By Christopher Juneau, SVP, Head of Product Marketing, SAP Concur.
I planned to begin this article with a data point summarizing the complexities that businesses and their finance leaders face today. But these are interesting times, and my research was fruitless, since such data points currently have an unusually short lifespan. Even the World Economic Outlook published in April by the International Monetary Fund had to stipulate that it was “based on information available as of April 4, 2025…in lieu of the usual baseline”—and that data is now largely out of date, given what has taken place since then.
This lack of timely, applicable data might just be the perfect illustration of the uncertainty that businesses are currently up against. How can one accurately forecast and budget for next quarter, let alone the entire year, when circumstances are so likely to change?
Among the available data points with a bit longer lifespan, forecasting is seen as the greatest challenge when attempting to control costs, according to three in five finance leaders globally. It’s a tough time for businesses to maximize visibility in finance while containing company spend.
If not for technology, that is.
It isn’t a panacea to the challenges that organizations face. However, we are seeing some technological trends in finance that are helping companies better navigate the complexity of their work.
Expanding Application of AI and Automation
Many finance teams are already using AI and automation to drive efficiency. Over half of finance leaders say that general finance tasks—generating emails, transcription, and summarizing documents, for example—are highly automated within their department. This is a significant jump from the 7% who described their general office tasks as such in 2024.
In addition, most finance leaders say that AI has already helped improved their team’s decision-making, and nearly three quarters say it has positively impacted cost and risk reduction for their business.
CFOs are beginning to see the possibilities in AI and automation, and they anticipate expanded use cases as well. Top financial scenarios with high potential for AI include more accurate forecasting, more efficient business operations, better insights, more accurate scenario planning, and more effective risk management.
For finance leaders looking to take advantage of the benefits of AI and automation to address business challenges amid today’s uncertainty, a few actions can help drive forward momentum. Begin by partnering with IT leaders. Work with them to review the finance department’s existing processes to identify manual tasks with potential to be automated by or enhanced with AI. Then, work together to find and deploy AI solutions to make the most of these opportunities for efficiency. Also, establish frameworks to monitor and measure investment, implementation, and results. Doing so will provide invaluable data to inform future strategies and support further investment down the road.
Collaborating to Maximize Technology’s Value
After inaccurate forecasting, some of the biggest challenges that finance teams face when attempting to control costs include predicting future price rises, the capabilities of software, managing vendor invoices and other supply chain issues, and employee compliance with company policies.
Technology can help here as well, but only if finance teams are satisfied with their cost control software. Finance software frustrations have risen since 2024, with top complaints including lack of data visibility, problems with ease of use and adoption, limited reporting and analytics, lack of integration with other systems, and lack of customization to the business.
The speed of change—both in the business landscape and in the evolution of technology—exacerbates these challenges. It’s unlikely that the software itself has become harder to use in the past year. Instead, it’s the circumstances surrounding the software that are pushing finance teams to the limits and driving dissatisfaction.
The software landscape is evolving in real time to address increasing pressures and growing needs. However, there are some actions that finance leaders should take to set teams up for success. A trusted relationship with IT counterparts and exploring secure, AI-powered solutions for financial forecasting and cost control automation can help ensure that tools meet emerging and evolving business demands. Partner with HR and other talent leaders to ensure the full finance team has the training necessary to use AI successfully and responsibly. Also, when evaluating the success of technology adoption, look beyond simple efficiency gains. Increasing innovation, enhanced decision-making, and strategic business growth can also be indicators.
Conclusion
Strengthened relationships and more collaboration across the C-suite have become higher priorities for organizations, at least in the past five years. Achieving growth in 2025 will require that all C-level executives, the CFO included, venture beyond the corner office and their own department to solve problems and find new opportunities for efficiency.
Finance leaders can make progress toward maximizing visibility and minimizing spend by quickly adopting emerging technologies, including AI and automation, and ensuring that everyone is trained to use tools’ expanding feature sets as well.
These actions can help create more stability and flexibility, simultaneously, to better forecast, budget, and pivot when no one is certain of what’s coming next.
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Christopher Juneau is SVP and Head of Product Marketing at SAP Concur.
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