Chief financial officers are among some of the C-suite executives most involved in developing enterprise generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) strategies for their organisations, a Gartner survey finds.
In a Gartner survey of 822 functional leaders, 34% of respondents identified CFOs as being involved in developing GenAI strategy for their enterprise.
“The large majority of CFOs continue to be displeased with the performance of digital investments across their organization,” says Alexander Bant, chief of research in the Gartner Finance practice.
“GenAI spend is expected to be five to eight times higher than last year at most organisations, and many CFOs are playing the role of copilot to ensure these investments drive measurable benefits and profitable growth without unduly increasing risk.”
Alexander Bant, Gartner Finance practice
Bant points out that CFOs know GenAI strategies must be cross-functional, and that they are leaning in with their CIOs, CISOs, and CDAOs.
In addition, Bant says many are going further than just partnership, and are instead playing a leadership role in crafting a GenAI strategy that aligns with and enhances the business and financial strategy for the board, investors, and regulators.
“They must foster discussions that are going to ensure cost-effective and responsible deployment of GenAI," the Gartner Finance practice research chief says.
Figure 1: CFOs’ involvement in Developing Enterprise GenAI Strategy
Source: Gartner (February 2024)
To help CFOs navigate this trend, Gartner experts identified three likely stages of GenAI deployment in enterprises: Defend, Extend and Upend.
Defend
The defend stage is where organisations must pick the low hanging fruit offered by GenAI and develop proper governance and employee understanding on responsible use of the technology.
This should involve implementing tools with low barriers to adoption and finding quick wins with specific tasks. For example, providing employee access to productivity assistants, such as Microsoft Copilot and Google Workspace, so GenAI can be applied to relevant workstreams in a sanctioned and controlled way.
“Even though these kinds of tools may seem quite revolutionary, the low barrier to adopting them means they will quickly become table stakes for doing business,” said Bant. “They will not give an organisation a sustainable competitive advantage.”
Extend
The extend phase will cost more but will also have greater potential returns. This is where an organisation would invest in more customised applications of GenAI technology, tailored to its unique circumstances of value proposition.
For example, GenAI could possibly augment the capabilities of financial advisors in wealth management. This has the potential to extend a service currently only within reach of the wealthiest individuals, providing it to a mass market audience.
Upend
The final scenario is one where GenAI upends an organisation and disrupts its entire industry.
“This is the game-changing stuff that can get very expensive, very fast,” Bant told attendees. “But it also comes with much higher potential rewards.”
This is likely to involve shifts in employee productivity or business efficiency so profound that they lead to new products, services, and markets alongside new competitors in a similar way that tech giants have disrupted adjacent markets in recent years.
