The CFO’s Guide to Generative AI

As a finance leader you are right to be skeptical. There is a lot of noise in the market. You do not care about how cool the technology is. You care about the return on investment and how it impacts the bottom line.

The Problem:
Investing in "innovation" without a clear business case is dangerous. Many companies burn cash on pilot projects that never scale or produce tangible value.

The Solution:
Focus strictly on operational efficiency. Generative AI excels at tasks that involve reading, writing and summarizing. These are often the tasks that consume thousands of hours of expensive employee time in legal, HR and compliance departments.

Action Plan:

• Audit high volume tasks
  Look for processes where highly paid staff are doing low value data entry or document review.

• Calculate the unit cost
  Determine exactly how much it costs to process one invoice or review one contract manually.

• Run a controlled pilot
  Implement an AI solution for that one specific workflow and measure the cost difference after 30 days.

The Impact:
You see immediate and measurable cost reductions. You free up capital that can be reinvested into growth areas of the business.