The AI hype cycle is real. And as AI continues to dominate headlines, Finance teams must face a critical question: What tangible value can AI bring to my organization?

For the Office of the CFO, AI holds the promise to revolutionize productivity and decision making. In fact, Gartner found that finance organizations with more than three years of AI skills investment will double their productivity by 2026.  But if AI’s potential is so clear, why are Finance leaders hesitant to adopt such game-changing technology?

The first generation of AI toolsets led to more challenges and revealed a number of concerns for Finance teams. Early adopters invested heavily in AI toolsets and expensive data scientists to manage them.  While experts in technology, these resources often lacked a clear understanding and context of the business. They struggled to identify impactful use cases to better financial planning and decisioning. Worse yet, answers returned from these AI tools, lacked transparency into data sources and analytic methods. This left Finance teams with more questions than answers, wasted resources, and provided little ROI.

As Finance teams face increased pressure to steer the business, AI has the power to unlock enterprise-wide transformation. But CFOs need a fresh perspective. AI needs to be re -thought as a solution to solve specific problems in Finance.

The Future of Finance is Applied AI

Unlike general-purpose AI , which perform broader, automated functions and are less specialized, Applied AI is built to address specific needs. It seamlessly integrates into existing workflows and is tailored to the unique needs of both the Finance Department and the greater enterprise.

Purpose-built AI for Finance addresses specific challenges within the Finance function, including predictive financial modeling, cash flow forecasting, anomaly detection and risk scenario analysis. By focusing on Finance-specific problems, Applied AI’s deep contextual understanding delivers more accurate and reliable results. This ensures that AI initiatives deliver clear ROI and value, helping CFOs move from reporting on past data to performing value-added analysis. This will guide GFOs into actionable insights and enable them in a transition from backward-looking and “descriptive” analysis to forward-looking and “predictive” forecasts to drive the business.

A recent Gartner survey highlights the transformative power of AI, with 62% of CFOs and 58% of CEOs believing that AI will most significantly impact their industries over the next three years. While CFOs are increasingly recognizing AI’s capacity to transform, Applied AI offers a step forward to drive agility, capability and insights, positioning Finance as a strategic value driver across the organization.  

Speeding Widespread AI Adoption

CFOs have long understood the importance of automation, with 79% designating it as an operational priority for 2023. Yet, adoption has not translated into enhanced insights. While Finance Departments have traditionally relied upon data scientists to bridge this value gap, their findings often lacked the necessary context to translate findings into forward-looking, actionable intelligence. The result is a process mired in extended analysis and reporting that fails to deliver agile, forward-looking forecasts.

Applied AI addresses this critical gap by offering tailored solutions that address Finance-specific challenges, such as demand forecasting and scenario modeling.

To realize AI’s full potential and speed the adoption of AI for Finance, the Office of the CFO must focus on three criteria for AI adoption:

• Trusted: As gatekeepers to business performance insights, Finance leaders  need to build trust in the data and the transparency behind the sources of insights and analysis. Applied AI solutions can be built with trusted, pre-validated data to fuel financial formulas and models to ensure reliable outputs that provide deep transparency into how the answers and insights were formed.

• Secure: Security is a top priority for any enterprise, particularly for Finance teams. Applied AI solutions can be embedded within existing processes and built on platforms with enterprise-grade security measures, so the data being used is secure and compliant.

• Purpose-Built: For AI’s full power to be realized, it must be designed specifically for Finance workflows. Applied AI offers pre-packaged, purpose-built solutions that address common Finance challenges, allowing teams to use AI models and processes without the need for a data scientist.

Overcoming Enterprise Hesitancy

To overcome Applied AI hesitancy, CFOs should take a proactive approach. In fact, the strategies outlined in PwC's 2019 whitepaper How AI Will Transform the CFO’s Role, remain relevant today.

First, CFOs must set clear objectives by identifying specific use cases where AI can drive significant improvements, such as enhancing cash flow forecasting accuracy, improving risk management, or optimizing financial planning processes. By setting measurable goals and demonstrating potential ROI, CFOs can build a compelling business case for investment in Applied AI.

Next, securing organizational buy-in is crucial. CFOs should engage frontline employees who will use the technology daily, ensuring they understand its benefits. Simultaneously, securing C-suite support is essential to align AI initiatives with broader business goals. Regular communication and training sessions can help demystify AI and address any employee concerns employees.

Finally, Finance teams must adopt AI that is trusted, secure and purpose-built to deliver lasting value and clear ROI. This approach transcends the first wave of AI, offering tailored solutions with validated data and clear transparency so Finance leaders can feel confident in their investment and trust the security, accuracy and compliance of model outputs.

At OneStream, our AI solutions are purpose-built for finance, using validated data sources and built in an enterprise-grade, secure environment. That’s why we call it Sensible AI. OneStream is how today’s Finance teams can go beyond just reporting on the past and start steering the business to the future. It’s the only enterprise finance platform that unifies all your financial and operational data, embeds AI for better decisions and productivity, and can extend to meet the evolving needs of your business, without adding technical debt.

Learn how you can harness the power of Enterprise Finance AI, visit OneStream.