What might the “AI-fueled finance department of tomorrow” look like?

While there’s much agreement that AI is good at automating routine tasks and freeing up people for more valuable work, some departments are clearly a more obvious fit than others. Finance may appear as something of an outlier; a more skeptical team of professionals, reluctant to rave about AI. But why the hesitancy?

The first reason is because finance is far less likely to be swayed by AI fever in the marketplace. Let’s call this a ‘hype immunity’ superpower. Experienced CFOs will shut out the noise and take a long-term view of the business – with an eagle eye on cost, ROI, and risk.

CFOs will be acutely aware of the volatility around AI too, including statistics that give cause for both optimism and caution.

For example, surging investment in AI is expected to continue this year with many company leaders feeling bullish, according to research from EY. This reveals that 34% of those already investing in AI are planning to spend $10 million or more in 2025. Yet it’s a bumpy road.

At least 30% of generative AI (GenAI) projects will be abandoned after proof-of-concept by the end of 2025, due to poor data quality, inadequate risk controls, escalating costs or unclear business value, says Gartner.

However, powerful AI use cases exist – which the finance departments can embrace and realize the value. This isn’t about finance losing power and influence but rather harnessing the power of AI.

What’s in it for finance?

Just recently, an IDC InfoBrief sponsored by my company, Unit4, suggested that AI can address the top challenges that CFOs are facing: achieving decision velocity (26%), managing compliance and risk (24%), and coping with too many meetings and monthly reporting (22%).

While saving time and improving outcomes will appeal to CFOs, there’s an understandable concern around over-reliance on AI and loss of control. Finance isn’t a sandbox environment; it manages the lifeblood of the business. A hastily created, overreaching AI may lack nuance around any decisions it makes and put the enterprise at risk.

So, it’s no surprise if CFOs want to raise the bar with AI use cases. They need compelling propositions that are big on benefits and low on risk.

Building a super use case

Before any ideas take shape, it’s essential that AI has a solid foundation. CFOs must ensure they have a real-time unified view of data across the organization to reduce errors and avoid bias. This is key to building confidence in AI.

Next, CFOs will do well if they find super use cases with these three characteristics:

• The AI capability will work alongside your people – rather than replacing them – and provide relevant, actionable insights in real-time.
• AI adoption will empower the finance department to deliver more tangible value to the business, such as unlocking ways to increase efficiency or grow revenue.
• The AI will strengthen resilience, boost your organizational adaptability, and foster greater innovation.

A good place to start

AI deployments can provide finance teams with support, such as “red flag” prompts when spending decisions go awry. You can also automate decisions using real-time insights and reduce payment friction through automated invoicing and approvals. Meanwhile, rapid AI-powered access to trustworthy data can help with transparency and compliance.

But I’d like to suggest another super use case worth considering.

In today’s volatile world, AI can help to elevate finance into a more strategic role in the FP&A (Financial Planning and Analysis) space. Put simply, real-time AI insights will help finance to become the storytellers of business performance and financial health.

Existing FP&A solutions – enhanced by AI – can integrate and consolidate different data sources, enabling finance teams to identify root causes, hidden patterns, and dependencies behind the organization's headline numbers.

What’s more, AI can help finance teams with advanced predictive analytics. You can generate scenarios and simulations based on shifting market conditions, regulatory changes, operational factors, or supply chain issues.

This can prove especially valuable in helping the business to increase efficiency, manage risk, and become more adaptable to whatever’s around the corner.

Vital supporting role

The AI-fueled finance department of tomorrow should be a calm place.

To return to our movie analogy, AI isn’t the adversary or the lead character. Instead, it plays a vital supporting role, quietly helping finance teams to navigate a safer path to business success.

That means less edge-of-the-seat drama – and more of a predictable, satisfying storyline. The Oscars can wait.

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