PREVIEW: The Investments CFOs Need to Make in AI

“[ERP is] probably going to be one of the biggest technology investments CFOs will make for their function. And the cost of failure is too high for the CFOs to not be involved.” — Nisha Bhandare, Gartner VP analystNew acquisitions of cloud ERP are dramatically impacting the finance function’s roles, processes and responsibilities. Join host, Nina Moreno, and Nisha Bhandare, Gartner VP analyst, as they discuss why adapting to constant change often determines success for CFOs and their teams when implementing cloud ERP.Episode highlights:What are the new changes in the ERP market? (1:01)What are the differences between on-premises ERP and cloud versions? (4:20)How does cloud ERP’s AI impact finance teams? (7:30)How does finance manage constant feature updates in cloud ERP? (10:16)How should the CFO approach changes for employees? (12:26)How has the CFO role changed? (16:13)What is the one take-away CFOs need about ERP? (21:37)About the GuestNisha Bhandare is a VP analyst in Gartner’s Finance Research and Advisory practice. She advises clients who are embarking on a finance transformation journey, primarily in the areas of finance technology strategy and implementation, ERP deployment, and invoice-to-cash processes. Nisha previously worked in progressive leadership roles in FP&A, controllership, and finance transformation and operations. Take Gartner with you. Gartner clients can listen to the full episode and read more provocative insights and expertise on the go with Gartner Mobile App.   Become a Gartner client to access exclusive content from global thought leaders. Visit  www.gartner.com today!

Learn what CFOs need to know about AI, data, and how to prepare data for AI.Clement Christensen serves as Senior Director, Analyst in the Finance Research and Advisory Practice. Clement supports CFOs and their teams in addressing data and analytics challenges, including data management and governance, identifying and reporting KPIs, and developing data science capabilities.

Episode highlights:What trends are top of mind for CFOs now? (0:57)Why are CFOs deprioritizing finance transformation for 2025? (2:06)What growth pressures do CFOs face? (5:16)How will AI affect finance in 2025? (9:02)Why will data strategy be critical for finance teams next year? (11:23)Dennis Gannon is a vice president analyst for Gartner. As a CFO advisory leader, he works with research teams to address the shared challenges of CFOs and other finance leaders by bringing that research to life in interactions with Gartner clients. Dennis is a regular presenter and keynote speaker at Gartner conferences and facilitates dozens of executive roundtables with CFOs and other finance leaders every year.Mallory Barg Bulman is a CFO advisory leader at Gartner, where she serves as a featured speaker, client advisor and researcher. Mallory guides research teams that cover transformation, CFO personal effectiveness, finance processes, talent and technology. Mallory’s insights are relied on by more than 10,000 CFO and finance executives and their teams across industries and sectors. Mallory also leads the Gartner Finance Transformation Awards and is instrumental in driving Gartner’s strategic research agenda, expanding its capabilities to deliver actionable insights to global finance leaders.Take Gartner with you. Gartner clients can listen to the full episode and read more provocative insights and expertise on the go with Gartner Mobile App.   Become a Gartner client to access exclusive content from global thought leaders. Visit  www.gartner.com today!

By 2025, CFOs without a finance transformation strategy will be three times less likely to meet their objectives. To help your finance transformation avoid these risks, listen to this conversation with Gartner expert Peter Brannigan. Episode highlights:How do CFOs get started with finance transformation? (2:27)What are the four phases of building a finance transformation roadmap? (3:07)What are the common pitfalls of creating a finance transformation roadmap? (7:01)What use cases should finance transformation roadmaps include? (13:05) How can CFOs ensure effective transformation governance? (16:08)Peter Brannigan is a senior director analyst in the Gartner finance research and advisory practice. He supports CFOs and their teams with actionable, objective insights on leading enterprise wide finance and compliance transformation initiatives and leveraging digital platforms with standard processes and sustainable operating models.

“CFOs can’t just view FP&A as a team in finance. They need to turn FP&A strengths into an enterprise capability.” (4:58) — Randeep Rathindran, Gartner Distinguished VP Episode highlights: The current state of FP&A, according to CFOs (1:07)What’s driving the extremely high demand for FP&A? (2:11)Why automation has been a disappointment for creating capacity for FP&A (3:12)Three actions that turn FP&A into an enterprise capability (6:05)FP&A hasn’t learned how to optimize AI. Here’s why. (13:34)Gartner Distinguished VP Randeep Rathindran has a primary research focus on the CFO and FP&A leader roles, covering the key initiatives of Enterprise Growth and Cost, Financial Data and Analytics, and Finance Organization Transformation. He led syndicated research in a number of practice areas, including research and technology, corporate strategy, operations, and shared services, prior to joining Gartner’s finance research and advisory practice in 2014. He has extensive experience in quantitative research and econometric modeling.

