{"id":31568,"date":"2025-07-11T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/?p=31568"},"modified":"2025-07-09T10:03:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T14:03:40","slug":"the-ai-advantage-how-cfos-can-harness-ai-to-power-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/the-ai-advantage-how-cfos-can-harness-ai-to-power-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"The AI advantage: How CFOs can harness AI to power growth"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header has-dark-background-color entry-header--has-illustration entry-header--has-illustration--generic\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__row row align-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col col-lg-7 col-xlg-6 entry-header__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component component-single-header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__misc text--subtitle text--uppercase text--small\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/category\/technology-innovation\/\" class=\"entry-header__link\">Technology &amp; Innovation<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-title-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"entry-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe AI advantage: How CFOs can harness AI to power growth\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"entry-header__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"single-post-details container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"posted-on \"><time class=\"entry-date published\" datetime=\"2025-07-11T09:00:00-04:00\">July 11, 2025<\/time><\/span><span class=\"reading-time\"> min read<\/span>\n\t\t<button\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"social-share-button button button--icon button--secondary js-social-share-button\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-title=\"The AI advantage: How CFOs can harness AI to power growth\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-url=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/the-ai-advantage-how-cfos-can-harness-ai-to-power-growth\/\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-text=\"Please read this interesting article\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__share-label\">Share<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-label\" hidden>Copy Link<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-tooltip\" aria-hidden=\"true\" hidden>Copied<\/span>\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author has-dark-background-color alignfull\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"co-authors\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-author-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"entry-author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/author\/yassirmalik\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/03\/Yassir-Malik.jpg\" class=\"entry-author__image\" alt=\"yassir-malik-profile-picture\" \/>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"entry-author__name\">Yassir Malik<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>There is no escaping it\u2014AI is transforming the finance function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CFOs who use AI tools daily have a stronger impact on the growth of their companies. That\u2019s according to Sage\u2019s latest research into the CFO of the future and the evolving finance function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the benefits do not stop there. Companies led by AI-savvy CFOs see higher performance. Of those CFOs using AI daily, 22% enjoyed strong revenue growth in the last year, compared with just 13% of those who did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s clear that AI has the power to transform the finance department, but it\u2019s not a silver bullet. In this article, we explore the huge potential that technology and AI offer CFOs and examine some of the ways they can overcome the challenges they face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s what we&#8217;ll cover:<\/p>\n\n\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><div class=\"wp-block-yoast-seo-table-of-contents yoast-table-of-contents\"><ul><li><a href=\"#h-ai-is-supercharging-finance-tasks\" data-level=\"2\">AI is supercharging finance tasks<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-but-ai-is-not-without-its-limitations\" data-level=\"2\">But AI is not without its limitations<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-how-to-make-a-start-at-integrating-ai-into-your-finance-department\" data-level=\"2\">How to make a start at integrating AI into your finance department<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<a\n\t\tclass=\"button button--primary gate-d1803ce6-144c-4b30-aba5-6a11393d3f44\"\n\t\trole=\"button\"\n\t\tdata-button-location=\"content_area\"\n\t\thref=\"#gate-d1803ce6-144c-4b30-aba5-6a11393d3f44\"\n\t>Download our global research report, in collaboration with Financial Times, which reveals the four habits that separate the best CFOs from the rest.<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ai-is-supercharging-finance-tasks\"><strong>AI is supercharging finance tasks<\/strong><a id=\"_msocom_1\"><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>CFOs are putting their faith in AI to solve some of their biggest problems. The top benefits they believe the technology can bring them are increased efficiency (38%), time savings (37%), reduced costs (33%), improved data analysis (30%), and more accurate work (30%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One such company reaping the benefits of AI is market-intelligence platform AlphaSense. It\u2019s built around AI, and its AI-based platform synthesizes investor intelligence, such as company filings, transcripts, and news, enabling professionals to save significant amounts of time. The company\u2019s AI-first culture extends to the finance department, which also uses the technology extensively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve implemented predictive models to analyze churn, understand customer retention, and refine acquisition strategies,\u201d explains CFO Joe Hill. \u201cUsing AI helps us understand who\u2019s happy, why customers leave, and how to respond. It allows us to be forward-looking and not bogged down by manual processes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Metro Finance in Australia also says AI is at the center of its finance department\u2019s high performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a><\/a>\u201cWe have a robot that is dedicated to the finance team,\u201d explains CFO Mark Donovan. \u201cIt does a lot of data transformation, and then using that data, it posts journals into our ERP system on a regular basis. It means we can enable our staff to do more value-added activities, such as engaging with people and understanding different drivers across the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAI is doing this mundane, routine sort of tasks that are ripe to be automated by a robot. There\u2019s a lot of efficiency gains we\u2019ve managed to achieve here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elsewhere in the business, Metro Finance implements AI-driven dashboards that help Donovan stay close to what\u2019s happening