A CFO's Roadmap for Adopting AI Safely and Successfully

AI has firmly established itself as a powerful tool for lifting productivity and efficiency across the business. But adopting it presents a major challenge for CFOs — particularly around the accountability that comes with data security and risk management. According to AvePoint's Jim Caci, before you even consider rolling out AI, you need to get the right data management and governance policies in place first.

The CFO plays a central role in driving AI investment, adoption, and safety — not just within finance, but across the entire organization. And getting AI adoption right takes a well-built roadmap. A few things worth keeping in mind:

1. Balance AI adoption against the risks

The CFO should work closely with IT and security teams to think through these questions before committing to AI:

• Which applications are safe to use across the entire organization?

• Do open-source tools carry too much risk of exposing data?

• Where are the workflows in which employees actually need AI tools?

The finance team leading AI investment should first look at how peers in the industry are using AI — and whether they've built their own AI solutions to drive productivity. With that context, leadership can decide which type of AI fits each use case based on its risk tolerance. And by partnering with IT and cybersecurity teams, they can build a far more robust roadmap for AI use.

2. Put the right data governance policies in place

Data management is a make-or-break factor in AI adoption. Research shows that while 88% of organizations have an information management strategy, 44% lack the basics — things like archiving, retention policies, and lifecycle management solutions. CFOs should partner with IT to prioritize a strong data and information lifecycle management system. That raises the quality of the data feeding your AI systems and lets you build automated policies that ensure employees only access the information they should.

3. Create a safe space to experiment

Before rolling AI out company-wide, CFOs at some organizations are encouraging a select group of employees to experiment with and test AI tools. Standing up an early-adopter group to run an AI pilot lets CFOs and leadership pinpoint the organization's specific technical needs — and gives them useful signal for future technology decisions.

Why an integrated cloud finance solution matters for FP&A

To adopt AI successfully and cut the odds of failure, digital transformation built on an integrated cloud finance solution like Numen is critical. Numen automates data management and governance, and delivers far more precise financial forecasts through AI-driven analytics. That reduces the risk of AI adoption and lays a foundation for managing your data safely.

The rapid spread of AI — and where the growth goes next

The adoption of generative AI is spreading fast across every industry. In 2023, 50% of organizations were using AI; by 2024, that climbed to 72%. The reason: AI's ability to process massive volumes of data and dramatically sharpen business insight is evolving at a remarkable pace.

By 2025, AI is expected to cement its place as a core technology driving growth.

So from Fortune 500 giants to early-stage startups, every CFO needs to make an AI adoption roadmap that ensures safe, efficient use and contributes to the bottom line an immediate priority.