In a world increasingly dominated by automation and AI, unlocking the potential of people to add the ‘human touch’ can be a huge boost for both businesses and their staff.

As an example, by eliminating manual tasks and integrating disparate systems, AI can free finance teams from shuffling paperwork so they can focus instead on activities that add value.

Almost six in every 10 finance leaders say they spend more than half their time on manual finance operations, according to global financial technology provider Airwallex’s Simplifying Global Spend report, making it difficult for them to fulfil their potential as trusted business advisers.

Expense management is particularly challenging, with 97 per cent of businesses struggling with a lack of robust spending control. Of these, 63 per cent still rely on spreadsheets and manual processes to manage expenses, making it extremely difficult to streamline and scale operations.

Unlocking Strategic Value

Rather than spend their days chasing unpaid invoices and reimbursing expenses, valuable finance leaders should be delivering actionable insights to help drive better-informed decisions and improve business outcomes, says Alan FitzGerald, founder of IT consultancy Practice Connections Advisory.

The introduction of AI into the backend finance role should be considered one of the most important developments in finance, just as new tools like the compass, sextant and GPS revolutionised sailing over time, FitzGerald says.

“These technological advancements did not replace sailors but, rather, provided them with greater accuracy and insight into their current situation and what lay ahead,” he says.

“I see the introduction of AI as equally important, providing rapid insights into the financial position and enabling swift, necessary course adjustments without surprises.“

Implementing AI and improving automation should boost both the efficiency and agility of finance teams, says Shannon Scott, senior vice president and global head of product at Airwallex.

Breaking the Spreadsheet Cycle

Similar to the introduction of spreadsheets, the use of AI is not about replacing finance teams. Instead, the technology helps people spend less time crunching numbers and more time interpreting what those numbers mean for the business.

In turn, this helps reduce human error but, rather than taking people out of the loop, AI workflows can still incorporate human oversight and approvals to ensure transparency and accountability.

Modern fintechs such as Airwallex streamline financial operations for businesses, including invoicing and payments, spend management and financial reporting, all on one platform, even across different markets.

Beyond simply saving time and reducing the risk of errors when it comes to areas such as accounts payable and receivable, Scott says AI and automation allow financial teams to focus on more strategic activities, thereby unlocking value.

“When you’re not so busy wading through day-to-day finance paperwork, you can spend more time looking at the big picture,” Scott says.

“For example, you can look more holistically at your payables, suppliers and approvals to optimise your workflows and watch for fraudulent activity.

“Beyond efficiency, you can also start to ask big questions like whether you’re getting the best value from your vendors and if there are better alternatives.”

Along with streamlining operations to deliver efficiencies, AI also offers finance leaders new ways to query data in search of deeper insight. They can take advantage of natural language queries while shortening iteration cycles in order to accelerate decision making.

Data-Driven Decisions at Speed

Every senior leader wants better insight into what’s happening in their business, Scott adds. With AI-powered tools, they can simply ask complex queries such as, “What is my forecast spend through the rest of the year, and how does that compare to past years?”

“If you asked your finance team to prepare this report manually, it might take them a week and even then, you might only get 80 per cent of the answers you were looking for,” he says.

“With AI, you can operate far more fluidly, quickly getting answers to complex queries and easily honing the results to ensure you have exactly what you need at your fingertips – offering not just a productivity boost but also a competitive advantage.”