Look Forward to Forecasting at the Speed of Change

If it feels like the ground beneath your financial forecasts is constantly shifting, you’re not imagining things.

Inflation spikes. Geopolitical tensions. Supply chain disruptions. Market volatility. These volatile market conditions have become the new normal. In fact, the Fed’s Economic Policy Uncertainty Index recently hit its second-highest level since 1985, second only to the chaos of 2020.

For financial planning and analysis (FP&A) professionals, the economic volatility isn’t just noise. It’s the backdrop against which every budget, forecast, and strategic plan must now be built.

The challenge? Traditional forecasting methods weren’t designed for this level of turbulence. As a result, legacy systems and spreadsheets are slow, rigid, and often outdated before the forecast is even finalized. A single headline can also send markets into a tailspin today, so finance teams need more than spreadsheets and static models. They need agility. They need speed. They need foresight.

And that’s where artificial intelligence (AI) comes in.

AI built for finance is a practical, powerful tool that’s reshaping how finance teams operate. With solutions like OneStream’s SensibleAI™, forecasting becomes faster, smarter, and more adaptive. These solutions empower FP&A leaders to move from reactive to proactive, from lagging indicators to real-time insights.

In this post, we’ll explore how AI is transforming the forecasting process. We’ll particularly spotlight the capabilities of SensibleAI Forecast™. And finally, we’ll show how leading finance teams are using it to stay ahead of change — not just keep up with it.

How AI Transforms Forecasting

AI is revolutionizing forecasting by enhancing both speed and accuracy. As outlined in our eBook 5 Ways AI Can Help FP&A Leaders Navigate Uncertainty, AI-powered forecasting tools use machine learning (ML). These tools use ML to analyze vast datasets, uncover hidden patterns, and generate continuous, real-time predictions.

One of the biggest wins? Accuracy.

AI Boosts Forecast Accuracy

AI-powered forecasting uses ML to analyze massive volumes of historical and real-time data. With ML, forecasting tools can spot patterns that even the sharpest analysts might miss and continuously refine predictions as new data rolls in.

The result? Forecasts that are not only faster but also far more reliable.

And there are case studies to prove it.

Let’s zoom in on a real-world example that shows just how transformative AI-powered forecasting can be with Endeavour Energy.

Endeavour Energy, a major Australian utility provider, faced a major challenge: how to forecast future energy usage across commercial and residential sectors with greater precision. Like many FP&A teams, the folks at Endeavour were stuck with traditional forecasting methods that heavily relied on Excel to bridge the system gap. The methods also couldn’t keep up with the pace of change or the complexity of data. Additionally, the company was dependent on a single data scientist who ran the ML forecast.

So Endeavour turned to AI.

By integrating OneStream’s AI-driven forecasting solution, the company could integrate ML models into the planning process. Those models analyze historical usage patterns, weather data, and grid behavior in real time.

The result?

A dramatic improvement in forecast accuracy — a 7% drop in the budget variance, from around 8% to just 1%. By democratizing ML forecasting with SensibleAI ForecastTM across finance users, Endeavour Energy also eliminated the single person dependency to create monthly forecasts.

But the benefits didn’t stop there.

With more accurate forecasts in hand, the finance team could look forward and shift its focus from firefighting to strategic planning. That meant finance could stop constantly reacting to surprises. Instead, finance is now equipped to anticipate change, model different scenarios, and guide the business with confidence.

The shift meant Endeavour Energy had not only better numbers, but also better outcomes. Plus, the finance team transformed into a group empowered to lead, not just report.

Introducing SensibleAI ForecastTM: Look Forward to Forecasting Without the Guesswork

If AI is the engine powering modern forecasting, then SensibleAI ForecastTM is the high-performance vehicle that gets you there and gets you there fast.

Built into the OneStream platform, SensibleAI ForecastTM is a next-generation, no-code solution that blends internal and external data with advanced ML. The solution thus delivers forecasts that are not only faster and more accurate, but also fully transparent. And unlike do-it-yourself AI projects that can take months (or years) to get off the ground, SensibleAI ForecastTM delivers value in weeks, not quarters or years.

Why It Matters

Let’s break it down. Here’s what SensibleAI Forecast offers:

• 25%+ improvement in forecast accuracy over traditional models.
• 85%+ reduction in forecasting cycle times, allowing you to reforecast as often as needed.
• AutoML capabilities that automate data prep, model selection, and optimization.
• No-code usability, empowering finance teams to generate AI-backed forecasts without needing a data science degree.
• Full transparency, ensuring you see exactly what’s driving your forecasts.

And companies are seeing the impact already. For example, Stake Center Locating and Polaris have used SensibleAI ForecastTM to improve accuracy, save millions, and gain real-time agility to respond to change.

Forecasting at the Speed of Change Starts Now

Today, finance teams can no longer afford to rely on outdated forecasting methods. The stakes are too high. And the opportunities are too great.

With solutions like SensibleAI ForecastTM, finance leaders can move beyond static spreadsheets and slow cycles. Finance can generate forecasts in minutes instead of days, model complex scenarios with ease, and make decisions grounded in real-time data.

If you’re ready to stop chasing the future, now’s the time to embrace AI-driven forecasting. Want to get started? Check out The Future of Finance with SensibleAI Forecast to explore how leading finance teams are using AI to stay ahead of change — and how you can too.