Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing organizations of all sizes, with advancements occurring at an extraordinary pace. For finance leaders, keeping up with these rapid developments can be a challenge.

CFOs must stay informed of the latest AI innovations, particularly in generative AI, but it's equally important to recognize the tangible benefits AI is already delivering across enterprises.

Regardless of your industry, size, or growth stage, AI-led competitors are emerging and they are coming for your market share. Without testing and implementing today’s AI tools built for finance, you risk being outpaced by these forward-thinking rivals.

AI is already transforming finance

As I recently wrote, finance teams have much to gain from AI, and many organizations are already using AI-powered financial performance management tools. I speak with CFOs regularly, and their attitudes have quickly moved from being curious about AI to actively investing in it. Finance and accounting teams are, wisely, leaning on their most-trusted vendors to ensure they have a multi-year plan, with a step-by-step adoption approach.

Today, Finance teams are using AI to create value and save time across a multitude of use cases. AI can generate accurate forecasts in minutes, handling millions of lines of data across complex models. It can automate processes, significantly reducing the time needed for monthly close cycles, reporting, and ad hoc analyses, thus speeding up decision-making. Additionally, AI can quickly detect anomalies in large datasets, identifying outliers and highlighting questionable numbers for finance teams to review.

Take advantage of AI’s fast transition from efficiency to growth

AI’s benefits for finance focus on efficiency and productivity now, but they will soon shift to presenting insights that lead to growth and improve your competitiveness. Leading CFOs are looking to create value with AI, not just cut costs and increase productivity.

Here are three reasons why it’s time to get on board with AI:

#1 - AI will deliver exponentially more accurate insights

The intuitive, conversational experiences enabled by generative AI will give finance more insights in less time and with increased accuracy. If you’ve tried ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot, you know the power of conversational AI. Asking questions in natural language and getting fast and accurate results will let teams explore more areas of interest to find more opportunities.

We already solved the challenges of computation-at-scale in finance, replacing spreadsheets with powerful software platforms that handle big data and at-scale collaboration. Now, generative AI is adding comprehension to create intuitive, conversational experiences where finance teams can interact with platforms as if they were another team member. The technology will understand the insight you’re seeking and then deliver it near-instantly so you can make better decisions for more meaningful impact.

#2 - AI will enhance the quest for growth

AI-led companies use AI in everything across all departments of their business including planning, marketing, customer service, and sales. They will be more nimble, have more data, and find the routes that lead to more wins.  If you remain focused on AI only for productivity, you’ll be vulnerable to these new entrants.

Using AI to generate growth today is how you can stay one step ahead. Plus, nothing bogs down companies like cost-cutting initiatives. And nothing ignites change faster than a focus on growth. AI is the accelerant.

#3 - AI will increase competitiveness

If you’re still not convinced that AI is table stakes today, let me be blunt: AI is a requirement for medium to long-term success. AI is as significant a change as the late 90s shift to ‘online everything’, yet it’s moving exponentially faster. Companies and CFOs looking externally, beyond finance and accounting productivity, are now learning and adopting AI technologies to better position themselves against current and future competitors.

Start using AI to improve the customer experience, enhance sales effectiveness, accelerate product development, optimize marketing targeting, and more. Start thinking of AI as an offensive advantage instead of a defensive backstop.

Floor your AI accelerator

You should be testing and exploring AI innovations constantly. It’s moving fast, and new applications and use cases are cropping up daily. Finance must be smart about the potential to help justify the necessary investments.

If you don’t already have an AI-focused initiative or team, start there. Internally, at Planful, we created a program where a few people from various teams started using AI. It was an organic approach to finding what works rather than a top-down mandate that would stifle innovation. Once those early adopters found great AI use cases, we rolled them out to the broader teams, and it’s been very successful.

You might also need to hire some new talent who understand and use AI-powered tools. They will help you find the use cases that matter, avoid any trendy solutions that waste time and resources, and keep you up-to-date on what must be done today so you’re more competitive tomorrow.

I’m convinced that finance must embrace AI immediately. Using AI for better insights, enhanced growth, and increased competitiveness helps CFOs position organizations for long-term success.