in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor example, in our lending business, we have 3 or 4 different product classes, so we can see which ones are performing well,\u201d he explains. \u201cAnd we can make strategic decisions and changes as a result of that quite quickly, whether that be increasing interest rates or decreasing rates, whatever that might be, at the particular time. It also helps us focus on different customer groups as well, so we can make fairly rapid decisions based on real-time data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-but-ai-is-not-without-its-limitations\"><strong>But AI is not without its limitations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The role of the CFO is expanding significantly, but they still take ultimate responsibility for their organization\u2019s numbers\u2014financial reporting, budgeting, and forecasting are among their top priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore, trusted, accurate data is imperative. But it still remains essential for humans to be in the loop for compliance and quality purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A good example of this is within financial services organizations, where compliance is absolutely essential. \u201cEven a 5% error rate is the end of the world,\u201d says Haversine Funding\u2019s CFO Jeff Whaley. \u201cYou just can\u2019t tolerate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAI has 2 real purposes for CFOs. One is to be the data digger that gets to the data more efficiently than data miners and other tools have in the past. And the second is about how AI can help with analytics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He adds that human colleagues can provide nuance in their analysis and share if there are elements of it they feel uncertain about and would like to be reviewed. This, he says, is lost with AI to some extent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAI is trained to be very decisive. It\u2019s going to appear very confident in its conclusions regardless of the soundness of the data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>AlphaSense\u2019s CFO Hill agrees that these limitations occur but says his company gets around this risk by building a trusted AI environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen I think about AI, yes, it\u2019s a huge opportunity, but it\u2019s not without challenges,\u201d he says. \u201cData integrity and quality are hurdles. AI is only as good as the input. What I like about using AI at AlphaSense is that it\u2019s built on a closed, trusted content set. It gives me confidence in the output. It\u2019s grounded in verified data. That trust element is crucial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-to-make-a-start-at-integrating-ai-into-your-finance-department\"><strong>How to make a start at integrating AI into your finance department<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There is no doubt that AI has the potential, when managed appropriately, to support and enhance the finance department. Making a start might seem daunting, but Caroline Xu, Sage\u2019s executive vice president, commercial finance, explains that it doesn\u2019t need to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe best advice I have for CFOs is to start small,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not about the big bang that\u2019s going to change the way finance operates overnight; it\u2019s more about driving that continuous innovation mindset and looking for the incremental improvements that can be made over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA good way to start is by looking at one existing process and assessing it using an impact-versus-effort matrix to see where you can maximize the potential of AI. Then, see what can be done to reduce the manual elements of the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cInnovation doesn\u2019t have to be perfectly designed before it gets deployed. Experiment and make bold decisions, and then use the results to help inform how you can refine the automation over time.\u201d<a id=\"_msocom_1\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Explore more insights from our research and discover how high-performance finance leaders are accelerating progress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/high-performance-cfo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta gated-content\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Meet the high-performance CFO<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Our global research, in collaboration with Financial Times, reveals the four habits that separate the best CFOs from the rest.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-d1803ce6-144c-4b30-aba5-6a11393d3f44\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Get the report<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1214\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/03\/BrandShoot-LND_June2024_Financial-Services_0546-copy-1-1214x810.jpeg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"Two colleagues meet in a modern office.\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/03\/BrandShoot-LND_June2024_Financial-Services_0546-copy-1-1214x810.jpeg 1214w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Subscribe to our Sage Advice Newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Get our latest business advice delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-ab515c6e-7e90-4c2f-a67e-113872516e8b\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1073797282-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"Working from home with tea in hand\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1073797282-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn how to harness AI effectively in your finance team\u2014starting with practical steps you can take today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1774,"featured_media":20278,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[145,334,304,154],"business_type":[41],"lilypad":[],"context":[],"industry":[],"persona":[100],"imagine_tag":[603],"coauthors":[509],"class_list":["post-31568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology-innovation","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-automation","tag-digital-transformation","tag-technology","business_type-growing-business"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-us","author_name":"Yassir Malik","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/GettyImages-1450789015.jpg","imagine_tags":{"603":"High Performance Financials"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice US","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1774"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/20278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31568"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=31568"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=31568"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=31568"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=31568"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=31568"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=31568"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=31568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}