Ninety-seven per cent of more than 600 finance leaders polled from around the world say they are planning to use AI within the next two years for process automation and efficiency, while 95% say it will be used for cash forecasting, research reveals.
But the current levels of AI use for cash forecasting and optimisation remain “relatively low” at 39% and 37%, meaning significant change in the coming 24 months for treasury departments to “catch up and leverage AI’s strong fit for the scenarios”.
Cedric Bru, chief executive of Taulia, the company behind the research conducted by Opinium, says the results shows a “significant shift” as finance leaders move to adopt AI for its ability to support strategic decision-making.
But treasury and finance staff should be ready. “It’s clear the role of AI within the finance function is only going to increase, meaning those able to understand and harness it effectively will have a substantial competitive advantage," says Bru.
“Successful finance leaders are already exploring a range of AI-powered solutions and partners to ensure they don’t fall behind the innovation curve.”
AI has a number of major “use cases” including intelligent process automation, anomaly and error detection, analysts and emulating human “judgement-based” decisions in operations.
So far, AI has been popular among 48% of those polled for supply chain management, while 46% say it has been used for process automation, though the research found that the larger the business the more likely AI is to be used.
More than half (57%) of finance leaders say their departments are currently using AI to inform key decision-making, more popular that internal (48%) and external (46%) data points, their own judgement calls (35%) and inputs from colleagues (32%).
Successful finance leaders are already exploring a range of AI-powered solutions and partners to ensure they don’t fall behind the innovation curve
Those polled also showed remarkable trust in AI. Asked if they would trust the technology to talk to customers, 66% said they would with “some human oversight”. There were similar levels (67%) of trust when questioned whether AI could be trusted to “negotiate” with customers.
Again, trust was high in AI to negotiate with (67%) and invoice (69%) suppliers.
However, the Taulia report reminds finance chiefs of the old technology adage “rubbish in, rubbish out” when it comes to the need for good data quality. It highlights the fact that, “perfect” data to produce a ”single version of the truth” is “often not yet achievable”.
Taulia advises something else. “A more attainable objective – and one that will still allow finance teams to derive enormous value from the technology – is to achieve a very good level of data accuracy.
“This is an achievable target for most, if not all organisations, and will facilitate improved decision-making quickly.”
Taulia concludes finance and treasury are heading towards a “tipping point” and face a stark choice between full adoption or falling behind their competitors. The report adds IA has much to offer.
“However, this can only be achieved with a clear plan for what the technology will deliver, supported by high-quality data and insights from finance staff who have received the appropriate training.”
Gavin Hinks is a freelance business and finance journalist
