4 Things We Learned About Agentic AI & the Future of Finance at Esker All Access 2026

10/19/26

6 min read

Copywriter

It’s been a little over a month since Esker All Access 2026, which, given the pace of AI innovation, feels like an eternity. But while the technology continues its rapid evolution, some important questions remain.

What does meaningful AI adoption actually look like for today’s businesses? How much decision-making should be handed over to intelligent agents? And how can they move faster without sacrificing the oversight and control that finance demands?

These questions helped shape the conversation at this year’s event, where we explored how Esker’s vision for the Office of the CFO is moving from traditional automation toward a more agentic framework that brings intelligence, execution, and control together.

Across four keynote presentations, we explored the challenges facing the modern Office of the CFO, revealed new research into finance leaders’ attitudes toward AI, introduced Esker’s Synergy Agentic Framework, and demonstrated what governed AI execution could look like across an entire business.

Here are four takeaways that stood out.

1. Finance transformation needs more than automation.

Finance teams have made enormous strides in automation. Yet many still spend too much time searching for information, following up on approvals, resolving exceptions manually, and coordinating work between disconnected systems — all equating to copious amounts of wasted time and money.

As Emmanuel Olivier, Esker’s Deputy CEO – Worldwide CRO, explained during the opening keynote, these challenges often stem from the gaps between what ERP systems provide and what finance teams actually need to succeed in 2026 and beyond.

The vision? Help close those gaps with Esker’s Agentic AI Suite for the Office of the CFO, which — rather than requiring organizations to overhaul their existing systems or transform everything at once — allows businesses to start where the need across their source-to-pay and order-to-cash processes is greatest and expand at their own pace.

The goal isn’t simply to automate more individual tasks, but to be the partner and platform of choice in finance and give teams greater capacity to support business growth.

2. Finance leaders want AI to deliver results — just not at the expense of control.

How much responsibility should AI have in financial decision-making? That question sparked plenty of discussion at Esker All Access, especially as we shared findings from The 2026 Global Finance AI Trust Index, our commissioned survey of 338 global finance leaders conducted by Walker Sands.

The findings revealed an interesting tension: Finance leaders recognize AI’s potential, but their willingness to trust it depends heavily on the decision being made.

For example, 61% of respondents believe AI should autonomously approve routine supplier invoices that meet predefined rules. But when it comes to more consequential decisions, (e.g., changing customer credit limits), human oversight becomes much more important.

And trust isn’t the only challenge. According to the research, 72% of finance leaders say their organizations have spent more than planned on AI initiatives, while 94% report barriers to measuring AI’s ROI.

The message is clear: AI needs to deliver measurable results, and organizations need confidence in how those results are achieved. For CFOs, that means knowing where AI can act independently, where it should make recommendations, and where human judgment remains essential.

3. Agentic AI is moving from answers to execution.

For years, AI has helped finance teams extract information, make predictions, and recommend next steps. But as Esker’s Eric Bussy (Chief Marketing Officer) and Jean-Jacques Bérard (Chief Product & Technology Officer) demonstrated, the next evolution is about moving work forward — not just telling people what needs to be done.

That’s the thinking behind the Esker Synergy Agentic Framework, which was introduced with its four key pillars:

Agents that act: Specialized Synergy Business Agents execute repetitive tasks across finance, including collections follow-ups, payment matching, and invoice processing.
Finance that talks: The Finance Concierge gives users one conversational entry point to ask questions, request actions, and connect with the right agent.
Autonomy you govern: Agents operate within established permissions, policies, and approval requirements, with humans retaining oversight at every step.
Connected to your ecosystem: Synergy Agents connect with ERP systems, business applications, and other AI tools to support execution across existing workflows.

What makes this approach different is that agents aren’t operating independently of the business processes already in place. They’re building on Esker’s established automation foundation, helping close the manual gaps that remain between systems, teams, and tasks.

Also discussed was topic of agent quantity vs. quality: Value isn’t measured by how many agents a company deploys but, rather, how much meaningful work those agents can accomplish and how effectively they improve business performance.

4. The real power of agentic AI comes from connecting the bigger picture

What does governed agentic AI actually look like when several business processes are involved? To bring the concept to life, Eric Bussy along with Esker product managers walked attendees through a hypothetical scenario involving a $4.8 million customer order.

Rather than addressing each problem in isolation, the demonstration showed how Synergy Agents could help teams connect information and coordinate responses across the business. For example:

In accounts receivable, agents helped prioritize a credit risk, summarize customer information, and support collections activity, while leaving the final release decision to an authorized employee.
In source-to-pay, agents helped identify an alternative supplier, analyze contract risks, and surface AP exceptions requiring attention.
In customer service, AI helped retrieve relevant order and product information, enabling faster, more accurate responses without requiring employees to start from scratch.

The scenario illustrated an important distinction: The value of agentic AI extends beyond automating individual tasks. It’s about connecting decisions and actions across the processes that influence cash, risk, and customer relationships.

The presentation also looked beyond execution to continuous improvement. By measuring AI’s contribution, comparing performance against benchmarks, and identifying opportunities to improve, finance teams can better understand where automation is delivering value and where additional gains are possible.

A new vision of autonomous finance takes shape

If there was one message that connected this year’s keynotes, it was that the future of finance isn't simply about deploying more AI, but putting intelligence to work in ways that deliver meaningful, measurable outcomes.

That means combining the speed and capabilities of agentic AI with the trusted data, connected processes, and human governance that finance demands.

At Esker All Access 2026, we were excited to share how we’re bringing that vision to life through our Agentic AI Suite and Synergy Framework. But just as importantly, the event reinforced why we continue to innovate — to help finance teams spend less time on repetitive execution and more time driving the decisions, relationships, and improvements that move businesses forward.

Want to see where Esker’s Agentic AI is headed next? Explore our Synergy Agentic Framework and discover how connected, governed AI agents can help your organization turn intelligence into action.

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