June 9, 2025 - From May 13 to 15, Vena’s Excelerate Finance 2025 summit united a global community of finance, operations, and business leaders for three days of innovation, insight, and collaboration. With over 50 sessions across business, technical, and leadership tracks, the event delivered a dynamic mix of product breakthroughs, customer success stories, and strategic discussions — all centered on the future of extended planning and analysis (xP&A).

The clear takeaway: modern planning is a key driver of enterprise performance.

Finance and Planning Reimagined: Building Agility and Driving Impact

As the pace of change accelerates across industries, agility in financial planning has emerged as a key competitive advantage. Excelerate 2025 highlighted the shift from static, siloed budgeting to dynamic, connected planning — enabling leaders across the organization to make faster, more informed decisions.

In the product roadmap session, Vena showcased its latest innovations, blending Excel-native usability with powerful integrations and automation. Speakers emphasized how real-time collaboration, centralized data, and predictive insights are helping finance teams evolve from report creators to strategic business partners, driving impact where it matters most

AI and Automation: From Concept to Real-World Value

Artificial intelligence and automation took center stage — not as future concepts, but as practical tools delivering real results. Attendees saw firsthand how Vena’s intelligent features are streamlining processes and elevating analysis. From auto-reconciliation and anomaly detection to predictive forecasting, AI is rapidly becoming an essential driver of speed, accuracy, and confidence in planning.

Live product demonstrations highlighted how these capabilities are embedded in everyday workflows, accelerating close cycles and enhancing forecast precision. Attendees appreciated the focus on tangible, outcome-driven innovation — moving past the hype to showcase how AI is creating measurable value across the planning lifecycle.

Citrin Cooperman: Back-to-Back Partner of the Year

One of the standout moments at Excelerate Finance 2025 was the announcement that Citrin Cooperman had earned Vena’s "Partner of the Year Award” — for the second year in a row. The firm also received an inaugural 2025 Venny award for “Strategic Implementation Partner”. Both recognitions highlight the firm’s deep commitment to driving digital finance transformation for both mid-market and enterprise clients.

As a cornerstone of Vena’s partner ecosystem, Citrin Cooperman consistently delivers high-impact results through skilled implementation, strategic advisory, and thought leadership. From streamlining planning processes to modernizing operations, the firm empowers clients to scale with confidence.

This award reflects more than successful project delivery — it’s a testament to Citrin Cooperman’s commitment to innovation, collaboration, and long-term success.

Building the Plane While It's Flying: How Technology Unlocks Key Insights During Periods of Rapid Growth

At Excelerate Finance 2025, Citrin Cooperman’s Partner and Chief Strategy Officer, Steve Ronan, delivered a standout session on navigating the challenges of rapid growth. As he explained, fast-scaling businesses often grapple with evolving KPIs, shifting priorities, and disconnected systems—making timely, accurate insights hard to come by.

Ronan shared Citrin Cooperman’s own transformation journey: a shift from static, manual reporting to real-time analytics and automation. The result? The firm tripled in size in just three years — all while gaining greater control and clarity in its operations. His message was clear: The right technology, applied at the right time, turns complexity into confidence.

Attendees walked away with a practical roadmap for using data and analytics to fuel growth. More than just tools, Ronan showed how real-time insights can power smarter, faster decisions when businesses need them the most.

Real Stories, Real Results

Throughout Excelerate Finance 2025, attendees heard powerful success stories from organizations across manufacturing, healthcare, higher education, and beyond — each showcasing how Vena is driving meaningful transformation.

From sharper forecasts and faster budget cycles to greater visibility into business drivers, every session reinforced one key theme: integrated planning is a catalyst for performance. These customer voices underscored the value of a modern planning platform — one that brings together people, processes, and data to help businesses drive growth and achieve their strategic goals.

Connected Planning: The Future of Enterprise Agility

A consistent theme throughout the event was the accelerating shift toward connected planning. Organizations are moving away from siloed, fragmented systems and embracing unified platforms that promote alignment, agility, and cross-functional collaboration.

Vena’s Connected Planning capabilities — seamlessly integrating with Microsoft 365, Power BI, major ERPs, and more — were spotlighted as essential to this evolution. Many attendees were especially energized by the integration of Microsoft Fabric, Teams, and other tools from the Microsoft Suite, recognizing their potential to further streamline collaboration and insight sharing.

More than just a finance function, planning is emerging as a true enterprise capability. By equipping teams with timely data and intuitive tools, organizations are turning planning into a collaborative effort — one that empowers stakeholders at every level to drive strategic impact

A High-Energy Experience, Delivered Virtually

Though virtual-first, Excelerate Finance 2025 was anything but distant. The event pulsed with energy — from interactive demos and engaging breakout sessions to vibrant networking lounges and active community chats. With live Q&As, real-time polls, and a robust library of on-demand content, attendees were able to customize their experience and engage on their own terms.

Many participants praised the event’s strong balance of vision and execution, appreciating the combination of forward-thinking insights with clear, actionable takeaways.

Looking Ahead: Vena’s Roadmap and Community Momentum

In the closing sessions, Vena outlined a bold path forward — highlighting an expanding partner ecosystem, increased investment in AI and automation, and continued enhancement of platform capabilities. The message was clear: Vena remains committed to helping organizations of all sizes become more agile, data-driven, and performance-focused.

With Excelerate 2025 in the books, the planning community walks away energized and equipped. As today’s challenges grow in complexity, so too does the opportunity to lead with better planning. The Excelerate community is ready to rise to that challenge!

Ready to get your own movement going? Check out 5 Steps to Modern Budgeting: A Practical Guide to Smarter Planning and Forecasting and contact Citrin Cooperman’s Digital Services Practice to learn more.