Innovation Sprint: CFOs on the way to conquering AI
In an article entitled “Innovation sprint: CFOs on the way to conquering AI", the French magazine Daf-mag highlights the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) as one of the challenges that finance departments face in their quest for innovation. This is one of the key findings of the study "Innovation in the Finance Function" published by Eight Advisory.
A quarter of the companies surveyed stated that they are introducing AI, in the process of introducing AI. with a variety of use cases:
“We can divide them into four main categories: monitoring, analysis or synthesis, prediction and prescription”, says Florian Jouvenot, Director at Eight Advisory, about the use of AI in finance departments.
However, implementing AI requires significant change management:
“One of the levers is for AI to be adopted by top management, an adoption that usually requires a process of acculturation to understand the potential of AI and to project itself onto use cases. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) needs to be convinced of this technology so that it can then be adopted by the entire function and beyond by the business units and other support functions,” explains Pierre Gauthier, partner at Eight Advisory.
The study also underlines a mismatch between the rapid adoption of technological innovations and the slowness of managerial innovations, while flagging recruitment challenges in the area of data and ESG skills. To remain competitive, companies must not only embrace technological advances, but also rethink their management practices and adopt a long-term perspective when it comes to recruitment.
Despite fears that AI could destroy jobs, the use of AI is crucial for the competitiveness of companies, as Pierre Gauthier explains: “Many fear that AI will destroy jobs or downgrade certain professions. We are convinced that the competitiveness of companies is at stake, that professions must change and that employees who know how to use AI will be even more valuable tomorrow than they are today”.
Read the full article by Audrey Fréel in Dafmag and the Innovation in the Finance Function study
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