Implementing AI and improving automation should boost both the efficiency and agility of finance teams, says Shannon Scott, senior vice president and global head of product at Airwallex.
Shannon Scott.
Breaking the Spreadsheet Cycle
Similar to the introduction of spreadsheets, the use of AI is not about replacing finance teams. Instead, the technology helps people spend less time crunching numbers and more time interpreting what those numbers mean for the business.
In turn, this helps reduce human error but, rather than taking people out of the loop, AI workflows can still incorporate human oversight and approvals to ensure transparency and accountability.
Modern fintechs such as Airwallex streamline financial operations for businesses, including invoicing and payments, spend management and financial reporting, all on one platform, even across different markets.
Beyond simply saving time and reducing the risk of errors when it comes to areas such as accounts payable and receivable, Scott says AI and automation allow financial teams to focus on more strategic activities, thereby unlocking value.
“When you’re not so busy wading through day-to-day finance paperwork, you can spend more time looking at the big picture,” Scott says.
“For example, you can look more holistically at your payables, suppliers and approvals to optimise your workflows and watch for fraudulent activity.
Finance teams need to focus more on the big picture.Credit: iStock
“Beyond efficiency, you can also start to ask big questions like whether you’re getting the best value from your vendors and if there are better alternatives.”
Along with streamlining operations to deliver efficiencies, AI also offers finance leaders new ways to query data in search of deeper insight. They can take advantage of natural language queries while shortening iteration cycles in order to accelerate decision making.
Data-Driven Decisions at Speed
Every senior leader wants better insight into what’s happening in their business, Scott adds. With AI-powered tools, they can simply ask complex queries such as, “What is my forecast spend through the rest of the year, and how does that compare to past years?”
“If you asked your finance team to prepare this report manually, it might take them a week and even then, you might only get 80 per cent of the answers you were looking for,” he says.
“With AI, you can operate far more fluidly, quickly getting answers to complex queries and easily honing the results to ensure you have exactly what you need at your fingertips – offering not just a productivity boost but also a competitive advantage.”
