Good morning. On Thursday, during the Fortune Emerging CFO virtual event in partnership with Workday, leaders discussed how AI is reshaping finance and the evolving responsibilities of CFOs.
James Glover, principal and finance transformation AI leader at Deloitte, emphasized that AI must align with a company’s core strategy. CFOs should first define their objective—efficiency, control, effectiveness, or engagement—then target the finance areas that best support that goal. Companies deploying AI one use case at a time, without a broader plan, are struggling to capture meaningful enterprise value, Glover said.
CFOs are also assessing agentic AI platforms to drive efficiency. “But you actually have to train your people to use it, otherwise they’re going to sort of treat it like a Google search,” Glover commented. That means AI prompting skills are crucial. Implementations for these platforms often take six to 12 months. He advised companies to introduce simple AI productivity tools early to build comfort while planning more ambitious initiatives, and to implement guidance for governance and compliance alongside them.
CFOs typically ask Deloitte three questions: What’s the ROI for AI? Where should they begin? And should they buy or build? Early adopters are starting to see “green shoots” of ROI, Glover said.
