Technology

Finance Leaders Are Ready to Increase AI, but Most Aren’t Ready to Control ItNew independent study commissioned by Basware finds that 76% plan to increase AI investment, but only 39% are ready to scale it

Published

2 days ago

July 28, 2026

Key findings

76% plan to increase AI investment67% of finance teams already run AI in AP, but only 39% have built the operating model to execute at scale68% need ROI before any further finance technology spend55% expect AI investments in AP to pay back within six to 24 months46% have only struck an effective balance between governance and innovation65% say major or urgent improvement is needed to adjust to new financial regulations64% prioritize stability and compliance over raw innovation when choosing AI

CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — For years, finance leaders have invested in the potential of AI. Now, they’re requiring proof it can scale under real operating conditions. According to the findings of From Experimentation to Execution: Governed Autonomy for AI in Accounts Payable, a new Forrester Consulting Opportunity Snapshot commissioned by Basware, the global leader in Invoice Lifecycle Management (ILM), the criteria for AI success in accounts payable have shifted.

Three quarters (76%) of enterprise finance and AP decision-makers plan to increase AI investment over the next 12 to 24 months, but 68% say they’ll require demonstrable ROI before committing more funds. The gap isn’t ambition, it’s execution. 67% already use AI for targeted AP use cases, but only 39% operate AI centers of excellence at scale.

Control is now the deciding factor. 64% prioritize stability and compliance over raw innovation when choosing AI, and less than half (46%) say they’ve struck an effective balance between governance and innovation. Success is no longer just about what AI can do. It’s about whether teams can control it.

Investment is Rising, as are Expectations

Finance leaders are rejecting the promise of instant AI returns.

According to the Forrester study, only 7% of finance leaders expect AI investments in AP to pay back in under 6 months; 20% expect payback within 6 to 12 months; and 35% expect value to take 13 to 24 months to materialize.

The demand for proof reflects where AI is now operating. Finance leaders are looking for value that holds up in live operations, where process complexity exposes weak business cases. Meanwhile, two thirds (65%) need major or urgent improvement to meet new financial regulations, such as Nacha’s 2026 fraud monitoring rules now in effect in the US, and 63% point to growing demand for data-backed decision-making.

AI investment is already concentrating in AP areas where the link to control is easiest to demonstrate.

“Finance is a strong place to start with AI because the value can be measured,” said Donna Wilczek, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Basware. “The challenge is getting from ambition to execution in a way the business can trust. Once outcomes are proven, the remit can grow.”

Moving From Automation to Trusted Execution

The question of trust is now the central tension. An AI agent resolving an invoice exception or recommending an approval needs permission to act, and a reliable record of what happened. With 68% of finance leaders requiring demonstrable ROI before committing further technology spend, AP has become an early test of whether AI can move from automation to trusted execution.

“Governed AI is no longer aspirational, it’s a board-level requirement,” said Wilczek. “Every AI decision in accounts payable needs to be logged, traceable, and auditable from the moment it’s made, not reconstructed after the fact.”

Finance must set clear guardrails to guide these decisions. Basware’s Governed Autonomy framework lets finance teams define how far AI can act. Human review stays in the workflow wherever judgment is required. AI’s authority expands only as outcomes are proven. The framework sets three levels of AI authority, from Advisor to Collaborator to Operator, so autonomy grows only as each level earns trust.

“Success in the next phase of AP won’t be achieved by the teams using the most AI, but by the teams that govern it best,” Wilczek added.

On August 17, Forrester Principal Analyst Meng Liu, will join Basware’s Anssi Ruokonen, Head of Data and AI, for a live webinar to walk through From Experimentation to Execution: Governed Autonomy for AI in Accounts Payable and discuss what’s driving the gap and how to close it. Click here to register for the event.”

About the study

This Opportunity Snapshot was commissioned by Basware. Forrester Consulting supplemented this research with custom survey questions asked of 231 decision-makers responsible for finance/AP technology across the UK, US, France, and Germany. The custom survey began and was completed in March 2026.

About Basware

Basware is how the world’s best finance teams gain complete control of every invoice, every time. Our Intelligent Invoice Lifecycle Management Platform ensures end-to-end efficiency, compliance and control for all invoice transactions. Powered by the world’s most sophisticated invoice-centric AI, trained on over 2.5 billion invoices, Basware’s Intelligent Automation drives real ROI by transforming finance operations. We serve 6,500+ customers globally and are trusted by industry leaders including DHL, Heineken and Sony. Fueled by more than 40 years of specialized expertise with $10+ trillion in total spend handled, we are pioneering the next era of finance. With Basware, now it all just happens.

