Why We Created an AI Coworker for Your Spreadsheets

Walk into any finance department today and you’ll find a curious mismatch:

1. Enterprise systems everywhere -  ERPs, CRMs, BI dashboards, RPA bots.

2. Spreadsheets open on every screen - thousands of rows, endless VLOOKUPs, manual pivots.

Most organizations have invested millions in AI‑enabled platforms that promise end‑to‑end automation. Yet the real work,  the messy, nuanced, business‑critical tasks  still happens between those systems, in spreadsheet files painstakingly stitched together by domain experts.

This is the hidden layer of enterprise AI, and it’s a massive blind spot.

Why the “Spreadsheet Layer” Still Rules

Structured software solves 80 % of the process, but the last 20 % lives in spreadsheets.

Finance professionals know this all too well. Even with best‑in‑class ERPs, they still reconcile data manually, track exceptions in ad hoc tables, and build last‑mile reports that rigid systems can’t handle. The result:

• 50 % of time lost to cut‑and‑paste drudgery

• $200 B in wasted productivity annually in the U.S. alone

• Talent burned out on tasks that feel far beneath their skill level

The Missed Opportunity for AI

Current AI initiatives focus on well‑defined, API‑friendly data. But the nuanced logic buried in spreadsheets is unstructured, context‑rich, and fiercely protected by gatekeepers (your accounting team).

Until now, that meant AI simply skipped the spreadsheet layer, leaving domain experts to carry the burden.

Enter the AI Coworker

At LuminaData, we’re building an AI coworker that lives where real work happens - inside unstructured data and Excel‑driven workflows. Our first mission: finance reconciliations.

Our Approach to automation is different:

1. Goal‑Based Agents – We train agents to learn why a reconciliation exists, not just how to match cells.

2. System‑Agnostic – No rip‑and‑replace; we layer on top of any ERP export or CSV.

3. Domain‑Specific Intelligence – Built by former Microsoft & AppZen experts who’ve encoded GAAP rules into the model.

4. Rapid ROI – Weeks of work collapsed into minutes; 10× faster close cycles.

We’re starting with Finance—because that’s where it hurts the most.

The stakes are high: one error can impact cash, compliance, and investor trust. The volume is nonstop: thousands of transactions, constant audits, tight deadlines. And the friction? It’s everywhere. Even a tiny mismatch can throw off the entire month-end close.

If we can solve reconciliation here, we can solve it anywhere!

A Future Beyond Reconciliation

The spreadsheet layer exists in every function: sales forecasting, financial planning, insights & analytics. Once AI coworkers master reconciliations , they can expand across the enterprise, turning hidden manual work into strategic capacity.

If your Finance team is drowning in Excel chaos, let’s talk. We’re onboarding early adopters who want to reclaim their time, reduce errors, and become the strategic engine their company deserves.