Introduction
In large enterprises, where financial decisions directly impact shareholder value, AI is becoming indispensable in the Finance, Procurement, and Risk departments. According to the International Monetary Fund, Financial sector spending will more than double to $97 billion in 2027, with a 29 percent compound annual growth rate—the fastest of five major industries. Also, procurement departments are leveraging AI to streamline supplier negotiations and enhance contract management, while Risk departments utilize AI-driven analytics to predict and mitigate financial threats. The following use cases illustrate how AI is enabling these departments to drive value and reduce risks across the enterprise.
Use Cases
-
1. Supporting Regulatory and Management Reporting
Ensure compliance and efficient management reporting by extracting and cleaning data from various sources, whether structured or unstructured, to provide accurate and reliable information.
-
2. Financial Data Collection Workflow
Enhance the financial data collection process from different entities and systems by distributing standardized forms, ensuring timely receipt of completed forms, and following up to meet deadlines, ensuring data accuracy and completeness.
-
3. Preparing Management Review Slide Decks
Develop comprehensive management review slide decks by aggregating data from multiple financial systems and reports, supporting the analysis of financial statements, identifying key drivers and trends, and modeling underlying causes such as price elasticity and volume effects on margins.
-
4. Managing Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A)
Oversee and streamline the financial planning and analysis process, including budgeting and forecasting, by supporting efficient data collection and approval workflows to ensure accurate financial projections and strategic planning.
-
5. Pre-Populating Budgets and Forecasts
Utilize historical and market data to predict and pre-populate budgets and forecasts, integrate these figures into the planning system, compare them to actual results, report variances, and identify and monitor underlying causes. Develop management review slide decks by consolidating data from various financial systems and reports.
-
6. Analyzing Financial and Business Information
Facilitate the analysis of financial and business data to generate actionable insights by identifying key drivers and trends, modeling root causes such as price elasticity and volume effects on margins, and providing a comprehensive understanding of financial performance.
-
7. Leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) for Analysis
Leverage the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate detailed analyses of trends and provide standard commentaries on graphical data, enhancing the understanding and communication of complex data insights.
-
8. Identifying Levers to Improve Margin
Identify key factors to enhance profit margins and conduct scenario analyses to evaluate potential outcomes. Perform pricing reviews aligned with customer contracts and pre-approved price lists to ensure competitive and profitable pricing strategies.
-
9. Capital Investment Allocation and Prioritization
Strategically allocate and prioritize capital investments by leveraging scenario analyses to provide visibility into long-term performance. Utilize a granular understanding of value drivers to make informed business prioritization decisions, optimizing resource allocation and maximizing returns.
-
10. Real-Time Display of Key Business Metrics
Present key business metrics in real time to facilitate prompt decision-making and immediate action when necessary. Aggregate and visualize enterprise-wide data, ensuring it is accessible to the appropriate stakeholders for informed decision-making.
-
11. Building Asset Listing and Inventory Reports
Develop comprehensive asset listings and inventory reports by integrating information from different systems. Utilize AI to calculate, reconcile, and enter depreciation values, sending confirmation emails to stakeholders. Support workflows for the addition or removal of assets, providing real-time status updates to relevant parties.
-
12. Optimizing Spend Allocation
Employ advanced mixed modeling techniques to optimize the allocation of spending, enhance supply chain efficiency through demand-sensing methods, and leverage external data to make more informed credit risk decisions, ensuring optimal resource utilization and risk management.
-
13. Analyzing Spend Profiles
Examine the organization’s spending patterns using historical data to identify trends and insights. For example, analyze demand and inventory trends to develop effective inventory strategies or match demand requirements with supply capabilities, ensuring efficient resource management.
-
14. Developing Inventory Procurement Levels
Formulate procurement levels and inventory plans by analyzing historical data and demand forecasts, utilizing both internal and external data sources to shape strategic decisions and ensure optimal inventory management.
-
15. Categorizing Spending Categories
Organize spending into categories and continuously monitor their performance. Generate automated reports and workbooks to provide key strategic insights, supporting data-driven decision-making and performance optimization.
-
16. Building Intelligence for Supplier Selection
Develop a comprehensive intelligence system for selecting suppliers by automating online market research, leveraging existing supplier data to evaluate quality and performance, and establishing a supplier rating system to inform and optimize supplier selection and management.
-
17. Handling Supplier Queries
Conduct research to understand and respond effectively to suppliers’ queries regarding terms, conditions, and quality standards. Provide updates on the procurement process and the status of invoice payments, ensuring clear communication and efficient supplier relationship management.
-
18. Vendor Master Data Management
Establish and maintain comprehensive vendor master data as a single source of truth. Oversee and automate approval workflows for creating, modifying, or deleting vendor information, ensuring accurate and up-to-date vendor records across systems.
-
19. Monitoring Supplier Data and Risks
Develop, monitor, and manage supplier data by integrating information from vendors and external sources. Continuously monitor operational risks, such as financial, legal, and reputational, providing real-time notifications of risk events. Record the receipt of goods and ensure quality monitoring to maintain high standards.
-
20. Predicting Supplier Compliance Issues
Forecast and highlight potential supplier compliance issues. Analyze risks and identify high-performing suppliers, receiving recommendations on optimal management strategies to maintain strong and compliant supplier relationships.
-
21. Generating Product Quality Testing Dashboards
Develop dashboards to monitor and report on the quality and compliance of inbound products, providing clear and actionable insights to ensure product standards are met.
-
22. Automating Contract Creation and Management
Streamline the process of creating and updating contracts by automating these tasks, and manage contract data in searchable repositories to ensure easy access and retrieval of contract information.
-
23. Monitoring Contract Compliance
Continuously monitor contract compliance by identifying obligations and deviations from standard clauses. Identify drivers and opportunities to enhance contract benefits and improve risk management, ensuring contracts are leveraged effectively for optimal outcomes.