The intelligent automation revolution has arrived. According to a recent report from McKinsey & Co, this is the third wave of digitization and generative AI, in which businesses can add new unstructured content to analytical AI’s structured data capabilities. This means we see massive productivity gains for businesses, especially regarding their finance operations.

For the CFO and their teams, there is a wealth of opportunity here, but also not inconsiderable risk. The best CFOs are masters of balancing risk with opportunity; those who can do it well right now have an immense opportunity to write a new playbook for AI leadership. That’s because effective AI strategies involve more than just tools. They require a strong sense of where the business value lies and a keen sense for ensuring every technology investment has a clear return for the business — all things savvy CFOs have in abundance.

Two areas that stand out are payments and cash flow management. Recent research from Gartner compared organizations it saw as leading the way with successful AI strategies and implementations with their competitors. The study revealed that 46% of organizations with the most successful AI implementations leverage AI in customer payment forecasting, illustrating the vast potential for AI in this space.

But it’s not just about forecasting accuracy. It has been estimated that as much as $44 trillion is locked in global supply chains at any time. Accessing these funds, or at least ensuring they are working as efficiently as they can for you, can go a long way in helping you invest, expand, or diversify. McKinsey ranks enhanced working capital management as one of the top three areas for AI investment, alongside predictive cash flow forecasting and growth prioritization/M&A targets.

The real game-changer is the natural language-based tools and the capabilities to generate thorough financial scenarios. For example, you could ask, “What are my options to ensure the Board has the $750 million needed to make that acquisition or R&D investment in the year’s second half? What are the three best scenarios to ensure we achieve a free cash flow of $500 million in Q4 of this year?”

Assuming you have the data, the combination of predictive and generative AI will give you the analysis you need and the narrative to provide a clear pathway to your business goal.

Another opportunity is around fraud detection. Electronic payments are standard in many countries and supply chains are increasingly complex, which means the threat of fraud is increasing. AI can detect unusual patterns from typical transaction profiles, minimizing the rejection of legitimate transactions and maximizing the accuracy of fraudulent payments.

Automation is also an area that is ripe for significant leveling up. The future of payments powered by AI strives for complete autonomy, from predicting future incoming payments based on behavioral patterns to independently initiating dispute management in the event of non-payment to automated incoming payment reconciliations.

When we talk about AI’s transformative abilities, the most significant benefit is its ability to support continuous optimization. Whether it’s benchmarking against industry peers, risk modeling, or analyzing supplier behavior to optimize payment, the ability of AI tools to absorb and analyze vast amounts of data and generate scenarios in a multitude of forms gives you the power to act faster, with greater cost efficiency and insight.

Of course, it’s not just the technology that delivers the difference; it’s the combination of technology, financing partners, and processes. AI tools are most effective in the hands of a team that understands how to use them and has the processes in place to enable them to be used effectively. They also require access to vast amounts of data, internal and external.

For many businesses, the most effective and least risky investment is in platforms and technology tools that already have AI capabilities built in and in the people who know how to leverage them.

There is no doubt that the potential for everyone is significant. The early evidence suggests that those who have taken the plunge and are investing strategically are already reaping the benefits.

It points to a future full of incredible opportunities ahead and we are really excited about it!

Scott Russell is chief revenue officer and a member of the Executive Board of SAP SE.
Cedric Bru is CEO of Taulia.

This story also appeared on SAP BrandVoice on Forbes.

Your time is precious. Especially during summer, when the outdoors calls – and so do your family and friends.

At SAP, we’ve designed our spend management and business network solutions with this in mind. SAP Ariba solutions, SAP Business Network, SAP Concur solutions, and SAP Fieldglass solutions help you spend less time bogged down by tactical work, giving you more time to focus on strategic initiatives.

Our market-leading solutions help provide complete visibility into your company spending, so your decisions are smarter and your time and money saved. And with AI becoming ubiquitous, we’re automating repetitive tasks and analyzing enterprise-wide spend analytics to identify tail spend, improve compliance, and identify rapidly increasing costs.

Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Everything About Enterprise Software

AI is revolutionizing the global business landscape and SAP is at the forefront. We continuously embed new AI capabilities into our software to deliver intelligent spend management solutions to our customers. With our AI-infused products, work – and your workforce – can be more productive and supply chains more resilient.

At SAP Sapphire in June, we announced more time- and cash-saving product enhancements that provide generative AI capabilities. Here are several of them:

• New generative AI capabilities in SAP Fieldglass solutions help procurement departments streamline the recruitment of external workers. Hiring managers can generate and maintain effective job descriptions, while project managers can deliver detailed statements of work (SOWs) more rapidly with the press of the “Enhance with AI” button. This can enable businesses to quickly identify and engage contractors with the right skills and qualifications.
• Business owners and sales executives can now benefit from new generative AI capabilities in SAP Business Network to help generate accurate and timely RFI responses to potential buyers consistently. This can result in a 2-4 times* increase in lead conversion and can reduce effort in responding to requests by up to 75%*.
• SAP’s generative AI copilot Joule, which can quickly sort and contextualize data from multiple systems to help advance automation and improve decision-making, is expanding throughout SAP’s portfolio and will be embedded in SAP Ariba solutions to help improve procurement processes and supply chain planning by the end of 2024.

