How LeadSquared’s Chandra Sahal Is Turning Finance Into A Real-Time Decision Engine

LeadSquared's CFO, Chandra Sahal, is transforming the finance department into a real-time decision-making engine. Traditionally, finance roles have been limited to bookkeeping and compliance, but in today's SaaS landscape, finance leaders are involved in strategic decisions like product R&D and pricing. Sahal, who joined LeadSquared in November 2025 after a 12-year career at Wipro, has helped the company shift its finance function from a reactive role to a proactive, strategic one.

Utilising SAP, a CRM, and an in-house system, Sahal's team now has real-time visibility into the company's financial health, with 30% of monthly revenue visible in the first week, 50% by week two, and 75% by week three. This near-real-time reporting allows for earlier closure of books and more efficient management information reporting.

Additionally, Sahal has integrated AI into various finance functions, including reconciliations, journal-entry gap identification, variance analysis, and budgeting. This has enabled the company to forecast the next year's financials by the 10th of each month, giving the management an 80-85% visibility into full-year numbers by the 10th.

Sahal emphasizes that the real ROI of AI investments lies in increased productivity, such as faster product launches and reduced time spent on data collection and reconciliation. He believes that upskilling existing employees in AI and other technologies is a more practical approach than hiring specialized AI talent. By leveraging AI, Sahal's team can complete tasks that once took days in hours, freeing up bandwidth to focus on interpreting numbers, challenging assumptions, and making decisions that drive growth and profitability.