Editor's note:Chris Juneau is the market strategy lead at SAP Concur, a spend management software provider headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming a core tool for organizations across industries and will profoundly transform various business functions, and the CFO office is no exception.

According toSAP Concur's 2024 CFO Insights Survey, approximately 51% of CFOs are investing in AI this year, compared to just 15% in August 2023. However, 58% of respondents said they know little about using AI technology in finance, with only 4% indicating solid knowledge.

We predict that2024 will be a critical turning point for AI adoption, as the technology gradually sheds its novelty and becomes a true force for change in the business world.

In the realm of spend management, CFOs are particularly well-positioned to deploy AI to improve financial outcomes and operational efficiency.

Admittedly, AI in spend management is not new—SAP Concur solutions have had AI at their core for about a decade. But clearly, recent advances have propelled AI technology to the forefront in this field and many others.

Potential Benefits

For CFOs still hesitating to adopt AI in spend management, here are some potential benefits worth considering:

  • Reduced expense policy violations.Employees are often uncertain about their organization's expense-related policies. A 2022SAP Concur Pulse Surveyfound that 43% of business travelers submitted at least one travel request within 12 months that they were unsure complied with company policy. Generative AI helps promote compliance. For example, investing in large language model (LLM) assistants—essentially intelligent chatbots—can instantly answer employees' travel and expense questions. These chatbots can also build cost estimates based on flight and accommodation preferences within policy. With AI, employees can also receive real-time alerts about potential expense policy violations or approaching daily allowance (i.e., per diem) limits to prevent overspending.
  • Enhanced employee experience.Some mobile apps are already equipped with machine learning (ML) features that can recognize prices and items on paper receipts and automatically fill in expense forms. These technologies can also use AI assistance to itemize hotel receipts line by line. This can significantly save employees time, allowing them to focus on other tasks, while creating a better employee experience and giving managers more comprehensive spend visibility to support strategic decisions.
  • In-depth tax calculations.AI can process large volumes of data in seconds, simplifying tax calculations in audit approvals and employee expense processes. It can provide data-driven recommendations—including patterns humans might never notice—ensuring tax compliance for T&E expenses at the national level. AI and ML can also immediately detect anomalies, such as duplicate charges, to eliminate redundancy. This not only directly reduces costs but also saves hours of manual labor and reduces errors from manual processes. It also helps protect businesses from audits and penalties, including IRS accuracy-related regulations.

Data Privacy Risks

Of course, it is no secret that AI also brings risks. Hasty deployment can raisedata privacy concerns. Given the sensitivity of corporate financial data, spend management is an area with a particularly high level of risk.

Overall, companies are currently facing stricter scrutiny over how they collect, process, and use employee and customer information. T&E platforms in particular manage materials such as receipts, flight booking confirmations, or emails containing personal or even sensitive details like addresses and birthdays.

AI-driven tools are critical to the success of spend management strategies, but only CFOs who can mitigate potential risks will succeed. Be sure to choose solution providers with robust data privacy protection protocols to ensure data is handled and protected responsibly.