With a preponderance of manual back-office processes and a close eye on cost reduction, finance departments were among the first to identify RPA and intelligent automation as a beneficial technology and adopt its use. Results of a new study find a majority of CFOs recognize the potential of automation to optimize their resources and are planning to increase automation budgets moving forward.
The Future of Automation and Intelligence within Enterprise Finance found 61 percent of CFOs and finance leaders recognize automating processes in the finance department will provide “significant value” and that 58 percent plan to increase their investment over the next 12 months.
A quarter of CFOs polled say they have already fully automated payroll and invoice management processes and another 45 percent report they have started this project. Only 5 percent of CFOs say they have fully automated data analysis, but more than a third plan to automate this function within two years, according to the report.
“This report revealed that finance leaders are ready to capitalize on the opportunities offered by AI and automation,” said Alexander Hagerup, CEO of Vic.ai, which commissioned the report. “Enterprise finance is at an inflection point, driven in part by the maturity and reliability of automation technologies. With rising operational costs and specialized talent becoming increasingly difficult to hire, the benefits of automation are clear – and the pressure to adopt intelligent, insightful technology is mounting. Those finance leaders who are going beyond digitization and adopting AI-powered automation are on the path to true autonomy, breaking away from the pack and positioning themselves to win.”