That was the takeaway from a between 麻豆原创 CFO Dominik Asam and 麻豆原创 Fioneer CEO Matthias Tomann. Their conversation touched on topics like the future of , the role of AI, and the growing importance of integrated enterprise platforms.

For decades, banks and insurers have built operating models around regulatory fragmentation, country-specific requirements, layered systems, and continuous workaround solutions. As a result, the industry is running on patchwork architecture that is expensive to maintain, slow to change, and fundamentally misaligned with how AI works.

Partnership built for financial services innovation

Since joining forces in 2021, 麻豆原创 and 麻豆原创 Fioneer have significantly expanded their joint capabilities for the financial services sector. As Tomann highlighted in the conversation, the partnership has already delivered substantial momentum for 麻豆原创 Fioneer:

• R&D investment increased by 120%
• Annual software sales more than doubled
• Major customers successfully transitioned to 麻豆原创 Cloud ERP
• The platform evolved into a richer, more scalable, and highly capable ecosystem

Together, the companies are combining 麻豆原创鈥檚 trusted cloud and data infrastructure with 麻豆原创 Fioneer鈥檚 deep financial services expertise to help institutions simplify operations, modernize core systems, and prepare for the AI-driven future.聽

Executives from both companies will be exploring these critical topics further at their annual which is now open for registration.

AI is not the starting point, data integration is

Everyone wants AI, but AI can only create value from integrated data, real-time access, and standardized processes. But most financial institutions still operate on the opposite: fragmented foundations. That reality will define the winners over the next five years.

The organizations that succeed will not be the ones experimenting with the most models. They will be the ones that establish unified, trusted, real-time enterprise data with strong governance. That is the real competitive advantage.

But even that is only part of the story. The next phase is not just about using AI to analyze better; it is about AI executing work.

We are now seeing a fundamental shift: from systems that store and report information to systems that act on that information in real time, orchestrating end-to-end processes across the business. This marks the transition to the Autonomous Enterprise, 麻豆原创鈥檚 vision for the future of business where AI does not just support decisions but increasingly drives execution, within clearly defined guardrails.

Financial services can no longer afford 鈥減atchwork architecture鈥�

This shift makes one thing clear: The traditional approach to building IT landscapes is no longer viable.

For years, many financial institutions solved problems incrementally鈥攁nother point solution, another integration layer, another workaround. But eventually every workaround becomes technical debt and integration is the single largest IT cost category.

Tomann made clear during the conversation that the emphasis must be on simplification rather than adding more complexity.

What 麻豆原创 and 麻豆原创 Fioneer are driving is not another modernization cycle. It is a structural shift toward comprehensive, integrated platforms and AI driven processes that replace fragmentation, not sit on top of it.

The result is a scalable financial services platform where core banking, lending, reporting, insurance, and analytics operate within an integrated architecture instead of disconnected silos.

Real-time finance is becoming a strategic requirement

Real-time capability is becoming foundational to competitiveness鈥攚hether it鈥檚 risk management, regulatory reporting, customer experience, fraud prevention, treasury operations, or AI-driven decision making.

Institutions that can act on integrated data instantly will have a major advantage over those still moving information between disconnected systems overnight. With integrated data and AI embedded in core processes, finance is moving toward continuous financial intelligence:

• Forecasting becomes dynamic and always up to date
• Risk is detected and assessed in real time
• Closing processes become increasingly automated
• Decisions are guided by AI based on live business context

Increasingly, AI assistants and agents take over execution of finance processes, from planning and risk management to invoicing and financial close, under strict governance. The role of finance shifts from reporting on the business to steering the business in real time.

AI will reward those who simplify

One of the most striking statements from Asam during the discussion is that 麻豆原创 is already seeing 10x performance improvements from AI-driven process improvements. But it also highlights something many organizations still underestimate: just how much AI rewards those who standardize.

The more fragmented the processes and data structures are, the harder it becomes to operationalize AI at scale. In contrast, organizations with standardized platforms, harmonized data, and integrated workflows will accelerate much faster.

That is why modernization conversations today are no longer simply 鈥淚T projects.鈥� They are business strategy discussions.

