Best AI tools to revolutionise your finance function
Nearly 100 years after the birth of one of Artificial Intelligence’s founding fathers, John McCarthy, AI appears to be finally making its mark on society. To celebrate what would have been McCarthy’s 96th birthday, let's look at how AI is progressing the world of finance and what the industry might look like come the centenary of his birth.
How is AI impacting finance?
Over the last year, the prevalence and significance of artificial intelligence has soared. This is reflected in its technological advances and society’s interest in the topic. For instance, whilst there were 8 million searches for ‘artificial intelligence’ in January 2022, in May 2023 it rocketed to 42 million.
As one of the most exciting forms of technology that possesses the ability to save time, improve productivity and even uncover new knowledge, it is not surprising that people are keen to apply it financially. As a result, AI is already widely adopted when it comes to making money – 85% of financial services professionals are using it in some form. Plus, in other financial capacities, AI is already speeding up payments, generating deeper data insights, forecasting future performance, spotting fraudulent activity, and more.
Let’s take a look at some of the best tools that are already making these feats a reality for finance teams across the world.
Best AI tools for finance professionals
Scribe
The finance function is full of processes and software tools. Whilst their purpose is usually to improve productivity, gather vital data or ensure compliance, knowing how to use them correctly isn’t always easy.
This is a problem when new members of staff enter a finance team. Time has to be spent making them familiar with processes whilst financial data refuses to slow down. However, with Scribe, new starters get up and running quicker without existing staff members being pulled away from their main responsibilities to deliver training.
Scribe achieves this by being an AI-powered writing tool specialising in process documentation. In seconds, Scribe is therefore able to build comprehensive guides to get your team up and running with Xero, Aurum, and all of your other financial tools.
Mastercard’s Consumer Fraud Risk
A tool that halts crime before it even takes place sounds too good to be true; however, that is what Mastercard has provided banks with thanks to their application of AI. By exploring data such as account names, payment values, payer and payee history, and links to scam-associated accounts, they have developed a solution that allows banks to intervene with fraudulent intent before catastrophic results occur.
This feat was historically impossible for banks to achieve but thanks to AI, it is now very much a reality, saving TSB customers approximately £100 million per year in the UK.
Alyne
Finance is one of the most highly regulated industries. However, with new technologies frequently impacting the sector, legislation must frequently be updated. This is difficult enough to keep abreast of, let alone action when the amount of regulatory tasks continue to increase.
Fortunately, Government, Risk and Compliance platforms like Alyne are making the most of AI to overcome the overwhelming nature of compliance. This includes leveraging it to create a first-draft risk management programme, automating data collection, monitoring changes in relevant regulations and more.
Amelia
Personal finances require a personal touch in 2023 to sustain customer engagement. That’s why the front-end development of financial apps has seen investment soar, so much so that by 2026, the global mobile banking industry is set to be valued at $1,824.7 million at a CAGR of 12.2%.
Whilst the aim of such work is to ensure that customers never experience any problems, inevitably they still arise. As a result, consumers expect an equally good experience when it comes to resolving any problems they might have. Usually, this requires time-consuming human intervention, but with AI chatbots like Amelia, financial institutions like Sterling National Bank resolve issues automatically 90% of the time without the need to escalate. With results like this, AI improves customer experience and allows bankers to focus on producing better services for their clients.
Rossum
A big benefit of AI is its ability to automate repetitive tasks, freeing up financial professionals to focus on high-impact tasks. However, this does not mean activities like invoice processing will be eradicated from existence. After all, finance is defined by the movement of money and assets. As a result, invoices will always be necessary.
That’s why AI tools such as Rossum are becoming increasingly popular. Whilst AI can’t make processing invoices defunct, they can certainly reduce time on validating by 82% and cut costs by 50%, transforming the productivity of accounts payable departments.
AI and finance in 2027
Artificial intelligence is undeniably already having an impact on financial teams and their processes despite it only recently becoming mainstream in the last year or so. Now that it is readily accessible for various stakeholders to use, this opens up the opportunity for more people to have an impact on its development.
What this will result in is ultimately unknown but impressively, AI will probably be influential in its development. And it seems like it already has some ideas in mind. If you ask ChatGPT what problems it could solve for finance teams in the future, production of real-time ESG insights, enhanced data security measures, and advanced predictive analytics are all suggested. Ultimately, we will have to wait and see but if AI’s impact on financial operations is anything to go by, the future looks bright.