In a time when artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly emerging as a key component of operational effectiveness and company innovation, a new Gartner survey highlights a noteworthy global trend among Chief Financial Officers (CFOs). The survey, which collected opinions from 302 CFOs and senior finance executives in December 2023, indicates that there is broad consensus to raise AI budgets in 2024, underscoring the growing significance of AI in the context of business strategy.
Remarkably, 90% of CFOs expect to increase their AI expenditures in the next year; not a single one of the respondents is thinking about cutting down. Eighty-one percent of CFOs aim to increase their resources in the field of generative AI (GenAI), making this boom in investment in AI especially noteworthy. This change reflects a stronger resolve to use AI to transform businesses and gain a competitive edge.
In addition to enhancing technology capabilities, the rise in AI investment denotes a critical juncture for organizational strategy and policy-making. The Head of Research at Gartner Finance, Alexander Bant, highlights the importance of executive agreement on the goals of AI investments. Mr. Bant claims that as AI budgets rise, C-suite executives must have important conversations about what their company wants to achieve with AI and make sure that more spending is accompanied by strong governance structures that strike a balance between innovation and risk management.
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AI Redefining Businesses
According to the Gartner poll, the top financial priority for CFOs in 2024 will be technology with a particular emphasis on artificial intelligence. The vast majority of respondents, 82%, want to spend more on technology, indicating a significant priority for digital transformation projects. The emphasis on AI investment highlights the CFO’s responsibility for both financial management and strategic direction shaping in response to technology breakthroughs inside their businesses.
CFOs have a function that goes beyond setting budgets; they also have a say in how AI might reshape the finance division and the whole company. Mr. Bant contends that CFOs are in a unique position to lead the creation of governance frameworks that guarantee the ethical and responsible use of AI technology because of their thorough awareness of the organization’s value drivers.
The report also emphasizes how revolutionary GenAI has the potential to be in both the product and technology domains. GenAI is changing the strategic and operational landscape of digital companies, impacting everything from growth plans to product development and day-to-day operations, as noted by Eric Hunter, Managing Vice President at Gartner. Hunter does, however, recognize the difficulties and points of friction that accompany the rapid advancement of technology, such as the need that product leaders include safety standards into their AI solutions.
AI Safety
The fast advancement of GenAI technologies has sparked conversations around AI safety, which emphasize how critical it is to address the concerns related to algorithmic bias and content authenticity. According to Gartner, it is essential to create AI systems that are visible, traceable, interpretable, and explainable in order to reduce risks, anticipate legal issues, and build user and stakeholder confidence.
The results of Gartner‘s CFO survey might serve as a clear call to action for organizations as they continue to manage the challenges of the digital age: deliberate investment in artificial intelligence (AI). Organizations may use the revolutionary potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to reimagine their industries and achieve sustainable development in a world driven by technology and competition by combining financial resources with visionary leadership and ethical concerns.
