12 hours Ago By Suhasini Srinivasaragavan
‘Focus on the implementations where you know you’ll get returns,’ advised Basware’s director of AI. A global survey of 400 senior finance leaders in business revealed that nearly half of them (48pc) warned of slashing investment in AI if returns don’t show within a year – however, experts say that a clear strategy will help businesses benefit from AI implementation. The Finnish accounts payable automation service, Basware, in its ‘AI to ROI’ report conducted by Financial Times Longitude also found that 75pc of finance leaders want to increase their investments in AI within the next 12 to 18 months, but don’t know where to start.
However, the report explained that AI is “critical” to addressing risks that concern most finance leaders. The surveyed CFOs listed inefficient processes, talent retention, inaccurate forecasting and fraudulent activity as costing the greatest to their businesses. In each case, the leaders experienced improvement owing to AI implementation.
“The value is there in AI. Every day you wait, you are forgoing benefits,” said Jason Kurtz, Basware CEO. 82pc of the leaders reported increased revenue using AI tools, Basware said, however, not all organisations benefit equally from AI initiatives.
According to the report, 86pc of finance leaders said deploying AI tools that support financial planning and analysis has generated significant returns, while almost as many (85pc), report that the use of AI in accounts payable has already started to pay off. The accounts payable company also advised leaders to develop a “clear vision,” and to see AI as a “transformative initiative”. Anssi Ruokonen, the director of AI research and enablement at Basware advised leaders to involve employees during the AI implementation process in the business and support them as “key AI users” – the report found that 65pc of leaders reported improved employee satisfaction since investing in AI.
Basware references a report from the consulting firm McKinsey, which found that 83pc of CFOs believe AI could help finance professionals reduce the time they spend on manual tasks, however not many have fully realised that ambition. While since investing in AI, almost all the leaders surveyed by Basware have enjoyed reduced error rates and faster fraud detection, with 76pc pointing to reduced operational costs and 64pc highlighting increased process efficiency. According to the report, 70pc of leaders reported that staff are demanding AI tools that will relieve the administrative burden while three in four add that deploying these tools has already given staff more freedom to focus on strategic work.
Ireland is however trailing behind in the implementation of AI. According to a recent , only 24pc of Irish tech executives said their organisations deployed AI “at scale”, while in the country – firms that employ less than 10 employees – show to be less likely to even embrace AI in their business..
