To our customers, partners, and the broader finance community,
Since 2017, AI has been part of Spendesk’s DNA. Today, we’re taking a decisive step forward: Spendesk will lead the agentic AI revolution in the Office of the CFO. This is a reimagining of how finance teams work, create value, and make decisions, moving from manual oversight to intelligent, auditable automation and proactive insight.
This letter marks our first public reveal of where Spendesk stands with AI and where we’re going next.
Let’s First Take a Step Back
We are witnessing an extraordinary technological shift that makes the internet revolution look like a warm-up. The numbers are staggering: industry leaders predict AI models will become a million times more powerful within the next decade. Artificial intelligence is transforming the way companies operate—and finance is no exception. At Spendesk, we believe this shift will be as significant as the internet era, only faster.
With such speed, we can’t expect AI impact to be linear: it’s compounding. Early adopters won’t just gain an edge; they will reshape entire industries while others struggle to catch up. Some might be tempted to wait until the technology matures further. This is a dangerous miscalculation. I believe that those who build the muscle today to adopt and adapt will set the pace for the next decade.
How We’re Preparing: Ready, Willing, and Able
AI transformation comes with unprecedented uncertainty. After nearly 10 years in strategy consulting, guiding companies through deep digital transformations, I know this firsthand. While we surely cannot plan for all uncertainties, we should go back to first principles: for any transformation to be successful, the organisation must be ready, willing, and able to transform.
We are READY to embrace disruption
Since 2017, we’ve been building with AI. It’s in our DNA. Now we dream even bigger. Today, we start product and process conversations by asking, “What if AI could…?” and we move quickly from idea to action.
We are WILLING to go beyond acceptance to enthusiasm
I often refer to this quote of Olivier Babeau from Institut Sapiens: “You won’t be replaced by AI, but by someone who knows how to use AI effectively.” At Spendesk, we are building a culture that leans into AI. Team members are encouraged to expand their role as AI capabilities mature, using them as a catalyst for their professional growth, and embracing the potential social implications as essential parts of the equation.
We are ABLE to learn by doing
Forget traditional “training” programmes for AI, they’ll be obsolete before they’re finished. The perfect moment to start will never come, as in this space, the technology will always be evolving, and somehow be imperfect. At Spendesk, we’ve heavily invested in enterprise-grade AI infrastructure so that our teams can dive headfirst into hands-on experimentation and rapid iteration. We ship, test, and improve together. For us, the ability to experiment with AI will soon be as fundamental as computer literacy.
Our Double Play: AI‑Powered Company, AI‑Powered Product
To build products that fundamentally revolutionise industries, you must also be a team that fundamentally revolutionises how work is done. At Spendesk that means being just as focused on becoming an AI-powered company as it does an AI-powered product.
AI‑powered company
We’ve shaped our organisation to now leverage Collective Artificial Intelligence. In practice, this means making our Spendeskers themselves the architects of change. Yesterday, AI was the domain of code experts. But thanks to the investments we made in enterprise-grade AI infrastructure, today it's in their hands. And there is no one better to reimagine their work than them.
We’ve also deployed a network of AI champions across departments. Because in the AI space, mentors aren’t those who come with years of experience, they’re those who come with hours of trial and error and endless curiosity. Their mission is to mentor both their peers and managers, scaling everything up.
AI‑powered product
Here is where I’m deeply excited. Like I mentioned, early adopters will reshape entire industries and this is what Spendesk is doing for Spend Management. This isn't just an opportunity; it's our responsibility to help our clients navigate this transformation:
We will put powerful AI capabilities at our clients' fingertips through a platform they trust, love and use every day.
We will do this thanks to our unprecedented access to granular spend data across thousands of companies, including all the rich context around these transactions.
We will succeed because we are native to the moment of the spend decision and not reporting after the fact.
Spendesk pioneered Spend Management, helping European companies orchestrate their spending more efficiently. Now, we’re making Spend Management smart: doubling down on AI to do so – with agents performing more and more tasks, round the clock, error-proof and all fully auditable. This is the first level of AI – and it will become table stakes sooner than we think.
Most importantly, we’re creating a new category: AI-driven SP&A, for “Spend Planning and Analysis”. We will be the essential partner to help companies spend smarter through AI-powered optimisation and insights at the right time. For every employee to make smarter financial decisions – or to let AI agents make them and act autonomously on their behalf. Finance teams will finally be able to spend more time looking forward at where they are going rather than looking back at where they have been. This is truly our vision: Spend Smarter, Work Better.
Our Commitment
There is a lot that we’ve already done to succeed in our vision for you, but there is so much more to come. We will move fast and responsibly, with enterprise-grade controls, rigorous evaluation, and clear audit trails. Humans remain in the loop, setting goals and guardrails while AI handles the heavy lifting. We will be transparent about our roadmap, our progress, and our limitations. And we will act as a partner, sharing best practices, playbooks, and benchmarks to help you succeed. This is our commitment to you.
Join Us
The AI era in finance isn’t a distant promise; it’s here. This letter is our first reveal and the start of an open dialogue about what's shipping, what's next, and how we'll get there together. Whether you’re modernising spend controls, compressing close cycles, or piloting AI-assisted decisioning, Spendesk is committed to being your partner at every step.
Thank you for your trust. Together, we’ll help every company Spend Smarter and every finance team Work Better.
Axel Demazy