are you working on a policy yet? half your peers are.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
if you’re in business – anywhere from accounting to manufacturing to retailing – you’d better buckle up because next year isn’t going to be like this year, let alone the year before.
more: does accounting belong in stem? | accounting arc | artificial intelligence may already be plateauing | regulation, geopolitical instability spark concern | ten ways to manage price increases | survey says 57% of firms are raising prices next year | how will private equity impact accounting careers? | eleven questions about kids, wealth and the family business | twelve years and out: seasoned accountants join the exodus | how accounting firms are handling the staff shortage | gen ai in accounting: epic transformation, or overheated hype? | survey shows big opportunities in small business | salary guides for accountants vary widely: whom do you believe? | are you earning what you deserve?
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the bdo 2024 cfo outlook survey uncovered a startling change that occurred this year. early in 2023, 71 percent of middle-market cfos said supply chain disruption was their primary risk, economic volatility running a close second and geopolitical disruption a close third.
but artificial intelligence never made the top five. in fact, it isn’t even mentioned in that survey. not once.
but 2023 was long, long ago.
looking at 2024, 39 percent of cfos say generative ai is the greatest risk to their organizations, statistically tied with the 40 percent who still fear economic volatility and the 39 percent worried primarily about a devastating data privacy breach.
that triad of fears walks hand in hand, each relating to the others, with ai right in the middle.
risks and opportunities
the concern with ai stems from various directions.
- the risks it poses from outside the organization
- the ongoing efforts – maybe too much, maybe too little, maybe too late or too soon – to regulate its development
- the investments necessary even as its potential is still being explored
- the opportunities that might be lost by mismanagement or underinvestment
transformative for business
“generative ai is on the minds of nearly all middle-market cfos, as companies identify use cases and adopt the technology with expedience,” the survey says. “those who take a thoughtful approach to generative ai, formalizing their policies while cultivating the right skillsets in-house, will find it transformative for their business.”
cfos are pretty much evenly divided on where the greatest opportunities lie. the main opps:
- compliance and reporting (18 percent)
- safety monitoring (15 percent)
- pricing decisions (14 percent)
- contract management ( 114 percent)
- back-office automation (13 percent)
- field services (12 percent)
a couple of wows
two statistics stand out as indicators of the extent to which organizers are diving into the deep, dark, unknown waters of ai.
one is that nearly half of organizations (49 percent) are in the process of formalizing a policy around generative ai.
wow! that’s up from approximately zero in early 2023.
another is that 39 percent already building proprietary ai platforms.
wow again! though corporate leaders barely have an inkling of what ai can do for them or where the technology is going, they are already building platforms.
the risks of doing nothing
apparently mid-market cfos are most worried about the risks of doing nothing.
but doing something – anything – entails a gauntlet of risks.
- 24 percent say the top risk is finding professionals with ai skillsets.
- 20 percent most fear the generation of or decisions based on incorrect information.
- 19 percent see ai as increasing data privacy risk.
- 15 percent are most concerned with a disruption of their entire industry.
- 13 percent are already worried about ai bias and ethical questions.
- nine percent say job displacement is the primary risk.
while those are the top risks, they are all real and present risks even to organizations that are waiting to see where ai goes.
if the risks are inevitable, organizations would probably be wise to look into the leveraging the power of ai.
“the potential of this technology is not simply about automating tasks or making work smarter,” the survey report notes. “generative ai can bridge gaps between businesses and customers, managers and employees, and across the vast expanse of our global community.”