How humans and AI can combine to revolutionise finance

There are several areas of artificial intelligence which can be useful to a finance department and the entire business. These areas include machine learning, neural networks, robotics, planning and natural language processing. Used in the right way, these aspects of AI can be highly beneficial.

However, there are positives and negatives associated with using AI. For instance, there is a limitation to what AI can achieve in comparison with the intelligence of a human. There is no emotional intelligence or “thinking outside the box”. Therefore, the best way to optimise the use of AI is to combine it with humans. This is of particular interest to Finance Directors who have a responsibility for advising a business about financial aspects such as improving revenue and reducing costs. A well-thought-out combination of humans and AI can be valuable in these areas.

Improving revenue with the help of AI

Vast amounts of data are used when dealing with the revenue of a business. Using this data in the right way is an important means of improving revenue. AI is pivotal in this area as it’s capable of dealing with the large amounts of data that are involved.

For instance, AI can be used to structure data in such a way that it can identify the most profitable customers and products or services. It can also identify sales trends, including geographical considerations. Having this data available means that a business can make decisions to improve its revenue.

Any finance director can see the value of having this ability.

Using AI to reduce costs

Reducing costs in a business is an area that finance professionals will often be involved with. There are several ways in which AI can help with this including:

• Using image recognition to recognise invoices from suppliers and upload all of the relevant information to the system.
• Making use of smart data analysis to reconcile bank accounts and allocate cash correctly.
• Getting help from smart prediction algorithms to produce budgets and forecasts.

These applications are all valuable resources when it comes to optimising the accuracy and cost efficiency of processes within a business.

In summary

AI is something that businesses should be keen to embrace, and finance professionals should be encouraging them to do so. The applications that can be used to improve revenue and cut costs are trusted and secure. They can be utilised effectively alongside the human resources that a business has.

This enables a business to remove human interaction from some repetitive processes and direct its human resources to other areas. For instance, the automation of invoicing processes releases finance professionals to think outside the box and use their creativity in other areas, such as reducing risk. There will always be a need for this type of creative thought within a business. This is why the best way to revolutionise finance processes within a business is to combine the use of AI with the human resources that are already available.

If you are a finance director or CFO looking for your next role, register with us. If you are an employer searching for an FD or CFO, contact us.