“We should never start by looking at what data we have. But we should always start by asking ourselves one question … .” (7:03 in this podcast)— Valeria Di Maso, director analyst, Gartner finance research and advisoryEpisode highlights:What does finance D&A governance involve? (0:50)Why CFOs often find D&A governance intimidating (2:23)AI and the consequences of bad data quality for finance (4:21)The top three challenges of D&A governance for finance (6:02)The CFO’s crucial role in D&A governance (8:16)Valeria Di Maso is a director analyst in Gartner’s finance research and advisory practice. Based in the U.K., Valeria supports CFOs and finance teams in addressing their key priorities in the finance data and analytics space. Her focus areas include finance data and analytics (D&A), management reporting optimization, dashboarding and visualization, global metrics and KPIs, and the invoice-to-cash process. Valeria is a senior finance professional with 15 years’ experience in financial services, shared services and the energy industry at General Electric (GE). She held a number of progressive leadership positions in Italy, the Netherlands and the U.K., and she has a diverse background in financial planning and analysis (FP&A), pricing, finance transformation, analytics and reporting, and treasury and order-to-cash management. In her last assignment at GE Gas Power, Valeria led global initiatives to drive data visibility and actions around past due, billing and collections on a more than $3 billion account receivables balance portfolio.

“To get this off the ground, we’re going to have some spend that doesn't actually materialize into impact on the top or bottom line.” — Alexander Bant, Gartner Chief of Finance ResearchEpisode highlights:Stall 1: Cost overruns — Why CFOs need to think differently about AI cost (5:35)Stall 2: AI misuse in decision making — How to ensure automated decisions drive profitability (7:48)Stall 3: External (dis)trust — Protecting trust with customers, regulators and investors (9:53)Stall 4: Rigid mindset — Workflow transformation requires the right mental approach (11:39)The organizational risks of ignoring the four AI stalls (14:13)Nearly every CFO will spend more on AI in 2024. But for many organizations, this gold rush for new revenue and efficiency will have unintended consequences that extend well beyond operations. Alexander Bant, Chief of Finance Research at Gartner, breaks down how CFOs can manage and even control the four AI stalls putting enterprise growth at risk.

Registration is now open for the Gartner CFO & Finance Executive Conference, Gartner’s flagship CFO event, on 20-21 May 2024 in National Harbor, Maryland. Reserve your space today.Listen to this exclusive preview of the Gartner CFO & Finance Executive Conference, which helps organizations unlock enterprise value by transforming finance’s top roles:CFO: Mastering digital transformation. Measuring AI initiative risks and opportunities.Financial planning and analysis (FP&A): Modernizing data architecture. Creating business partnership influences.Controllers: Revamping governance models. Discovering the future of blockchain and accounting.VP of Finance Transformation: Building future organizational models. Evaluating consulting firms and business process outsourcing (BPOs).Episode highlights: The urgency behind the conference’s autonomous finance theme (1:25)The CFO role is expanding to AI initiatives and cybersecurity (6:29)FP&A skill sets for modernizing data architecture (9:25)Controllers are under serious pressure with governance models and automation (11:24)VPs of financial transformation must build future organizational models (13:02)Cutting through the AI hype with expert interactions (15:37)

Seventy-eight percent of CFOs ranked finance organization structure as one of their top priorities for 2024. However,r most CFOs find this a daunting task, given there is not single “correct” organization design and stakeholders often resist change. In this episode of the Gartner CFO Podcast, we talk to senior director of research Emily Connelly about how to effectively lead a finance org restructuring.

Reduced profitability is quickly becoming the new reality for CFOs. Moreover, the key areas where costs are rising most, such as digital transformation, are the same areas CEOs need financial leaders to prioritize investments and drive growth. Gartner VP of Research Dennis Gannon offers CFOs four critical trends and actions to successfully address these cost pressures and accurately forecast the approaching impacts on their organizations.Gartner VP of Research Dennis Gannon works with research teams to address the shared challenges of CFOs and other finance leaders by bringing that research to life in one-on-one and group interactions with Gartner clients. Dennis is a regular presenter and keynote speaker at Gartner conferences and facilitates dozens of executive roundtables with CFOs and other finance leaders every year.