Connected Planning: Lucanet MD Taimur Abdaal on Scenario Planning, AI, and the Future of Finance

Taimur Abdaal, Managing Director of xP&A at Lucanet, joined the company around 10 months ago after it acquired his own business, Causal, which he founded in 2019. He says the merger made sense for two big reasons: the products complement each other and they share the same philosophy. Causal excels at detailed operational planning, while Lucanet is known for its strong consolidation and financial reporting capabilities. Bringing them together creates a single platform where customers can handle everything from operational planning to reporting in one place, something Abdaal sees as a win for both sets of clients.

On the cultural side, both companies built their products to be easy to use, quick to implement, and fast to deliver value. Abdaal says their implementation approach focuses on teaching clients to use the product independently. Typically, the process involves three to five days of consulting, with training sessions that cover core concepts. By the end, most clients are self-sufficient, though Lucanet’s support and customer success teams remain on hand when needed.

Abdaal places strong emphasis on scenario planning as a key tool for decision-making and explains that it’s not enough to decide on a course of action without knowing how it will impact revenue, costs, or profits. Scenario planning allows finance teams to test ideas which for example, whether to hire more people sooner or delay certain projects and see the ripple effects on the metrics that matter most. In today’s rapidly changing environment, from global events to fast-moving technological shifts, plans made even six months ago can quickly become outdated. Finance teams, with their broad view of the company’s forecast, are in a unique position to anticipate risks and opportunities and share those insights with the rest of the business.

Technology, Abdaal argues, is central to making this work. Lucanet’s xP&A product allows teams to build interconnected models for revenue, expenses, and headcount, meaning a change in one flows through to all the others. This enables a realistic view of how a scenario affects the entire business, from sales to profitability. In contrast, teams still relying on Excel often have fragmented plans that don’t speak to each other.

Looking ahead, Abdaal sees two major ways Lucanet can help finance leaders prepare for the unexpected. The first is automation to reduce manual work so teams can focus on strategic thinking and the second is staying at the cutting edge of AI in finance software. He believes the finance teams that proactively adopt AI will be the ones that thrive, rather than those who wait for the technology to become mainstream. Lucanet, he says, will continue to lead in applying AI to finance, helping teams get ahead of market shifts and technological change.