In an increasingly competitive and volatile business environment, artificial intelligence (AI) is opening a new chapter for the corporate finance industry. With the ability to process massive data, automate processes, and detect anomalies in real time, AI is not only making finance departments more efficient but also becoming CFO's "right hand" in strategic decision making.
However, to deploy AI applications in finance systematically, effectively and safely, CFOs not only need to understand the technology, but also need to correctly assess benefits – risks – resources, build the right implementation plan, choose the right technology partner, and lead the team through major changes in the organization.
This article will provide CFOs and finance teams with 5 Essential Steps to Putting AI to Work, from strategy to execution — helping you not only apply AI, but also Make the most of the potential this technology brings to your business.
“What is your AI strategy?”
In today’s meetings, the question “What is your AI strategy?” is not just a conversation starter — it’s a measure of financial leadership. As artificial intelligence continues to reshape the entire business landscape, how you answer that question will reveal how ready you are to lead your company through the most profound technological transformation since the internet.
For CFOs, this is no longer a “small game.” AI is more than just a new tool in the digital toolbox — it’s fundamentally changing how finance functions operate. From automating payments and controlling expenses, to predictive market analytics, and now generative AI that can generate detailed financial reports in seconds — AI is redefining how finance departments process data, make decisions, and drive growth.
And CFOs aren’t left out. According to IDC, there are now 44% CFOs building the future of finance with AI. Nearly a third of them are integrating generative AI into their financial applications.
This isn’t just about “following the trend” — it’s about being strategic. Those who don’t build a clear AI strategy today risk being left behind in the digital transformation race.
Because success with AI is not about chasing the latest technology. It’s about building a concrete strategy that links AI capabilities to the financial goals and growth trajectory of the business. As the key financial leader, the CFO is the ideal person to lead this journey.
5 Aspects to Prioritize for Successful AI Implementation in Finance
Today, CFOs are under more pressure than ever to optimize operations, manage resources efficiently, and make decisions quickly — all to support business growth. AI presents a significant opportunity to simplify processes, improve data accuracy, and accelerate analytics — helping CFOs meet these expectations more effectively.
Here are five key elements to successfully building and implementing an AI strategy in finance:
- Assessing the potential of AI applications in finance in the short and long term
- Weighing the Benefits and Risks of Implementing AI
- Plan your AI budget today: start small and scale up
- Choosing the right AI-integrated financial solutions provider
- Inspire and equip finance teams with AI knowledge
1. Assessing the potential of AI applications in finance in the short and long term
As a CFO, you need to approach AI with a practical mindset — and leading CFOs are doing just that. According to Gartner®, “cost control priorities have increased by 74% since 2022, and 81% CFOs expect to increase their investments in the technology.”
In a world where costs must be tightened while growth must be driven, visionary leaders understand that AI is not optional — it is a must for upgrading financial capabilities.
In fact, nearly 50% finance executives believe that current technology is inadequate to meet current and future needs. Investing in AI at the right time can lead to superior performance, especially when AI supports more accurate and timely decision making.
However, successful AI implementation requires a well-planned roadmap to maximize benefits while managing risks. This roadmap should consider the impact on existing processes and ensure teams are properly trained.
For example, accounting automation platforms like Bizzi not only saves hundreds of hours of work each year by automatically scanning and processing invoices via Bizzi Bot, but also helps with budget management and cost control details for each item. Thanks to that, the finance department can easily closely monitor cash flow, ensuring all expenses are within the set plan.
Properly assessing your finance department's strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement will help you build the right AI roadmap, from process automation to advanced data analytics.
2. Consider the benefits and risks of implementing AI applications in finance
AI is driving a wave of innovation in businesses that know how to harness the technology in their financial and ERP systems. But before making the switch, CFOs need to understand how AI can impact their business’s operations, tactics, and strategies.
Ideally, AI should be applied across the entire finance function — from automating expense management and accounting, to anomaly detection and analysis, and accounts payable processing.
Once CFOs have weighed the benefits, risks, and resources required to implement AI, they should prioritize vendors with a similar focus on risk management — especially in expense management solutions. Bizzi’s AI solution, for example, is designed with technical “guardrails” and rigorous controls to protect financial systems while ensuring compliance with internal policies and regulatory requirements.
