Finance
Finance Teams With AI Deeply Embedded Are Pulling Ahead. Here's Why
Achieving AI ROI in finance starts with rethinking the systems and people powering it.
Hannah Wren
Senior Editorial Strategist
²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ
Let's address the elephant in the room: most finance leaders aren't seeing returns from AI yet.
A revealed that one in five finance professionals says AI has accelerated their work without actually improving business results¡ªthe highest rate of any function surveyed. And ?, "71% of typical finance teams report low impact from their AI investments, and 62% of CFOs say fewer than a quarter of their AI initiatives deliver measurable benefits."?
At the same time, the ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ study also revealed that finance teams with AI deeply embedded are pulling ahead. Among finance respondents in organizations with AI in core systems, nearly half (49%) said it reduces overall friction. And over half (51%) reported AI-driven task-time reductions of 25% or more.
Because AI gains compound, the distance between those early movers and everyone else is only growing wider every day. And despite the doom-and-gloom news cycle on AI costs, that if AI delivers on its productivity promise across the organization, it isn't expensive¡ªit's a bargain.
The companies generating meaningful value from AI are doing one thing differently: they¡¯re redesigning how work gets done. That means CFOs who want the same results can't just buy more technology¡ªthey have to rethink the systems behind it.?
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AI Agents Are Here¡ªBut Don¡¯t Call Them Boss
One in five finance professionals says AI has accelerated their work without actually improving results.
Shift The Focus To Core Workflows
Companies that aren't getting real value from AI usually share the same problem: lots of scattered pilots, with little focus on reworking the operations that actually drive the business. Just 23% of finance respondents in ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ's survey said AI is deeply embedded in their organization's core systems for managing people, money, and plans.
The teams seeing early ROI from AI are taking a different approach, embedding AI directly into high-value workflows: monitoring key metrics and recommending actions, assisting with financial close and reporting, supporting budgeting and forecasting, and coordinating approvals across departments¡ªto name a few.
is a prime example. Its finance team embedded predictive intelligence into its forecasting cycles, eliminating entire steps in the process by trusting AI signals within defined guardrails. AI now generates the baseline revenue forecast, with a human in the loop for oversight and material adjustments. In back-testing, the forecast reached roughly 98.5% accuracy on revenue and EBITDA versus actuals, helping the team report faster and make better-informed decisions.
There¡¯s a world of difference between automating routine work like invoice processing and redesigning a core process to make faster, smarter decisions. , ¡°firms that prioritize these 'upside' opportunities are twice as likely to see major AI gains.¡±?
Just 23% of finance respondents in ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ's survey said AI is deeply embedded in their organization's core systems for managing people, money, and plans.?
Fix The Foundation First
Another mistake companies are making is jumping into AI projects before setting up a strong operational foundation first, one where data is connected and structured for AI.
For finance, trust is foundational: 84% of finance respondents in our study agreed that AI increases confidence in decisions only when they know they can trust the underlying systems and data. In other words, the real constraint isn't technology¡ªit's an operating environment designed for a world before AI existed.
That's why organizations ahead of the curve don't just speed up old processes. They rethink the systems and workflows that run the business.
Take Welltech, for instance. Instead of accelerating what already existed, its finance team started by fixing its fragmented data.
"Innovation starts with clean data and strong foundations. You can't layer AI or automation on top of broken processes," says Welltech CFO Svitlana Biletska.
That foundational work paid off. Welltech¡¯s finance team moved away from manual work and gained real-time insight into cash, financial commitments, and forecasting, putting it in a stronger position to support the business.
AI can't be a bolt-on anymore. Every CFO should ask of their finance processes: Would we design it this way if we were starting today, with AI available? If the answer is no, redesign before you automate.
"Innovation starts with clean data and strong foundations. You can't layer AI or automation on top of broken processes."Svitlana Biletska
CFO, Welltech?
Invest In People, Not Just Tech
Rethinking how work gets done is as much about people as it is technology. Yet most organizations pour spending into technology¡ªand invest far less in enabling people to use technology effectively.
The CFOs seeing value from AI flip that equation: they build cultures where everyone on the team uses AI to create new tools, improve workflows, and surface insights faster.
, only about 30% of finance talent currently qualifies as digital talent¡ªemployees who can build a technology solution when they encounter a problem¡ªwhile ¡®breakaway firms¡¯ are targeting 90% or more.?
¡°Finance leaders must democratize technology work now and empower their people because it simply won¡¯t be possible to hire all the digital talent they need,¡± Clement Christensen, VP Analyst at Gartner. ¡°Finance work is technology work.¡±
In practice, that might mean launching an AI literacy program so every finance employee¡ªnot just the specialists¡ªspeaks the same language. It might mean standing up an AI learning academy with a curriculum tied to real finance workflows, or building AI skills into performance reviews.
The payoff goes beyond the hard numbers: 68% of finance professionals said AI tools have decreased their stress or burnout risk, according to ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ¡¯s survey. In other words, AI investment can pay human dividends alongside financial ones.
There¡¯s No Time to Waste
CFOs no longer have the luxury of only experimenting. They're now being asked to deliver scalable value. And while many finance teams are still deciding where to start, early movers are surging ahead.
The cost of standing still is simply too high. The winners won't be the organizations with the best AI models. They'll be the ones that rebuild their foundation first, shift the focus to core workflows, prioritize people¡ªand move fast.
Employees lose a full day every week to manual data-juggling. Stop paying this costly productivity tax. to learn how embedding AI into core workflows deletes the busywork and unlocks your team's true potential.
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AI Agents Are Here¡ªBut Don¡¯t Call Them Boss
A gap between effort and impact is the real ROI problem. Discover the solution.