As companies shift from investing in generative AI to building and delivering solutions powered by the technology, leadership must have a clear understanding of AI's actual capabilities at this stage—Brian Zander, vice president of marketing at knowledge management platform Bloomfire, told CFO Dive.

When implementing AI, "I think mistakes often stem from having overly high expectations of what AI will deliver, or from not being clear from the start about how to measure its impact and translate it into cash value," he said in an interview.

To avoid these pitfalls, leaders such as CFOs and CIOs need to ensure they fill each other's blind spots in relevant areas. For example, a CIO might "jump straight to stage four or five on the AI maturity curve," while "ignoring the fact that you have to build the foundation first," Zander said. "And CFOs don't really like the idea of building foundations, because that means a longer time to value."

Cracking the AI value puzzle

Since OpenAI launched its ChatGPT tool three years ago, industry attention on AI's potential has continued to intensify, especially as an uncertain economic environment prompts more companies to seek technology toaddress cost and labor challengesagainst this backdrop.

However, these challenges have also prompted many leaders to ask deeper questions beyond the AI hype. For instance, CFOs are still closely monitoring the return on investment of these tools.

For any company currently selling AI as part of its software—including Bloomfire, which offers an AI-driven knowledge management platform—"I think almost everything carries an element of hype, because we're talking about a future state your company might reach, while the CFO is more concerned with, 'Okay, then show me the real money,'" Zander said. "What does this investment deliver today or in the next six months? Or what can it show by the time I have to submit my next quarterly report?"

Bloomfire is the latest stop in Zander's career, a path that has often placed him as "someone involved in major transformation projects at companies," he said of his past experiences. According to his LinkedIn profile, Zander joined Austin, Texas-based Bloomfire in April 2023 as vice president of marketing. His previous roles include president of Resurrection Gaming Company and a seven-year tenure at Librizol Corporation, where he served as director of strategic intelligence, among other positions.

To successfully execute an AI implementation strategy, CFOs and CIOs need not only a transparent understanding of the company's goals when deploying the technology, but also clarity on how to measure the success of those goals, Zander said. A common source of frustration is "things getting stuck in 'pilot purgatory,'" where technology has been deployed "but fails to gain adoption from the target team," he said.

"If you're in the CIO's shoes, that's a tough pill to swallow, because you'd say, 'Look at all the things we're doing with AI,' and the CFO responds, 'Sure, but none of that is translating into dollars,'" he said.

Putting end users first

Finding a middle ground between the risks and rewards of AI means CFOs need to become more comfortable with risk, while CIOs may need to pay closer attention to how the technology is actually being used. Both leaders need to be wary of potential misconceptions about AI's uses and potential, he said.

"I think CFOs often overestimate AI's ability to handle messy data—whether structured or unstructured," Zander said. And the common mistake CIOs make is "building tools for the sake of building tools," without considering end users, he said.

"CIOs get frustrated because they say, 'Look at all the good things this tool can do,'" he said, but "they don't think about who the users will be and how users can do their jobs better with the tool."

As AI further permeates enterprise processes and products, close collaboration between technology and finance departments will become increasingly critical.

"I absolutely believe technology investments have a direct impact on the value a company can generate," Zander said. "I think technology 100% impacts human performance, and CFOs should measure that in a very practical way."