At the same time, Bizzi Bot automatically warns early about over-the-limit or unusual expenses, helping CFOs and chief accountants handle them promptly, avoiding unexpected risks.
To mitigate risks associated with AI, CFOs should guide their teams through the following steps:
- Building a foundation of understanding AI in a business context: Understanding what AI is, where it will be applied, and what value it will bring is an important foundation for determining the rationale for investment and areas where risk may arise.
- Conduct regular internal reviews and adjust implementation approach: Especially for finance departments, it is necessary to continuously evaluate the cost and effectiveness of AI usage to ensure it is aligned with budget and business goals.
- Develop AI governance policies and processes: User guides, acceptable use policies, and safety principles are the foundation for protecting data and financial systems.
- Proactively invest in legal and compliance resources: Experts recommend, “invest in legal and compliance resources early — you don’t want to be caught off guard when regulations change (and they will).”
3. Plan your AI budget today: start small and scale up
“71% CFOs surveyed expect to increase AI spending by at least 10% over the previous year, with Generative AI being the main driver, with 81% CFOs saying they will invest more in this area,” Gartner said.
Notably, none of the CFOs surveyed plan to cut AI budgets in the near future.
Additionally, Forrester recommends that CFOs integrate change management into their budget planning and allocation processes when implementing an AI-enabled spend management platform.
One important strategy is: prioritize feature adoption over feature selection.
In fact, just because a product has AI capabilities doesn’t mean your business will use them right away. In transformation initiatives, the human element—especially the ability to adapt—is key. You don’t want to pay for changes your team isn’t ready for.
“Plan your rollout in phases, giving your team time to get used to the features you’re paying for and make the most of them,” advises Forrester. “That way, your budget will be in the right place at the right time.”
IDC also recommends that CFOs start by assessing the current operational needs of their finance department and identifying areas for improvement, such as budgeting, financial forecasting, financial reporting, and reconciliation. Then, allocate a small portion of the budget to 2–3 specific use cases.
Bizzi supports businesses with flexible AI modules, allowing you to start from essential financial processes like budget management and control costs by project or department. Automating invoice control and expense tracking via Bizzi Bot helps reduce errors and save time on manual processing.
The goal is to learn how to effectively deploy AI in finance, measure real-world impact, and then move on to larger-scale transformations.
4. Choose the right AI-integrated financial solution provider
Modern financial systems that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) can help businesses mine data more deeply, improve efficiency, and optimize overall financial performance. However, with most solution providers claiming to be “AI-driven,” it is important to differentiate between truly valuable solutions and marketing claims.
For example, AI can automate much of the expense management process and improve compliance. But many of the promises of AI applications in finance are still in the research stage or not ready for widespread deployment.
Additionally, CFOs need to understand how AI will impact existing processes and look for technology partners that can help address the challenges holistically, rather than disrupt existing operations.
IDC recommends that CFOs look for AI vendors that can deliver long-term value based on the following criteria:
- Integrated financial solutions: Prioritize choosing synchronized platforms, helping to improve productivity, optimize costs and data flows, while reducing internal implementation costs.
- Consistent user experience globally: Platforms like Bizzi provide a consistent experience for all departments and teams, regardless of geographic location, helping employees get up to speed quickly and operate efficiently.
- Scalability: Some CFOs focus on the short term. But if you’re a strategic thinker, choose an AI solution that can grow with your business, meeting long-term needs.
- Data Consistency: Using multiple disparate systems leads to inconsistent data, which leads to a lack of transparency and inefficiency across the organization. A unified solution ensures consistent and accurate data across all departments.
Security is also an equally important factor when evaluating AI solutions, especially the detailed layers of technical controls to ensure data privacy and security.
The Bizzi team recommends that CFOs request security-related documents, including:
- System architecture assessment document
- Data flow diagram
Current security policies and standards
In addition, Bizzi is not only an AI-integrated finance platform but also a long-term partner that understands the real challenges of the finance department. Bizzi's solution helps automate processes, from scanning Automated invoice processing, detailed budget management, flexible cost control to early detection and warning of abnormalities — all while ensuring no disruption to current operations.
