The adoption of AI in finance presents opportunities for CFOs who strategize in the right way.

It allows them to become more powerful in their decision-making as they benefit from increased automation and more precise data gathering and presentation.

To ensure they reap the full rewards of the introduction and usage of AI in the organization, there are four key areas of strategy that CFOs prioritize.

Recruiting the right internal and external candidates

Roles requiring knowledge of AI are becoming more common in organizations. They range from developers to data scientists and product managers. Many of these roles exist within the finance domain, and top CFOs know that recruiting the right candidates is essential to optimizing the success of AI within the organization.

Put simply, if employees do not have the relevant AI skills and are not accepting of AI, the impact on the business is negative. So, it makes sense to ensure suitably qualified professionals are brought into the business or moved to relevant roles internally. These individuals champion the use of AI and have the skills to ensure it’s utilized to full effect.

To attract and retain the best talent, leading CFOs rebrand to attract members of the AI generation. These are individuals who are at home with AI and are empowered rather than threatened by it. Rebranding can be difficult because many data science professionals view finance as a necessity rather than an exciting opportunity.

This means that the most successful CFOs focus on providing meaningful work and development opportunities. These opportunities may include involvement in high-value projects or the opportunity to resolve business-critical problems. This type of stretching work is attractive to top data science professionals and developers. It makes them more likely to consider a role within the finance function.

Creating a high-quality data environment

Professionals involved in developing or using AI do not want to concern themselves with fixing data issues. Instead, they want to use accurate data to create business solutions. Forward-thinking CFOs recognize this and create a data management function to ensure the accuracy of data that is presented to data science engineers and developers.

Investing in the latest technology

The latest AI technology is a powerful tool for the finance function in areas including fraud detection, customer service, and the completion of repetitive tasks via the use of machine learning. Investing in relevant technology also attracts and retains data science, developer, and project management professionals. After all, top-talent individuals expect to have the latest tools at their disposal.

Enable skill development opportunities

The final area that top CFOs focus on regarding AI strategies is providing development opportunities. AI professionals like developers and data scientists value the opportunity to grow and obtain new skills. So, offering training, practice, and development options as part of a role makes it more interesting to candidates. This, in turn, ensures that an organization has a vast pool of top talent to choose from when attempting to fill vacancies and optimize their use of AI.