A version of these insights first appeared in The CFO.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has moved quickly from a forward-looking investment to a near-term expectation for finance leaders. Boards are asking about it, operating teams are experimenting with it, and vendors are promising transformative outcomes. Yet despite the momentum, many organizations are approaching AI in finance as a collection of isolated tools deployed to solve narrow problems.
Pilots give leadership an opportunity to proactively shape the narrative around AI, …showing how it supports better work–reducing low-value tasks, surfacing insights faster, and enabling teams to focus on strategic priorities.
That approach is understandable, but risky. AI has far broader implications than most point solutions, touching data integrity, controls, governance, and team functionality. For CFOs, the challenge is not whether to adopt AI, but how to do so in a way that creates tangible value without introducing unnecessary
