Calls from boards of directors and executive leadership to “do something with AI” are growing louder, and finance is struggling to answer them.
According to a new report from Basware, nearly half (44%) of CFOs say they feel increased pressure from company leadership to implement AI across their operations. And while many are investing in agentic AI in response, a majority admit they are largely experimenting with the technology and flying blind when it comes to putting it into practice and delivering ROI.
“We’ve reached a tipping point where boards and CEOs are done with AI experiments and expecting real results,” says Jason Kurtz, CEO, Basware. “Finance teams that focus on areas where AI can have immediate impact, such as automating accounts payable, improving compliance, reducing errors, and detecting fraud, can deliver these results.”
Key takeaways:
· Six in 10 (61%) say their organization rolled out custom-developed AI agents largely as an experiment, simply to see what the technology could do. And one in four admit they still don’t fully understand what an AI agent looks like in practice.
· Two-thirds (66%) of respondents say there is more hype around agentic AI than any previous technology shift, yet three-quarters are still figuring out the best way to leverage it. And the C-Suite is losing patience.
· While overall AI return on investment (ROI) rose from 35% to 67% in the last year, survey data shows agentic AI and companies using third-party solutions already embedded with AI agents outperformed all categories with an average ROI of 80%.
· 72% say they see accounts payable (AP) as the most obvious starting point for agentic AI. Other areas where they will likely deploy agentic AI entail automating invoice capture and data entry (30%); cash flow management (24%); scenario modeling and forecasting (23%); lower operating costs (21%); running real-time risk and market analysis (20%); automating financial reporting and reconciliations (20%); streamlining compliance checks and regulatory filings (19%); detecting duplicate invoices or potential fraud (19%); and reducing overpayments or duplicate payments (18%).
· Nearly three-quarters (71%) of finance teams see the weakest returns from AI reported acting under pressure and without direction, compared to 13% of teams achieving strong ROI.
