Top 5 trends for AI-adopting finance leaders

How can Finance use AI to solve business challenges?

CFOs and heads of Finance from industry-leading Fortune 500 companies, meeting at our annual Customer Advisory Board events in Dallas and Frankfurt, discussed recent trends and advances in finance AI. Inspired by AppZen on Tour, they were eager to share thoughts on a number of topics, including enhancing their teams with finance AI “coworkers,” improving supplier relationships, and more. Here’s what they’re paying attention to ahead of next year.

Present AI as a digital colleague

Our customers acknowledged that introducing AI initially caused concern about job security and value among their team members. To counter this, our customers suggested involving teams early in the conversation, while highlighting how AI can offload mundane tasks. They felt that offering employees a chance to concentrate on more meaningful work, develop new skills, achieve better work-life balance, and pursue career growth opportunities could change mindsets by increasing their confidence in a better future.

“When you optimize your processes with these ‘digital workers,’ you’re making your job more meaningful and getting to the end result faster. Driving these efficiencies as a department can really sell the idea of getting additional funding for more process improvements.” 

Head of Finance at a global life science company

Recognize the importance of partnering with your IT team

IT often influences purchasing decisions, so it’s important to demonstrate the value of adding new technologies to their current ecosystem. To address any integration challenges and streamline processes, our customers emphasized the need to involve IT early in purchasing decisions and be prepared to prove how AI tools can lighten their workload. Including IT in the development of an AI council can also go a long way toward ensuring their security concerns are heard and addressed.

Finance organizations and the IT teams that serve them are unwilling to risk relying on an AI that might take unexpected actions…. [In response,] companies have formed AI councils to develop mitigation strategies for emergent technologies as they are integrated into financial operations.

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Craft a compelling business case for broader executive buy-in

Executives often hesitate to switch tools due to concerns about disrupting the employee experience and adding complexity. Our customers felt that presenting a clear business case showing increasing value and excellent customer service over time is crucial. They agreed that the right solution can reduce IT support queries, enhance leadership's forecasting, answer employee questions faster, and improve the experience for third-party vendors and suppliers. Here’s how one customer explained the need for these AI tools to the rest of the executive team:

“[I told them] you guys [AppZen] are the experts in the AI associated with these types of activities. Therefore, we don't need to invest our technology and our resources to do that, allowing us to be good at what we're good at.”

Shared Services Leader at a global bank

Use finance AI to optimize working capital and take action

Leaders struggle with timely reimbursements due to excessive checks and discrepancies that require numerous approvals. Our customers want to use the data captured by AI to create actionable insights that improve working capital and uncover expense leakage. They were intrigued by AppZen Coach’s AI-powered, prescriptive insights for expense auditing, and its unique recommendations targeted to their businesses. They agreed that these kinds of recommendations could help reduce approvals, allowing them to take immediate action to optimize their workflow processes and increase working capital. They were enthusiastic about future technology developments in this area.

“From a forecasting perspective, my biggest problem is that I don't have reliable data from a single source. This is what we try to change with AppZen.” 

Senior Financial Services Director for a leading global manufacturing company

Focus on enhancing supplier relationships 

Our customers agreed that using AI to handle routine AP tasks frees up time for teams to focus on strategic work, such as fostering better supplier relationships. They’re excited about AI tools like AppZen Inbox, which can help efficiently categorize emails, check invoice statuses, respond to vendor inquiries, reconcile bank statements, and provide vendor insights. They want AP to focus on improving supplier onboarding, addressing vendor behavior issues, and improving vendor relationships.

“There might be bad blood with your vendor and you need to speak to the vendor and understand what is missing. That is an element that AI cannot produce. That requires you.” 

Senior Financial Services Director for a leading global manufacturing company

Taking a strategic approach to onboarding AI for finance

The insights shared by our Customer Advisory Board members underscore the importance of a strategic approach to AI implementation. Forward-thinking executives are embracing AI’s potential to transform their teams and processes by reframing AI as a digital colleague, partnering with IT, crafting compelling business cases, using automation to optimize working capital, and nurturing supplier relationships. Our customers agreed: finance leaders who successfully adopt these technologies will effectively streamline operations, positioning their organizations for success in the increasingly digital landscape expected in the year ahead.

Interested in joining your fellow finance leaders at our next Customer Advisory Board event? Reach out to your Customer Success Manager today.