Dive Brief:

• More than two-thirds of corporate finance teams are in the exploratory stage of artificial intelligence implementation, information services company Wolters Kluwer found in a global survey.
• Only 9% of respondents said their organization’s finance function was already in the process of exploring ways to scale AI projects more broadly, according to a report on the findings released Thursday. The survey was completed by 181 participants, representing various roles in their organization, mostly finance.
• “AI adoption [in the office of the CFO] is just starting to ramp up,” the report said. The study “indicates organizations are actively interested in implementing AI-driven tech but are still investigating their options and learning how AI can be integrated into their Finance functions.”

Dive Insight:

The research comes as enterprises are seeing an explosion of AI-powered software tools designed to streamline workflows, with Microsoft pushing to become a dominant force in the space.

“We are rapidly infusing AI across every layer of the tech stack, and for every role and business process to drive productivity gains for our customers,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in an earnings call about a year ago.

In mid-2023, Microsoft announced that it was incorporating a new set of generative AI capabilities into its Dynamics 365 enterprise resource planning platform, which is designed to help organizations automate and manage core business processes, including finance. Early this year, the software giant unveiled Copilot for Finance, a virtual assistant for finance teams, after introducing similar AI companions for professionals in sales and customers service.

Meanwhile, finance and human resources management platform provider Workday last month announced a major rollout of new AI capabilities, including a virtual assistant that resembles Microsoft’s Copilot tool.

And Oracle’s NetSuite business unveiled its own package of AI enhancements last month. Among other updates, new AI features were added to NetSuite Enterprise Performance Management to help finance departments “streamline reporting, expand insights, improve decision-making, and steer their business toward new growth opportunities,” according to a press release.

A Gartner study released last month revealed that CFOs have grown more bullish about the potential business value of AI after earlier signs of skepticism. Sixty-six percent of finance leaders said they were more optimistic about the technology compared to last year, according to the study. Respondents said they were furthest along in adopting use cases related to intelligent process automation and anomaly and error detection.

Another study, published by finance software provider Sage in May, showed that 86% of organizations had embraced AI, yet only about half were using AI-powered finance tools.

“While many organizations see the broad benefits of AI, integrating it into specialized functions like finance requires a more targeted approach as well as perhaps overcoming additional barriers, such as skill gaps, budget constraints, or concerns about data security,” Jacqui Cartin, executive vice president and group financial controller at Sage, said in an emailed response to questions.

Among the survey respondents that had adopted AI, reported results included improved decision-making and the ability to forecast trends with greater accuracy, Cartin said.