3 Takeaways About the Office of the CFO from Esker All Access 2025

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In April, the team at Esker welcomed nearly 500 customers, prospects, partners, sponsors and employees to Chicago for Esker All Access, our company conference held every 18 months. It was a dynamic two days of learning and relationship building — and as May and June unfold, we’re reflecting on and feeling grateful for our time together.

2024 was a pivotal year for Esker. We generated $230 million in revenue, achieving 18% organic growth. We set the stage for new partnerships, including our next chapter with Bridgepoint and General Atlantic. And we deepened relationships with our customers and other members of the Esker network.

As our founder and CEO, Jean-Michel Bérard, said at All Access 2025, we’ve been lucky to experience 40 years of partnership with our customers and other collaborators. Esker is the company it is today because of all of you.

Now, we’re turning our attention toward the next 40 years.

Future hallmarks of the Office of the CFO

Innovation is always at the heart of what we do at Esker. The conversations we had at All Access 2025 gave us new ideas about how we can better serve our customers and partners, and how we can work together to continue evolving the Office of the CFO into an unmatched growth engine.

If you attended this year, we’d love to know what resonated most with you — share your thoughts in the comments. Here are our team’s top takeaways from All Access 2025.

1. We can still solve pain points, while also building new opportunities.

A clear theme emerged from this year’s conference: Organizations are rethinking the role of finance, powered by the Office of the CFO.

Finance is no longer a support function operating in the shadows. Today’s finance teams are a value-driven asset that should be embedded into every aspect of the business. While we’ve historically been tasked with solving for organizational pain points, our work can now also focus on introducing growth and innovation opportunities.

Consider the evolution of accounts receivable. Until recently, work in this space largely centered around streamlining errors and manually hunting down missing collections.

But now, equipped with smarter technologies and greater organizational visibility, we can extend our impact into helping our companies increase resilience and adaptability. Our insights can power big-picture thinking and decision-making, from monitoring cashflow amid changing market conditions to data-driven insights that can improve customer and employee experience.

2. AI is here, and we’re (officially) ready for it.

It’s amazing to see how appetite for AI has changed in just a year and a half. We walked away from All Access 2025 with a shared philosophy toward the technology: Why wait?

AI has quickly become a cornerstone for the Office of the CFO, with a wide range of potential applications. AI can support decision-making, increase the speed and accuracy of our work, and reduce risk. But optimizing our teams’ relationship with AI is just as important — "AI-driven, human-led" finance was the consensus among conference-goers.

We’ve been working hard on new AI-powered experiences to help our customers strike this balance, with a close eye on scalability and stability.

Because we know AI is a pivotal resource as the Office of the CFO shifts from a point solution to an integrated platform. Adding complexity to the back office isn’t progress — it’s a temporary fix, not a lasting effort. AI opens the door to a more global, sophisticated approach to increasing finance capabilities and impact without complication, and it was exciting to hear growing enthusiasm about the technology among this year’s attendees.

3. The Esker community works better together.

The vibrancy of the Esker network was on full display at All Access 2025. This year’s event saw an over 100% increase in attendance, and we’re primed to carry that momentum forward.

A special shout out to this year’s sponsors, Genpact (platinum sponsor) and Commerce Bank (gold sponsor). Genpact was also the winner of this year’s Breakout Partner of the Year Impact Award, and Commerce Bank took home honors with the Partner of the Year Impact Award. Our partner network is such an important part of Esker’s growth story.

I’d also like to thank those from the Esker community who took time to share their insights with us. We benefited from an AI update as part of this year’s keynote session led by Cencora (also the winner of our Advocate of the Year Impact Award) as well as inspiring spotlights from our customers, FUCHS LUBRICANTS CO. and Eagle Family Foods Group.

Finally, we were excited to share more about our new partnership with Bridgepoint Group and General Atlantic. This next step in our company’s history will place an even bigger emphasis on growth and scale, and strong collaboration with Bridgepoint is the right foundation to support our ongoing category leadership and further improve our customer experience and product suite.

Setting our sights on H2 2025, and beyond

An event like All Access 2025 surfaces a range of emotions. Pride in the work we’re doing and the partnerships we’ve built. Excitement on behalf of our customers and the impact they have on their businesses. Determination in the face of new challenges.

But perhaps more than anything, All Access 2025 offers a powerful reflection of how far we’ve come — and a curiosity about where we’re headed next.

And the best part is that we’re on this journey together.

Again, a big thank you to our customers, partners, sponsors and the Loews Chicago O'Hare Hotel for hosting us this year. And, of course, thank you to our talented Eskerians, who work hard year-round to make this event possible.

Is it too soon to start thinking about the next All Access? We don’t think so — mark your calendars for September 9-10, 2026. In the meantime though, reach out to our team to learn more about what’s next for the Esker community. The best is still ahead.