EPM Has Always Shaped Behaviour. AI Is Now Paying Attention Too.

Budgets, targets, KPIs, Enterprise Performance Management has never been just about measurement.

It has always shaped behaviour:

• A sales budget assigns accountability.

• A variance report triggers action.

• A margin-weighted KPI nudges teams toward profitability.

These signals don’t just describe performance; they influence how people act.

As AI becomes embedded in planning and execution, the same signals increasingly shape AI behaviour as well.

We already see this in practice. Recommendation engines optimise against conversion, margin, or lifetime value depending on what they are rewarded for. Workforce optimisation systems balance cost, service, and utilisation based on the signals they receive.

AI doesn’t understand strategy. It learns it, through performance signals.

That raises an important question for finance leaders:

If performance signals shape behaviour in human teams, how should they in AI-enabled systems?

The answer has less to do with algorithms and more to do with EPM design. The signals we choose to reinforce determine what both people and machines optimise for.

EPM is no longer just a reporting platform. It is becoming a learning system.

And the choices being made in EPM initiatives today will quietly define what becomes possible tomorrow.

#EnterprisePerformanceManagement #AIinFinance #PerformanceManagement #FinanceTransformation #EPMStrategy #AstuteDimension #Jedox

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