Calling artificial intelligence a game changer for CFOs and controllers isn’t an overstatement — it’s an undeniable fact. AI technologies can help your organization improve cash flow management, simplify reporting processes, save time, and better support the company’s big-picture goals.
You can’t just roll out the latest and greatest artificial intelligence tools, though. You’ll also need to fine-tune your financial strategies so that they support the use of AI. Here’s how.
Make a List of What Works and What Doesn’t
Take an honest look at your financial processes and, specifically, where you can improve. There are undoubtedly many areas where your team thrives, but you can always get better.
Work with your finance department to make a list of opportunities for improvement. Identify what needs to change, how you will implement those changes, and what benefits you expect them to bring.
For example, suppose that your organization relies on redundant data entry to prepare quarterly reports. Implementing AI technologies with natural language processing capabilities can cut down on manual work and help your team focus on more dynamic tasks. Reducing manual data entry can also improve accuracy and cut back on errors.
Use a Phased Rollout
The idea of implementing AI into your financial strategies can be exciting. While some eagerness is a good thing, you should be wary of getting too ambitious with your artificial intelligence implementation efforts.
Integrating AI into everything all at once can lead to change resistance and make it hard for your team to adapt. Overloading the company with new tech can also cause disruptions to other departments.
With that in mind, it’s important that you implement a phased rollout. In the previous step, you created a list of areas for improvement. You can use that list to help determine where to begin.
Consider whether you are looking to maximize the impact of AI or achieve some quick wins that yield a condensed time to value. The goal is to build momentum while giving your team some time to adapt to each change.
Succeed and Scale
You may be confident in what your team can achieve with artificial intelligence. However, business leaders may not share your beliefs. That’s why you need to show them. A phased approach can function as a proof of concept that you then use to garner additional support for AI implementation.
After you’ve racked up a win or two, show the C-suite what you’ve achieved and scale up your implementation of AI. Use the extra resources and team members that you freed up to focus on the next objective on your list.
Get Everyone Involved and Be Honest
As a financial leader, it’s your responsibility to provide clear communication about the department’s intent to adopt artificial intelligence tools. Talk to employees from different departments. Each group can give a unique look at the good and bad of implementing AI. They may also reduce the risk of delays and identify challenges that you overlooked.
Teach Your Team New Skills
Any time you add innovative technology to the mix, it can test the limits of your employees. Even the most user-friendly tools will likely involve some kind of learning curve. How you approach those challenges can mean the difference between severe change resistance and a strong return on investment.
Create a training program that teaches your employees the skills they need to use the new tools. Let them know that the technology is meant to make their lives easier, not replace them or cut down on the workforce.
Investing in your team and creating upskilling programs can go a long way toward condensing the time to value of tech investments. These efforts can also promote better morale and ensure that your employees continue being valuable assets to the organization, even as technologies and processes change.
Work With Other Departments
Artificial intelligence is truly a game-changing technology for finance departments. However, AI requires high-quality data to deliver impactful results. With that in mind, the finance department needs to collaborate with other key teams throughout the organization to ensure it has adequate data to power its AI tools.
When crafting your 2025 financial strategies, explore ways to improve communication and information sharing across all departments, including:
- Legal
- Sales
- Marketing
- Customer service
- Any other department with the authority to make purchases or requisition equipment
Improved communication channels set the stage for more relevant data and actionable AI insights.
Ready to Invest in AI? Now Is the Time
The new year is a great time to explore artificial intelligence tools and processes. Retool your finance strategies to support the adoption of AI so that your team can become more agile and efficient in 2025. Together, you and your team can overcome the challenges created by artificial intelligence and support the organization’s success.