This information will help businesses minimize risks when implementing new AI-based technologies.
5. Inspire and equip finance teams with AI knowledge
Signing an AI implementation contract is not the destination, but the starting line.
We discussed change management during planning, but being prepared for changes after the contract is signed is key to a smooth and effective team transition.
Leading a team through this transition is a real test of a CFO's mettle.
According to IDC recommendations, CFOs need to:
- Reassess the actual operational needs of the finance department,
Identify improvement opportunities in areas such as budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting and reconciliation.
And then it's up to you – as CFO – to make sure the team can execute successfully.
IDC notes that:
“CFOs and finance departments have a lot of work to do when evaluating and selecting the right financial application. Don’t underestimate the amount of work and time required, not only during the implementation phase but also after the system is up and running.”
To successfully lead the AI adoption process in finance, CFOs should:
- Promote AI literacy: Treat understanding AI as a fundamental skill, just as important as reading a balance sheet.
- Continuous training, continuous skill upgrading: Transform training from a “one-time” event into a lifelong learning journey.
- Prioritize real support, not just chatbots: Choose a vendor that can support your team in a real way.
Increase the chances of successful AI application in finance for your business
Today’s CFOs understand that AI can modernize and revolutionize finance operations. However, to enable and leverage AI effectively, CFOs need to carefully assess:
- The specific needs of the business,
- Potential challenges,
- The impact of AI on current processes,
- And especially, be prepared for change management.
At Bizzi, we build an AI-powered spend management platform that helps your team increase efficiency, gain compliance, and gain better control — all while flexibly scaling as your business grows.
Schedule a demo today to discover how our platform can help empower your finance team and protect your business from the challenges of the future.
Bizzi – Optimize budget implementation and financial control with AI technology
Planning and budgeting are just the beginning. The bigger challenge lies in implementing, tracking, and adjusting budgets to operational realities – where data, speed, and accuracy are key.
Bizzi offers a solution to digitize and automate the entire cost control and budget management process, applying AI technology to help the finance team make quick, correct and timely decisions.
Some outstanding features of Bizzi help businesses implement effective budget plans:
- Manage budget and spending limits according to approved plan:
The system allows you to set up budgets by department, project or cost center, and closely monitor spending progress. Automatic alerts are triggered when spending exceeds the limit.
- Automatically identify and process invoices with Bizzi Bot
Bizzi's AI can read, extract, and classify incoming invoices with high accuracy. All invoices are instantly reconciled against established budgets, thereby detecting unusual, incorrect, or duplicate expenses early.
- Real-time financial data updates:
Expenses, budgets, invoices, and cash flow are all visualized through dynamic dashboards. CFOs and finance teams can track budget execution continuously, without having to wait for periodic reports.
- Automatic financial risk warning
The system proactively detects and warns of unusual signs in spending or invoices, helping the finance team better control risks arising right from the beginning of the operation chain.
- Flexible integration capabilities:
Bizzi can integrate with a business's accounting, ERP and internal software systems, making the implementation process seamless, without disrupting current operations.
Instead of having to “hunt” for every expense or worry about late reporting, CFOs can now monitor all financial developments in real time, control budgets more closely, and respond flexibly to any fluctuations. Bizzi not only helps businesses plan their budgets, but also helps ensure that the plan is implemented correctly, completely, and promptly.
AI will not replace CFOs, but CFOs who know how to apply AI in finance will gradually replace those who do nothing about it. Implementing artificial intelligence in finance is not just a technological decision, but a journey to transform thinking, operating models and organizational capabilities. CFOs are the ones who guide and lead this journey, ensuring that the change is sustainable, effective and in line with the long-term goals of the business.
Start with small but impactful changes – like automating financial processes, standardizing data, and tightening budget controls. Bizzi accompanies CFOs and finance teams through each step of this transformation, with an AI platform that helps businesses digitize invoices and documents, control costs, and manage budgets in real time.
Sign up for a free trial of Bizzi today and start the journey of applying AI in finance in a systematic and sustainable way.
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