Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) aren’t just the future. They are already transforming nearly every aspect of the business world. That includes extended financial planning and analysis (xFP&A).
Companies turn to xFP&A for help monitoring business performance metrics, running reports, and taking actionable steps to meet goals more efficiently. xFP&A solutions are incredibly powerful tools that enable stakeholders, including CFOs, CEOs, internal teams, and others throughout an organization to make better business decisions. They only become more powerful when they’re enhanced with the power of AI and ML, allowing for greater automation, analysis, and modeling capabilities.
Here are five ways AI can supercharge the effects of xFP&A
1. Helping Employees Work Smarter, Not Harder
AI is at its best when it’s simplifying complex tasks that would be labor intensive for any person to complete. AI assistants embedded in xFP&A solutions, such as Solver Copilot, can even provide guidance, training, and tools that help people do their jobs not just faster, but also better.
2. Increasing Productivity
When repetitive tasks are automated, time frees up for deep work that requires human thought. McKinsey & Company data suggests the adoption of AI has allowed for 30% faster credit decisions, while relationship manager productivity has more than doubled.
3. Flagging Anomalies and Errors
ML can pick up on patterns in data that even the most detail-oriented person would miss. That means AI-enabled xFP&A software can detect and elucidate outliers in your data—such as unusual transactions or sudden changes in revenue—allowing your team to address issues quickly and strategically.
4. Planning for the Future
Accurate modeling and robust “what-if” planning are two of xFP&A’s core benefits. AI only enhances these abilities, allowing companies to create sophisticated financial models, such as Decomposition Trees and Key Influencers, that inform business decisions.
5. Insights Drawn from the Past
The reams of historical data that exist for your company can be put to good use, thanks to AI-equipped xFP&A solutions. Analyzing historical data improves the quality of analysis and modeling by providing a frame of reference, highlighting past trends and seasonal variations.
xFP&A and AI are powerful technologies made even better when they work together. Want to learn more about how AI can transform operations?
