Episode Details

In this episode of the DevReady Podcast, Andrew Romeo, CEO and Co-Founder of Aerion Technologies and  Co-Founder of DevReady.Ai, sits down with Serge Radisic, Founder and CEO of Uptio, to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping financial planning and analysis for modern businesses. Drawing on more than 15 years of experience in finance transformation, sales leadership and consulting, Serge shares why he left a successful consulting business to build an AI-powered FP&A platform designed to help CFOs and finance teams make faster, more informed decisions. The conversation covers AI in finance, financial planning and analysis (FP&A), customer-led product development, startup strategy and the future of enterprise software.

Serge reflects on the slow pace of innovation within the finance industry, explaining that many organisations still depend on spreadsheets, disconnected systems and manual reporting despite years of discussion around automation. He discusses how AI is finally creating an opportunity to transform finance workflows by delivering contextual, traceable insights in seconds rather than days. Instead of replacing finance professionals, Uptio is designed to augment decision making by helping teams quickly understand what happened, why it happened and what actions they should consider next. Throughout the discussion, Andrew highlights the importance of combining powerful AI technologies with deep industry expertise to solve complex business problems.

A major theme of the episode is the importance of customer-led product development. Serge explains how early assumptions about the product changed after extensive customer discovery, revealing that finance leaders wanted clearer visibility into current business performance before more advanced forecasting capabilities. By working closely with customers throughout the development process, Uptio has focused on building a simple, highly accurate AI assistant that provides transparent, verifiable answers through natural language. Andrew and Serge also discuss why quality assurance, user validation and continuous feedback remain essential, even as AI dramatically accelerates software development.

The conversation also explores the technical and commercial realities of building enterprise AI products. Serge outlines Uptio's vision of reducing implementation complexity through modern integrations, open source technologies and secure data connectivity, allowing organisations to transform business data into actionable insights within minutes. Andrew emphasises that enterprise customers expect robust security, governance and compliance from the outset, making strong technical foundations just as important as product innovation. Together, they explain why successful AI platforms combine proven technologies rather than attempting to reinvent every component.

Looking ahead, Serge shares his long-term ambition of creating an AI-powered FP&A agent that serves as a trusted second brain for finance teams across thousands of organisations. While the vision is ambitious, he stresses that sustainable growth depends on building a reliable, enterprise-ready product through rigorous testing, customer collaboration and continuous improvement. Andrew concludes that meaningful innovation takes time, particularly when accuracy and trust are critical, while Serge reflects on the rewards of entrepreneurship and the willingness to embrace risk in pursuit of creating lasting value.

#ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Finance #FPA #FinancialPlanning #EnterpriseAI #DevReadyPodcast #Startup #BusinessTechnology #Innovation