Maximizing operational leverage is paramount in business today.
Amid ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, controlling the controllable and making the most of available resources has emerged as the way to capture growth.
For example, Amazon is equipping its finance team with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools designed to support and advance traditional workflows across areas such as fraud detection, contract review, financial forecasting, personal productivity, rule and regulatory interpretation, and tax work, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The tech giant is just one of many companies leveraging AI to transform their back-office operations.
After all, it makes sense that the big tech companies developing AI would want to use the same AI innovation they invest in and partner with to streamline their own internal workflows, improve efficiency, and enhance decision-making.
However, the “Magnificent Seven” are not the only companies that can leverage AI to enhance existing traditional processes and business functions.
Regardless of where the world sits in the AI hype cycle, as the technology continues to evolve and access becomes further democratized, the integration of AI into internal workflows will likely become more sophisticated and prevalent as companies focus on areas such as improving productivity, automating processes, and modernizing customer experiences.
read more: 5 trends that AI experts see likely to transform payments and commerce
Extracting Value from Enterprise AI
From streamlining back-office processes to enhancing decision-making capabilities, AI is driving operational advantage as businesses leverage technology to transform internal workflows and create value.
“ChatGPT turned on a lightbulb in everyone's heads, bringing artificial intelligence and cutting-edge deep learning into the public discourse,” Andy Hock, senior vice president of product and strategy at Cerebras, told PYMNTS. “And from an enterprise perspective, it turned on a lightbulb in the heads of a lot of Fortune 1000 CIOs and CTOs.”
One of the most immediate benefits of AI in an enterprise environment is the automation of repetitive and monotonous tasks. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) combined with AI allows organizations to handle high-volume, repetitive tasks more efficiently and accurately than human labor. These tasks include data entry, invoice processing, payroll, and routine administrative tasks.
A June report from PYMNTS Intelligence, “Small Businesses Race to Critical Mass for AI Use,” found that 96% of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that have tried AI tools see AI as an effective way to streamline tasks.
And according to a new report from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, the use of AI in accounting could revolutionize traditionally tedious tasks like bookkeeping, tax returns, and audits.
Accounting isn't the only place where AI can flourish. Marketing functions are also benefiting from this innovation. Additional data from PYMNTS Intelligence in the “2024 CAIO Report: Are CMOs Missing the Potential of GenAI?” reveals that nearly four in five chief marketing officers (CMOs) believe GenAI is very or extremely important to delivering a positive customer experience.
Three-quarters of CMOs consider GenAI very important for conducting market research, indicating a focus on understanding consumer behavior, and half of CMOs surveyed already use GenAI for everyday tasks such as crafting emails and visualizing data.
read more: Key Use Cases of AI in B2B Operations
What the Marketplace Does
Integrating AI into enterprise workflows is more than just a technological advancement: it's a strategic imperative for modern business.
“I’ve been in the artificial intelligence and machine learning (ML) space for over 20 years,” Yoav Amiel, chief information officer at freight brokerage platform and third-party logistics company RXO, told PYMNTS. “When we build technology, we’re not just building it for technology’s sake, we’re building technology that serves the business.”
AI enables businesses to create significant value by automating repetitive tasks, enhancing data analytics, improving customer service, streamlining HR processes, enhancing financial management, optimizing supply chains, strengthening cybersecurity, and more.
For example, by integrating OpenAI's ChatGPT, Apple products will soon be able to respond to customer inquiries, process orders, and even provide product recommendations, while at JP Morgan Chase, training AI is now part of hiring.
Morgan Stanley announced in September that it was introducing an AI-powered assistant for its financial advisors and their support staff, and Salesforce.com said its AI + Data + CRM platform has been a big contributor to its recent growth.
PYMNTS Intelligence sees a company's finance function as another area where AI can come into play.
“Companies need to embrace new technologies,” Claudia Villasis-Warraff, head of data-driven finance at Deutsche Bank, told PYMNTS. “And I don't just mean the adoption of API connectivity, but also cloud capabilities and artificial intelligence.”