Future of financial services will be built on trust, scale, and intelligence

Financial services organizations are operating in an increasingly complex geopolitical and regulatory environment. Infrastructure decisions are no longer just about performance and cost, they are about compliance, security, operational resilience, and national requirements.

This is why scalable, enterprise-grade cloud platforms are becoming so critical.

The institutions that thrive in the next era of financial services will be the ones that can combine trusted data, integrated operations, AI-enabled processes, scalable infrastructure, and regulatory resilience into a single operating model.

The future of financial services will not be defined by isolated AI experiments. It will be defined by who can build the most intelligent, connected, and adaptable enterprise foundation for what comes next.

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Kris Kowal, Banking Industry Leader at 麻豆原创.
Falk Rieker, Financial Services Industry Leader at 麻豆原创.

鈥淥ur CEO wants us to think and act like a digital company,鈥� said Dariush Shoja, vice president and corporate CIO at Sun Life. 鈥淯sing , we are digitizing and modernizing finance.鈥澛�

Shoja spoke during a session at the event in Boston, Massachusetts, where he showcased the company鈥檚 digital transformation that modernized the company鈥檚 finance platform.

Digital Closes Gap Between Generative AI Promise and Reality

Shoja immediately struck a responsive chord from the audience in the room who chuckled when he jokingly asked if anyone鈥檚 nightly dreams during college revolved around a career in finance. Drawing from his company鈥檚 experience with digital transformation, he acknowledged the industry鈥檚 change management challenges.

鈥淲hen we鈥檙e talking about finance in the context of digitization, it鈥檚 not just about automation or systems. It鈥檚 a paradigm and culture shift,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou need to start at the top with the CEO, CFO, and everyone on down to support the change. Organizations aiming to become digital and adopt state-of-the-art technologies like generative AI should focus on getting buy-in for the journey.鈥�

Modern Financial Services Platforms Are Cloud-Based

Coming from earlier sessions in the day that touted the incredible promise of technology advancements like generative AI, Shoja was also candid about overcoming the reality that professionals in the financial services industry face.

鈥淗istorically there hasn鈥檛 been a significant amount of investment to update finance systems that are aging or nearing end of life. However, we saw the opportunity and made the right investment to modernize,鈥� said Shoja. 鈥淥ne of the key enablers of growth is moving to the cloud. Digitization is creating the foundation for our future as we modernize our platforms.鈥�

Connected Data Drives Informed Decisions

One of the objectives of Sun Life鈥檚 platform modernization was to connect previously disparate data between geographies and business units. With operations in regions worldwide, including North America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, along with an expanding product portfolio, managing data was paramount to effective financial management that fuels customer satisfaction and company growth.

鈥淲e have to build, evaluate, and run complex actuarial policy models that meet evolving regulatory mandates worldwide and corporate profitability objectives,鈥� said Shoja. 鈥淕oing to the cloud has provided efficiencies through consistent operations across every geography. Moving from manual spreadsheets to automated dashboards provides finance with faster access to insightful analytics from larger and more complex data sets. People can easily drill down to find the information they need to make the right optimal decisions.鈥�

Out-of-the-Box Digital Thinking

Like every organization that鈥檚 managing millions of transactions, data standardization and integration was extremely important to create Sun Life鈥檚 modern global platform.

鈥淓ven though our systems were only about 15 years old, eliminating technical debt was key to our transformation,鈥� said Shoja. 鈥淲e replaced traditional ways of thinking with out-of-the-box strategies, using modern native tools in the cloud platform to gain efficiencies. For example, when we want to pay a claim, the system automatically generates all relevant journal entries. We鈥檝e strategically aligned technology with finance teams.鈥�

AI Can Save Valuable Time for Financial Services

Shoja saw numerous solid use cases for generative AI, traditional AI, and machine learning in the financial services industry. AI could quickly find data gaps, speed up time-sensitive quarterly close, expedite the accrual management, and simplify reporting. Sun Life has created a team that鈥檚 focused on AI use cases in finance and other areas. The company is also relying on partners to bring the full value of AI capabilities into the business.

鈥淟arge language models may not be feasible for organizations to build on our own. Instead, AI can be built into digital solutions,鈥� he said. 鈥淎s 麻豆原创 is doing, we need partners to provide AI solutions and make it part of their package.鈥