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Technology

Bold Security Extends Endpoint Data Protection to Every AI Interaction

Published

23 minutes ago

July 30, 2026

Bold introduces new layer of endpoint protection, securing data as it moves to copilots, agents, and the tools employees use every day.

NEW YORK, July 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Bold Security today announced a new layer of data protection covering the full range of AI interactions on the endpoint: from prompts and clipboard activity in web-based copilots to file access, MCP payloads, and commands issued by autonomous agents. This announcement extends Bold’s on-device data protection across these AI workflows, giving security teams control at a layer they’ve never been able to fully see.

The endpoint has become the primary place where sensitive data is exposed to AI—and one of the fastest-growing sources of enterprise data risk. According to the Cloud Security Alliance, 65% of enterprises reported an AI-related incident in the past year, and 61% of those incidents involved data exposure. Nearly every one of these interactions touches the endpoint. It’s where data, users, and AI converge—and the one layer network and cloud tools can’t reach. Desktop AI apps can bypass the proxy entirely, while agents communicate and extract data through channels like desktop applications and the command line. DLP was never built to solve that.

“For years, endpoint data exposure was an accepted compromise. Security teams relied on DLP to protect what they could, knowing there were blind spots they couldn’t easily close,” said Nati Hazut, Co-Founder and CEO of Bold. “AI turned those blind spots into one of the biggest challenges enterprises face, because the data organizations care about most now moves through entirely new interactions.”

That gap is what Bold closes. Seeing these interactions is only the start: governance tools can flag that someone used an AI tool, but not what data was involved or whether it was a risk. That takes understanding the data itself, and the context around it: who’s acting, where it’s going, how sensitive it is. The same upload can be routine or a serious risk depending on all of it. That distinction is what Bold makes, on the device, in real time.

Bold now protects every AI interaction on the endpoint:

Web-based AI: prompts, clipboard, and uploads into copilots and chat tools, tied to the account being used.Desktop AI apps: clipboard, uploads, local file access, and the payloads passed through MCP.AI agents and CLI: full sessions, local and remote MCP, and the commands agents run on a user’s behalf.

Bold’s on-device AI monitors and analyzes every one of these interactions locally, in real time, keeping productive AI use flowing and stopping risky activity, without data ever leaving the endpoint.

Bold’s new AI data protection layer is in private preview. Read more about it on our blog and see it in action next week at Black Hat, booth #2970.

About Bold
Bold is real-time data security for the modern endpoint. Bold runs AI directly on the device to classify data by meaning, understand how people and AI interact with it, and prevent sensitive data from leaving in real time. Bold classifies any data, no regex required, and its decisions reflect the account, the destination, and the sensitivity of the data involved. Raw data stays on the endpoint. The result: protection against real risk without slowing people down. Companies like Tekion, eCapital, HiBob, and Cresta trust Bold. Bold can be reached at info@bold.security.

Contact:
Ignacio Ramirez
ignacio@switchpr.com
1-415-517-6708

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Technology

Balance Point Announces its Investment in ShipSigma

Published

23 minutes ago

July 30, 2026

WESTPORT, Conn., July 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Balance Point Capital Advisors, LLC (“Balance Point”), in conjunction with its affiliated funds, is pleased to announce its investment in ShipSigma (the “Company”). Balance Point provided debt and equity capital to facilitate Inverness Graham Investments’ (“IGI”) recapitalization of the Company.

Founded in 2018, ShipSigma has become a leading parcel and supply-chain optimization partner for small and medium-sized enterprises. Powered by more than 20 billion parcel and less-than-truckload data points, ShipSigma analyzes each customer’s shipping profile to identify and execute opportunities for greater efficiency and savings. The Company combines proprietary cost modeling with carrier expertise to optimize contracts and automate invoice audits.

“Balance Point is thrilled to partner with ShipSigma and IGI on this transaction and support the Company’s next phase of growth” said Adam Sauerteig, Partner at Balance Point. “We believe ShipSigma provides immediately quantifiable and impactful savings for customers in a complex and ever-changing parcel shipping ecosystem, and we look forward to supporting the Company’s expansion.”

“Balance Point continues to be a value-added partner to Inverness Graham,” said IGI Principal Ryan Geary. “ShipSigma represents the fourth executed investment with Balance Point over the past few years; we appreciate their strong support for our investment approach, and we look forward to continuing to find ways to work with Balance Point in the future.”

About Balance Point

Balance Point is an alternative investment manager focused on the lower middle market. With approximately $2.4 billion in assets under management, Balance Point invests debt and equity capital in select lower middle market companies across a variety of investment vehicles. Balance Point takes a long-term, partnership approach to investing and is committed to building lasting relationships with its partners, management teams and intermediaries. Balance Point is a registered investment advisor. Further information is available at www.balancepointcapital.com.

