IBM has published an important report with an ambitious request to assist CEOs in investing in AI and ensure its success with the help of CFOs. The IT firm’s conclusions indicate that there are large gains that can be reaped from executive cooperation including reducing revenue leakage by up to 70% and increasing time spent on decisions and assistance by as much as 90%.
The report, titled “CEO Guide to Generative AI: Finance: The New Leader of AI-Enabled Model Transformation” highlights the significance of the CEO-CFO partnership in promoting organizational digitalization and effective usage of AI. The need for cost-cutting and effective management of both executive and financial leaders have left AI tools have created a significant point of intersection for the AI tools can help achieve cost-cutting and effective management.
This clearly challenges the recent arguments that boards are not enthusiastic about the introduction of AI into the finance function. Through collaborating with CEOs and CFOs, the companies not only simplify a shift toward the digital economy but also can prevent potential revenue deficits given by operating problems.
IBM researchers recommend that for organizations that do not have a well-developed FinOps stage, CEOs should work in collaboration with their CFOs to allocate capital to AI-based FinOps for OS enhancement and ensure the establishment of a more effective technological infrastructure. These tools, as stated in the report, can help employees to eliminate waste in their work, focusing their efforts and to be as effective as possible.
But IBM recognizes that achieving the full value of AI at enterprise scale means investing in training from the rank-and-file staff to the most senior executives. The researchers warn that “generative AI is only as good as the people who use it.’’ It is thus crucial that the current workforce is equipped with the right skills to best utilize such technologies.
The IBM study suggested some practical tools for commencing this change; one of the ways includes enabling CEOs to build at least one ‘finance-specific end-to-end use case’ with the assistance of their CFOs. Company leadership and finance teams can try to approach the impact of AI in an incremental way and introduce an open platform for them to collaborate in an orderly fashion to mitigate risks and all the while driving innovation.
The report also reveals the significance of executive sponsorship and support for AI initiatives. Considering that the CEOs and CFOs of firms have distinctive capabilities and talents, strategic integration of the ideas of the two positions might help to manage the challenges of digital transformation and aid firms to exploit the opportunities presented by the application of AI to the efficiency of operations and decision-making in order for AI to increase firm performance, and performance vital to the aims of the CFO.
There has been a shift in the business world with a lot of changes and advancements happening every day hence it is becoming important for companies to adopt the aspect of artificial intelligence. IBM’s report acts as a call to action, demonstrating that it is the responsibility of CEOs and CFOs to collaborate as leaders and directors, using their skillsets and best business practices to boost the use of AI and encourage sustainable success in the future endeavors of the company.