How AI Can Improve Your Finance Department’s Workflow
All you need to know about the power of AI to help your finance department.
Digital finance teams know the best way to increase efficiency and produce high-quality information is with AI-powered systems. Chen Amit, the co-founder and CEO of Tipalti, shares the top four benefits of incorporating fintech and automation into the finance function.
Artificial intelligence has crept into nearly every industry and aspect of our lives. It has become so ubiquitous that most of us don’t even realize we rely on it whenever we converse with a smart speaker or receive personalized Spotify song recommendations.
AI isn’t just beneficial for consumers, though. It’s also beneficial for businesses, particularly when it comes to elevating and optimizing the workflows and outputs of finance departments.
By adopting automation technology, finance professionals get operational boosts. At the same time, they have the opportunity to be more agile and responsive to time-sensitive market changes.
Today, the social distancing guardrails set up during the pandemic might have come down for the most part. However, the use of automation in fintech hasn’t waned, with experts predicting that AI in the global fintech market will reach $22.87 billion by 2026, a compound annual growth rate of 32.5%.
See More: FinTech Disruption: The Evolution of Alternative Lending
Automation’s Great Impact on Digital Finance Operations
Anyone who has worked in finance knows it has been ripe for disruption for a while. Many of the traditional financial workflows are fraught with inefficiency.
Take accounts payable, for instance. The manual AP process is arguably one of the most draining workflows in finance today, causing chaotic and stressful expectations for finance teams. Not only do classic AP responsibilities include a lot of tedious data entry tasks and workflows, but they also open the door to human error.
Automation backed by AI streamlines AP processes. That’s why high-velocity companies are moving full steam ahead to implement AI in their processes and workflows as the world becomes more digital. AP is only one of many finance department functions that benefit from automation. Others, such as issuing reports or managing cash flow, can be just as positively impacted.
Four Benefits of Incorporating Automation Into Finance Department Workflows
If your finance team hasn’t dabbled in fintech and automation yet, you’ll want to start soon. When you do, you and your company will begin to experience some of the advantages listed below:
1. Eliminate time-consuming manual tasks
The adage “time is money” is as true now as it’s ever been—perhaps even more true in an age where overworking and burnout are very real, resulting in problems and contributing reasons for people leaving their jobs.
One way of dealing with employee burnout is to incorporate AI-backed automation software, which can alleviate some of the manual responsibilities. Automation in the finance industry can improve your team’s efficiency and productivity without needing to increase your team’s size. At the same time, automation leaves your employees less burdened by redundant tasks.
Without question, streamlining repetitive duties using AI-enhanced automation software has been a trend in many finance departments, growing in popularity since 2020. McKinsey & Company reports that 88% of finance executives have accelerated their use of automated systems and AI. A report from PwC estimates that companies can save as much as 40% of their workers’ time when they automate finance operations. In that case, your 40-hour employees could get back up to 16 hours per week without losing momentum.
2. Elevate your finance employees to the level of financial strategists
Upskilling and on-the-job training are becoming increasingly important to employees. Many workers want opportunities to learn and grow professionally from within their current positions. Many employees will realize that automation gives them a chance to tap into hidden talents and reach their true professional potential. Try the following strategies as you move toward a different way of thinking about your team members and what they can accomplish. They’ll assist you in guiding your employees to do their best work.
- Share the CFO’s goals: Workers can’t begin to strategically think like the CFO if they aren’t privy to the CFO’s broad and narrow objectives. A high degree of transparency and communication goes a long way toward making sure everyone understands how their contributions move the department and company toward a bigger purpose.
- Give employees exciting new challenges: Part of the learning process is flexing muscles that have never been used in the past. On a regular basis, assign more complex tasks to workers.
- Consider a mentorship program: Mentorships can be highly beneficial for upskilling and even reskilling your finance department staff. Be sure to listen and learn from your mentees as you coach them—mentoring is a two-way street, after all.
3. Get more out of your finance tech stack
It’s not uncommon for finance departments to work within legacy systems that might or might not integrate with one another. Without integration, employees have no alternative but to continue their repetitive manual responsibilities across multiple systems and back ends.
Investing in an upgraded finance tech stack that seamlessly brings data and workflows together frees your department from the constraints of outdated tech.
You might also find that your new tech stack can integrate and help streamline other processes used by other departments, such as procurement, sales, marketing, or support, as it can foster competitive intelligence, forecasting, cash flow management, and more. Being able to share data across silos improves interdepartmental communication and decision-making.
By letting go of outdated manual processes and embracing automation supported by AI, your department can also gain important security, compliance, and scalability ramifications.
See More: Should Fintech Workers Fear AI?
4. Work toward reducing risk and fraud in finance
If you work in finance, you are most likely aware of how many false positives manual processes can cause. Your fintech upgrade can help reduce risk and fraud with a considerably lower false-positive rate and boost regulatory compliance with the Office of Foreign Assets Control and Anti-Money Laundering.
AI-powered automation flags bad data to reduce false positives. This eliminates extra labor because the systems can analyze the data quickly, giving your employees time back to focus on higher-value tasks that can’t be automated.
The whole point of AI is that it continues to learn as it analyzes data and situations. Ask your fintech provider how you can maximize your system’s ability to lower false-positive rates and improve regulatory compliance.
Finance, Automation With AI, and the Future
There’s little doubt that automation will continue to change the face of all types of businesses and business operations. If your finance department doesn’t seem to be running as smoothly as you think it could, you might find an answer in AI-supported fintech. With automation by your side, your team will be able to accomplish more without adding staff or making anyone work overtime.
Do you think AI-supported fintech will make finance safer and more agile? Share with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We’d love to know!
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