business optimisation engine converges siloed functions into connected capabilities powered by AI, cloud platforms, and unified data. KPMG’s 2025 vision positions finance to “become smaller as a standalone organisation but larger in its impact powered by AI, reshaped around connected capabilities, and embedded as a core service across the enterprise.”
EY’s 2025 data shows that connected systems unlock the potential of AI: teams spend 5% more time on high-value tasks, achieve 18% better optimisation, and deliver 25% higher forecast accuracy. Driver-based models in integrated environments produce “good or great” forecasts for 77% of users.
“AI frees FP&A professionals from routine tasks, enabling them to focus on business strategy and leadership.”- Mattias Tiljander, EY How AI is Transforming FP&A.
Building Your Engine: Practical Steps for FP&A Leaders in 2025
- Create a single source of truth: 31% of respondents in the 2025 FP&A Benchmarks identify this as their top initiative.
- Upgrade planning platforms: 24% focus here, with adoption led by cloud solutions such as Planful.
- Embed AI orchestration: start with high-impact pilots in forecasting and scenario planning.
- Improve governance and cross-functional alignment: Shared dashboards and upskilling decrease silos.
How Verostone Accelerates Your Optimisation Journey
Verostone partners with CFOs to transform fragmented finance functions into high-performance optimisation engines. Drawing on more than 30 years of FP&A expertise and deep partnerships, we are unifying data, embedding AI, and enabling change- delivering faster cycles, higher accuracy, and finance teams that drive strategy, not report history.
Rev Up Your Engines: It’s Time to Connect
Disconnected systems do not just slow organisations; they prevent strategic execution in an era that requires speed and precision. Build your business optimisation engine today and turn FP&A into the strategic powerhouse your organisation needs in 2025 and beyond. Ready to break down silos and fire up your optimisation engine?
Book your complimentary session with a Verostone consultant and begin executing strategy without compromise. Contact us.
References:
- EY How AI is Transforming FP&A
- McKinsey’s September 2025 analysis
- PwC’s 2025 integration insights
- FP&A Trends 2025 Benchmarks