AI Is Driving Digital Transformation in Finance
Artificial intelligence is one of the hottest topics in finance transformation among finance leaders. One survey showed that 53% of finance leaders reported experimenting with AI capabilities, with another 24% already implementing AI within their finance functions. There’s good reason so many industries are rushing to adopt AI. For example, analysts estimate that artificial intelligence could save some industries as much as $1 trillion.
Using AI in finance has the potential for big rewards, but only if used properly. With 70% of executives expected to increase AI resourcing in 2024, it’s more important than ever that finance leaders have a plan to implement AI into their workflow. This includes ensuring they have talent that can adapt to digital transformation.
The Role of AI in Finance
AI must be introduced strategically to use these tools to their best effect. Not every task can be improved with AI, nor does it complete all work perfectly. Instead, these tools have specific functions that can be used to help improve business efficiencies and reduce the risk of error. These functions include automating repetitive tasks, providing customer support and helping provide relevant data and analysis to inform strategic decision-making.
Automate Repetitive Tasks
Repetitive, time-consuming tasks can make it difficult for workers to devote time to higher-level business priorities.
AI, however, can automate tasks like data entry, reconciliation and generating reports. It can also help with fraud detection and identifying anomalies in data sets much more efficiently, which can help reduce risk for a company. The benefits are twofold: AI reduces the margins for error and frees up time for accountants, financial analysts, treasurers and other finance employees to upskill and focus on other tasks. One survey showed that 52% of finance departments were already using AI to support automation.
Some industries have also started to forecast savings generated by long-term AI adoption. North American banks, for example, estimate that automating certain tasks could save them $70 billion by 2025.
Provide 24/7 Customer Support
The COVID-19 pandemic may have sped up the need for robust online business models, but its popularity was likely to grow no matter what.
More than 268 million American consumers shop online and 55.6% of U.S. consumers say they prefer online shopping. And it’s estimated that the global ecommerce transaction value will reach $8.5 trillion by 2026 after reaching $6 trillion in 2022, signaling no slowing to the trend. Financial services has also seen a substantial uptick in interest in recent years, with millennials and Gen-Z in particular preferring online banking (with 78% of millennials reporting avoiding banking in person whenever possible).
As the reliance on online shopping and banking grows, so does the need for 24/7 customer support. Keeping a call center staffed to support that need, however, would be cost prohibitive. AI tools like virtual assistants and chatbots can handle intake requests and common inquiries at any hour of the day. This saves more complex questions for skilled, human support staff to handle during normal business hours.
Support Strategic Decision-making
Tasks like financial forecasting, budgeting and risk analysis are vitally important, but can be time-consuming for workers. Instead of relying on human labor to complete these tasks, AI finance tools can focus on analyzing datasets or forecasting trends. These tools can complete the work more quickly while minimizing human error. One use case even reported a 97% forecast accuracy. Another company saw a 20% improvement in credit risk model performance when they combined their traditional scorecard with machine learning. Employees can then use these outputs to support their strategic decision-making.
AI Should Support, Not Replace, Human Talent
AI has a lot to offer finance departments, but these tools can’t work alone. Well-trained talent is at the core of every successful AI implementation.
AI can be hugely beneficial when paired with human ingenuity. Studies from MIT and Harvard found that, when used within the boundaries of their capabilities, generative AI tools helped workers complete their tasks more quickly while improving the quality of the finished product. This comes with a caveat, however.
One MIT study found that when participants accepted AI results without question, there were errors and a decrease in performance. This study should act as a cautionary tale: Human finance professionals will always need to have oversight over AI output and should be ultimately responsible for workplace or project decisions.
Employers looking to incorporate AI into their financial workflow need to ensure their employees have AI training to best oversee and leverage this technology. For current employees, this may mean hosting training sessions to help workers upskill and become comfortable with the tools. Companies can also look to recruit candidates who have AI experience or can adapt to finance transformation initiatives.
Find a Partner with Experience with Finance Transformation Initiatives
To find this talent, companies should partner with a talent solutions company with experience supporting finance transformation initiatives.
Aston Carter understands the evolving skill sets finance professionals should have to support these innovative projects. With a deep, nationwide talent pool to draw from, we can source candidates with experience in AI and other digital transformation tools critical to finance transformation projects. We can also help source in-demand finance candidates in areas like financial analysis, modeling, data management and accounting.
Aston Carter is a cost-effective alternative to large consulting firms with access to the same, if not better talent, to help solve our customers’ business problems while facilitating the successful completion of our clients’ most important projects and initiatives — on-time and on-budget.
Contact us today to find the talent you need for your AI and finance transformation efforts.
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