UK employees spend over a month a year on automatable tasks

New research has revealed that business AI adoption is more widespread than perhaps previously thought, with over three quarters (77 per cent) of UK financial leaders actively adopting, or experimenting with AI in their processes.

The research, commissioned by Equals Money, surveyed 400 UK financial decision makers and found that a further 18 per cent of respondents are looking to adopt AI tools in the near future in a bid to boost efficiency, improve decisionmaking and streamline tasks.

This comes as the research reveals on average UK employees spend 65 minutes a day on automatable tasks, totting up to 38 days a year.

Financial processes were shown to be a key area for automation, with 59 per cent of businesses having automated receiving payments, issuing payments (52 per cent) and generating invoices (57 per cent).

Highlighting this trend, businesses are investing significantly in AI, with a mean spend of £74,297,52 per business in 2024 alone.

Steve Paul, Deputy CFO at Equals Money said: “Embracing AI automation is crucial for finance leaders to gain a competitive edge. We must be receptive to change and treat AI adoption like any other transformative project.

That’s not to say we should let AI run unchecked - it’s our job as decisionmakers to ensure the correct level of oversight is applied to AI processes and that they are effectively managed. Not all processes should be automated and it’s key to understand which tasks can be given to AI, and which should be left to the experts.”

Equals Money helps free up time and resources that finance leaders can reinvest into more critical digital change projects. If you’re looking to optimise your financial processes and harness the power of digital transformation, chat to the experts today.