CFO Magazine, Issue 1, 2020

Page 58

FUTURE

USHERING BUSINESSES INTO THE

‘Age of With’

We have entered the ‘Age of With’, where people harness technology to identify unique advantages through analytics and artificial intelligence. Deloitte’s Catherine Stretton believes the time is right for AI implementation. By Victoria Williams

A

ccording to research firm Gartner, by 2021 artificial intelligence (AI) will create $2.9 trillion of business value and 6.2 billion hours of worker productivity. AI is essentially a computer or software system that uses algorithms to make it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs and perform or simulate human-like behaviour or tasks. For a number of years, companies have targeted lowvalue opportunities for task-based automation, but increasingly seek to incorporate more advanced analytical and AI technologies. Catherine Stretton, Partner at Deloitte Analytics, believes the time is right for AI implementation. Corporate interest has moved beyond conference discussions to tangible business cases. Catherine comments: “In 2016 the market wasn’t ready, but interest has slowly built over the years. Clients are interested in the beautiful problem-solving abilities of AI. We seldom talk about the technical details of the technologies themselves, but rather the solutions they offer.”

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CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA

When applied to finance, digital technologies allow CFOs to manage traditional responsibilities like internal controls, compliance, and closing the books faster and with more efficiency. For the finance team, less time is spent on routine tasks and more focus on understanding the levers of revenue growth. There is an obvious business case for AI in risk management. Here, these technologies are adept at spotting patterns in historical data. AI can be used to detect fraud, uncover money-laundering or pinpoint customers with high credit risk profiles. But combing through data is not where it ends. Technology is also able to learn and identify new methods in hacking or cyber-attacks. For Catherine, one of the biggest competitive advantages that AI offers is to slash the time needed in forecasting and financial modelling. This is bringing forecasting ever closer to real-time. In the mining industry, for example, it used to take weeks to do a production forecast. Today, technology makes this possible in a few hours.


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Articles inside

From the CFO community manager

4min
pages 82-84

Emily Bigot: Paint by numbers

6min
pages 78-81

CFO Cares: Luyanda Gidini giving a boost to young black CAs

7min
pages 74-77

Rian du Toit: UK calling

8min
pages 70-73

CFOs chart a course for their future at a dinner with Graeme Codrington

3min
pages 68-69

Ushering businesses into the ‘Age of With

7min
pages 58-61

Megan Pydigadu: More than just a job

8min
pages 48-53

Special feature: Prepare for the future – it’s already here

10min
pages 62-67

Zaf Mahomed: The turnaround guy

7min
pages 54-57

CFO Awards interviews

2min
pages 46-47

Introducing this year’s CFO Awards nominees

15min
pages 38-45

CFO of the Future Summit discusses how business are using technology to keep up

3min
pages 24-25

New job, new baby – Meroonisha Kerber’s got this

9min
pages 16-21

Highlights from the 2019 Finance Indaba

4min
pages 12-15

Preparing the next generation to fill your shoes

4min
pages 30-33

Get the scoop on Sorbet – Meet the CFO of the growing beauty brand

7min
pages 26-29

Mpumi Madisa reveals what it takes to lead Bidvest

9min
pages 34-37

You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again: it’s all about disruption

3min
pages 22-23

Finance professionals moving up and away this quarter

8min
pages 8-11
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