AI and Human Synergy: The Future of Finance

Finance departments are transforming significantly as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes an integral part of daily operations. At a recent CFO.com virtual event, The Future of Finance, hundreds of finance leaders participated in a series of sessions exploring the intersection of technology, strategy, and profitability. 

The Vic.ai team presented the highly attended session, “AI and Human Synergy: The Future of Finance,” where industry experts discussed how AI is evolving from a mere assistant to a strategic partner in finance, reshaping roles and processes along the way. This article recaps the key points from the live virtual event.

The rise of AI colleagues

Traditional AI assistants like Amazon’s Alexa have paved the way for more sophisticated AI systems that can serve as interactive colleagues rather than just online tools. Ben Baldyga, VP of Sales at Vic.ai, highlighted the evolving role of AI in finance: "The term AI colleague emphasizes the idea that AI is not just a tool, but a strategic partner for the business." 

He explained that AI systems are now adept at handling routine tasks, allowing finance teams to concentrate on strategic initiatives. This transformation enables a more proactive approach to financial management. Baldyga added, "Our customers are also using AI on more traditional reactive tasks to become much more proactive, which I think is the hope for all of us." 

AI systems execute tasks, offer recommendations, and continuously learn from feedback, creating a dynamic partnership between human expertise and artificial intelligence.

Key areas where AI is making an impact

Anand Desai, VP of Finance at Vic.ai, highlighted several critical areas where AI is already proving its worth in finance departments:

1. Scaling operations: AI enables finance teams to manage increased transaction volumes without proportionally expanding headcount.

2. Risk management and compliance: AI systems can proactively flag anomalies and escalate issues, improving risk management processes.

3. Forecasting: AI enhances financial forecasting capabilities by analyzing vast amounts of data and recognizing patterns.

4. Process efficiency: AI reduces slack in systems by automatically engaging team members when actions are required, pushing the pace of operations.

Automating core financial processes

One of AI's most significant impacts in finance is automating invoice processing. Baldyga shared a compelling success story about a large real estate firm that uses AI-powered automation for invoice processing. 

"This customer has saved over 60,000 hours of processing time in their first year on our platform," he explained. The firm, which handles 1.6 million invoices annually, saw dramatic efficiency improvements. "That's reducing the time to process an invoice from over five minutes to 45 seconds with 98 percent accuracy," Baldyga noted. 

This case study illustrates the significant time savings achievable and highlights the enhanced accuracy that AI brings to financial operations, allowing teams to redirect their efforts toward more strategic tasks.

AI is also transforming expense management, a traditionally time-consuming and error-prone process. AI significantly reduces manual effort and improves accuracy by automating the workflow from receipt capture to report generation. By using advanced computer vision and machine learning algorithms, AI systems can swiftly extract relevant information from receipts, automatically populate expense reports, and identify unusual transactions. 

This level of AP automation is crucial for businesses of all sizes, as it saves time, enhances compliance, reduces fraud risks, and provides real-time visibility into spending patterns. By freeing finance teams from tedious data entry and verification tasks, AI allows them to focus on strategic financial analysis and decision-making, ultimately contributing to better financial management and cost control for organizations.

The future of AI in finance

User-first interfaces

Jessica Sadow, Director of Product Marketing at Vic.ai, shed light on the emerging trend of user-first interfaces in financial software. Drawing from her background in anthropology, Sadow explained, "I like to think of AI as the ultimate sidekick. It handles the grunt work like crunching numbers, flagging anomalies, while you can focus on strategy, relationships, and making crucial judgments that humans are uniquely positioned to make." 

These innovative interfaces adapt to user behavior, inverting the traditional paradigm where users must learn complex systems. Sadow predicts that chat and voice-augmented interfaces will become increasingly common, enabling finance professionals to interact with AI systems in a more intuitive and productive manner. This shift promises to reduce onboarding time for new software and increase overall efficiency in financial operations.

AI as an analyst

Another exciting development is the potential for AI to serve as a sophisticated financial analyst or accountant. By integrating with various financial systems and databases, AI can perform complex tasks such as real-time financial analysis and intelligent cash flow management. For example, an AI system could simultaneously analyze accounts receivable, accounts payable, and bank account data to suggest optimal timing for significant purchases.

The importance of specialized AI solutions

Sadow highlighted the distinction between consumer-grade AI and specialized financial AI solutions. "When I say vertical AI, what I mean are AI solutions trained to do specific jobs really well. They're specialized," she explained. 

Unlike general-purpose models, these tailored systems excel in niche financial tasks. For instance, AI designed for GL coding can achieve remarkable accuracy due to its focused training. Sadow cautioned against relying on consumer AI for financial work, noting, "I'm not talking about consumer GenAI like ChatGPT and Claude, which are not a good fit for this type of work today." This underscores the need for purpose-built AI in finance to ensure precision and reliability in critical operations.

Balancing AI and human expertise

The future is hybrid

A collaborative model is taking shape as finance departments incorporate AI into their daily workflows. This approach leverages AI for handling repetitive, data-heavy tasks, freeing up human professionals to concentrate on strategic planning, nurturing client relationships, and tackling intricate decision-making processes. 

Sadow emphasized this shift during the session, stating, "AI will manage routine and data intensive tasks, which will free up professionals to concentrate on strategy and client relations." This evolution in the finance sector underscores the growing importance for professionals to cultivate new competencies in AI management, ensuring they can effectively oversee and optimize these advanced systems within their organizations.

Embracing the AI revolution in finance

As AI reshapes finance departments, professionals must evolve their skill sets to remain relevant. This includes learning to collaborate effectively with AI systems, critically analyze AI-generated outputs, and leverage these insights for strategic decision-making. Desai emphasized this point during the session, stating, "AI helps us take a lot of slack out of the system. There's not sort of this waiting or asynchrony of passing information or prompting folks."

The future of finance hinges on the seamless integration of human expertise and AI capabilities. This symbiotic relationship promises to unlock unprecedented levels of efficiency, accuracy, and strategic foresight. As AI assumes responsibility for routine tasks, finance professionals can redirect their efforts toward high-impact activities that propel business growth and foster innovation. Desai also highlighted the transformative potential of AI in finance operations, noting, "Having a system that's pushing the pace in the organization is incredibly valuable." This underscores the shift towards more proactive and efficient financial management enabled by AI technologies.

The journey toward AI integration in finance is ongoing, and organizations that proactively adopt and adapt to these technologies will be better positioned to thrive in an increasingly competitive landscape. As this session emphasized, now is the time for finance professionals to explore and implement AI solutions to transform their operations and unlock new possibilities for their organizations.

View the complete CFO.com virtual event recording.

Learn more about autonomous accounting by taking a self-guided product tour of the Vic.ai platform or scheduling a discovery meeting.

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