Is SAP making a fresh move on BlackLine? No comment from CEO Owen Ryan who’s busy making AI add up for CFOs

Is SAP About to Acquire Financial Automation Firm BlackLine?

Speculation is mounting around SAP’s potential acquisition of financial automation specialist BlackLine. Earlier this year, SAP reportedly made a bid that, according to industry whispers, was rejected by BlackLine. However, recent reports—initially emerging on Bloomberg—suggest activist investors may be pushing for renewed discussions around a deal.

BlackLine’s Response

Unsurprisingly, BlackLine has remained tight-lipped on the matter. CEO Owen Ryan commented, “We are obviously aware of the recent market commentary about BlackLine. As a matter of policy, we do not comment on market rumors or speculation. The Board and management team engage with shareholders routinely as well as constructively, and we will continue to do so. That is all we intend to say on this topic.”

On the relationship with SAP, Ryan noted that BlackLine is currently executing a proof of concept with the German software giant. This initiative is designed to ensure seamless technical and commercial integration of BlackLine’s AI-powered solutions into SAP’s ecosystem. “This is a critical step in aligning the two firms’ platforms and preparing to monetize our joint offering to our shared customer base,” he explained. Naturally, such groundwork would be invaluable, especially if the two companies were to merge.

AI for CFOs: Transparency and Trust

For now, Ryan is focused on BlackLine’s AI strategic direction and how it supports the company’s mission to elevate the profile of the Office of the CFO.

“What’s important to that constituency is specialist knowledge and trust,” he argues. “In the Office of the CFO, ‘Black Box’ AI is a non-starter — trust, transparency, and audibility are paramount.”

Ryan emphasized that BlackLine’s entire platform was built as a system of record with a complete, unbroken audit trail. This commitment is validated by the company’s recent ISO 42001 certification for responsible AI, which formalizes dedication to governance, risk management, and human oversight.

Data as the Foundation of AI

Underpinning their AI strategy is data. Ryan elaborated, “AI models are only as good as the data they are trained on, and we believe our data is unique. Not only do we have data from over 4,000 customers of all sizes, across all industries and geographies, but we also possess historical financial and operational data sets tracing back to when each customer first started using BlackLine.”

This proprietary dataset, representing the accumulated knowledge of thousands of companies’ financial closing and operational processes, offers a wealth of process-specific insights. “We are only at the early stages of leveraging this data to deliver unparalleled value,” Ryan noted.

The company’s AI capabilities enable industry-specific benchmarking, showing customers how their financial processes compare with peers and identifying areas for improvement. “Because we have access to real-world historical data, we can train our AI models on intricate, industry-specific cases in a secure, auditable manner,” he added.

Early AI Success: Introducing Vera

BlackLine’s AI offering is not merely theoretical. Since the October release of Vera, its conversational AI agent, the company has seen early signs of success. “With Vera acting as the supervisor of our agentic workforce, we are launching a suite of powerful agents to execute high-value tasks,” Ryan revealed.

For example, the agent trained for account reconciliations has already demonstrated higher levels of automation for customers—delivered in a trusted and auditable way. Soon, the company plans to deploy Verity Collect to introduce agentic capabilities to invoice-to-cash customers, automating customer outreach and accelerating cash collection cycles.

These initial agents mark the first step in BlackLine’s broader strategy to address the full spectrum of financial operations. Future releases will target complex areas across record-to-report and invoice-to-cash processes, including high-volume transaction matching, variance analysis, remittance automation, and on-demand financial analysis agents.

Looking ahead, Ryan shared plans for implementation agents designed to automate and standardize common deployment phases. “We will begin piloting these agents with customers later this month before scaling globally in Q1 2026,” he said.

‘Eating Our Own AI Dogfood’

Ryan also highlighted BlackLine’s internal AI adoption, emphasizing the company’s confidence in its technology. “Our confidence in AI comes from firsthand experience—we are not just selling this transformation; we are living it.”

Internally, BlackLine has aggressively created and deployed AI tools to boost efficiency and innovation. Employees leverage both the company’s internal AI platform and third-party AI tools in their daily work. This usage has led to promising results. Nearly all engineers use AI tools, with the most active developers completing over 100% more pull requests than their peers.

“This is not just about coding faster—it is about delivering value to customers faster,” Ryan explained. The company’s innovation cycle time—the span from initial idea to feature release—has improved by 23% year-over-year, with over 160 features and products launched this year alone.

BlackLine has also developed proprietary AI tools to drive efficiency, reduce costs, and better serve customers worldwide. A recent example is its internal AI translation service, which rapidly produces documentation and training materials in multiple languages. This initiative not only cuts costs but ensures consistent, high-quality customer experiences.

Ryan concluded, “This internal adoption is a powerful efficiency engine. We view it as an opportunity to bend the curve on future costs and accelerate revenue growth through innovation.”

My Take

With BlackLine’s innovative AI strategy and ongoing collaboration with SAP, this story is one to watch. Will SAP finally succeed in acquiring BlackLine? Only time will tell. Stay tuned for developments.
https://diginomica.com/sap-making-fresh-move-blackline-no-comment-ceo-owen-ryan-whos-busy-making-ai-add-cfos

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