The AI enhancements mentioned above are only a few examples of how we’re transforming spend management and how businesses approach procurement through AI. Check out our AI spend management road map to see which new features will soon be available at your fingertips.

With the record-breaking travel over the July 4^th holiday weekend in the U.S., I would be remiss in not mentioning that Amtrak for Concur TripLink is now live! Released in April, connected customers can book tickets directly on the Amtrak website or mobile app, select the business booking path, and see their company’s negotiated rates while browsing. With skyrocketing airline ticket prices and the extra legroom, I’m on board with taking Amtrak to my next customer meeting.

Our Customers Are Winning

I could talk all day about how our customers are winning with SAP spend management and business network solutions, but these customer examples speak for themselves:

• Pony.ai needed to meet growing demand as a global leader in autonomous mobility with business units for robotaxi, robotruck, and personally owned vehicles. After implementing SAP Business Network and SAP Ariba solutions, procurement cycle times were reduced by one week on average and the supplier qualification verification process sped up by three times.
• With the introduction of Japan’s electronic bookkeeping law, CRE Inc., a logistics real estate company, seized the opportunity to digitalize its expense reimbursement process and align with the new regulations simultaneously. It selected Concur Expense to help automate processes and eliminate manual workflows and now spends 80% less time on the expense reimbursement process.
• When Accenture wanted to gain deeper insights into its services-based spend activity and align procurement with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments, the firm embraced SAP Fieldglass solutions. With rich data on how suppliers deliver against an agreement, Accenture can now effectively tie services spend to individual contracts.

It’s Great Being #1

New honors from Ardent Partners, Procurement Magazine, and TrustRadius have us buzzing with gratitude.

Ardent Partners has positioned SAP Fieldglass as a Market Leader in its 2024 Vendor Management System (VMS) Technology Advisor report**. It reads, “SAP Fieldglass has consistently set the bar for the extended workforce solutions industry through a blend of innovation, advanced analytics, and total talent management functionality.” For a more in-depth view of this win, check out this article from my colleague Vish Baliga.

Procurement Magazine is an established, trusted, and leading voice on all things procurement, and we are honored that our SAP spend management solutions are ranked No. 1 in two of their recent lists:

• SAP Concur is the No. 1 Top Mobile Procurement App on the Top 10 Mobile Procurement Apps List.
• SAP Ariba is the No. 1 Spend Analysis Platform on the Top 10 Spend Analyst Platforms List.

In May, TrustRadius announced that SAP is the winner of 11 Top Rated awards in 2024. This includes all our flagship offerings in our spend management portfolio:

• SAP Ariba – Procurement, Expense Management, and Supply Chain Management
• SAP Fieldglass – Leader in Workforce Management, Vendor Management Systems (VMS), Contractor Management, and Freelance Management
• SAP Concur – Leader in Expense Management, Accounts Payable, and Travel Management
• SAP Business Network – Supply Chain Visibility Procurement

The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are annual awards that recognize the most trusted and reliable vendors on TrustRadius, based solely on customer satisfaction ratings in customer reviews. SAP owes this recognition to our valued customers. Thank you for constantly inspiring us to be better. 

Join Us at SAP Spend Connect Live

I hope to see you at the world’s premiere spend management conference, SAP Spend Connect Live, which takes place October 14-16, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. This event is a sure bet to learn how to achieve full visibility into your enterprise spend through SAP’s spend management solutions for procurement, external workforce, travel and expense, and business network.

Meet me at the intersection of procurement and supply chain to learn how analytics and SAP Business AI can provide visibility into both. SAP Spend Connect Live is a unique, in-person networking experience, where you’ll connect with procurement and supply chain leaders from businesses and industries worldwide to share ideas, learn from each other’s success, and discuss best practices.

To learn more and register, visit the SAP Spend Connect Live website.

Jeff Collier is chief revenue officer for SAP Intelligent Spend and Business Network.

*Disclaimer: Values mentioned in this blog post are estimates based on average industry benchmark numbers, resulting from an SAP analysis. Customers interested in a specific business case calculation can consult their SAP account team.

**Ardent Partners’ 2024 Vendor Management System (VMS) Technology Advisor is designed to help procurement, human resources, human capital, and talent acquisition executives navigate the complex and mature VMS solutions marketplace. This report analyzes and assesses the primary VMS solution providers in the marketplace today. You can read the full report here.