About ShipSigma

ShipSigma is a tech-enabled parcel spend management platform serving middle-market shippers. The Company uses proprietary analytics and carrier contract expertise to offer a white glove service that helps businesses negotiate better contracts with shippers, monitor ongoing contract compliance, and audit invoices. To learn more, visit www.shipsigma.com.

About Inverness Graham

Inverness Graham is a Philadelphia-based, operationally focused private investment firm that partners with innovative, high-growth businesses where technology is transforming traditional industry. With more than $1.8 billion in assets under management, Inverness Graham brings institutional-scale capabilities to the North American lower middle market while maintaining a focused partnership approach with founders and management teams. To learn more, visit www.invernessgraham.com

Adam H. Sauerteig
Office: 203-652-8555
asauerteig@balancepointcapital.com

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SOURCE Balance Point Capital

Technology

Nuclearn Launches Equipment AI for Real-Time Alarm Diagnosis and Insight at Nuclear Plants

Published

23 minutes ago

July 30, 2026

New AI-powered workflow connects sensor data, work history, and plant documentation, so teams can diagnose equipment issues and manage alarms in minutes, with more confidence.

PHOENIX, July 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Nuclearn, a leading provider of AI solutions purpose-built for the nuclear industry, today announced the launch of Equipment AI, a new product that connects sensor data, work history, operator logs, condition reports, procedures, design documents, and maintenance guidance into a single AI-powered workflow. The product helps nuclear teams diagnose equipment issues and manage alarms in real time and with more confidence.

“Alarm fatigue and the loss of institutional knowledge as our most experienced engineers retire are two of the biggest risks facing this industry,” said Brad Fox, CEO of Nuclearn. “Equipment AI addresses both at once – putting decades of plant experience in front of the engineer at the moment they need it. Leveraging AI to create a meaningful shift in how nuclear utilities approach plant reliability is why we started Nuclearn in the first place, and Equipment AI is a direct result of that mission.”

Nuclear plants monitor thousands of components, and even a routine day can bring a steady stream of low level alarm notifications. Separating a nuisance alarm from a genuine equipment concern is a full-time job, yet the information needed to make that call, including sensor trends and the plant record behind them, typically lives across multiple disconnected systems. Most AI tools analyze either sensor data or maintenance records, but rarely both. Equipment AI reasons across time-series data and unstructured plant information in a single platform, producing a complete picture rather than an isolated chart, alarm, or work order. Beyond sharper diagnostics, it’s also helping the industry preserve decades of engineering knowledge as it prepares for its next generation of workers.

Equipment AI brings together nuclear domain knowledge, utility data integrations, and source-grounded AI workflows, giving teams a purpose-built way to connect equipment data, plant documentation, and operational context in one place. It is built for the systems nuclear teams already use, including plant historian (PI) data, work order systems, and CAP/condition report platforms, and is designed with the security, traceability, and audit-trail requirements the industry expects.

“Most tools challenge teams to find and aggregate sensor trends supporting the paperwork, and the applied first principles engineering behind it. Equipment AI does both at once, giving engineers the full picture of what a piece of equipment has been telling them, not just a fragment of it,” said Lorenzo Slay, Vice President of Product at Nuclearn. “This is especially true in nuclear power, where the context behind an alarm often lives in a work order, a condition report, or a procedure written years ago. Equipment AI brings all of that together in real time, so teams can make a faster, better-informed call.”

Equipment AI is already live at several nuclear plants, where teams are seeing significant improvements in alarm response time and diagnosis speed. It is available for immediate purchase. Visit https://nuclearn.ai/our-product/equipment-ai/ for more information about Equipment AI or to request a demo.

About Nuclearn

Nuclearn is an AI solutions company built by nuclear professionals, for nuclear professionals. Founded in 2021 by industry veterans Brad Fox and Jerrold Vincent, the company develops secure, on-premise, Part 810–compliant AI platforms designed specifically for the nuclear sector.

Utilities face documentation-heavy processes, complex compliance requirements, and rising workforce challenges. Nuclearn’s flagship solutions, including AtomAssist, CAP AI, Engineering AI, and Performance Improvement AI, address these needs by reducing repetitive tasks, improving accuracy, and strengthening regulatory confidence. Each solution is trained on nuclear-specific data, purpose-built to integrate with existing systems such as Maximo and SAP, and equipped with features for traceability, auditability, and safety-conscious decision support.

Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Nuclearn already supports utilities across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., with deployments live at dozens of reactors. Learn more at www.nuclearn.ai.

Media Contacts

Nuclearn
Brian Critchfield
Vice President of Marketing
brian@nuclearn.ai

Demarco Strategy Group for Nuclearn:
Karen DeMarco
karen@demarcostrategygroup.com

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SOURCE Nuclearn.ai