Our Chief Revenue Officer Seth Catalli reflects on the conversations he held with CFOs and other senior finance leaders at the recent Gartner CFO Conference

In today’s fast-paced business world, organizations are continuously seeking ways to streamline operations, reduce costs, and stay ahead of the competition. At the Gartner CFO Conference in Maryland, the No.1 topic of discussion was about what areas are ripe for transformation through AI. My answer every time was: spend management. Put simply, AI-driven spend management is the biggest untapped opportunity for Global 2000 companies to increase productivity and efficiencies while reducing costs quickly and easily.

The Rise of AI in Business
The adoption of AI across various business units is accelerating, with impressive results. According to the Stanford AI Index 2024, 55% of organizations are now using AI in at least one function. This has led to notable cost reductions and efficiency gains, with 42% of organizations reporting decreased costs due to AI, up significantly from the previous year. Moreover, 59% of organizations have seen increased revenues attributed to AI. And in 2023, AI was mentioned in 394 earnings calls, representing nearly 80% of all Fortune 500 companies.

The keynote session in Maryland from Gartner Distinguished CFO analysts Nisha Bhandare and Clement Christensen also noted that Boards are asking about AI 3.4x more than cloud and 2.5x more than digital transformation.

The Promise of AI in Spend Management
AI-powered spend management involves using new technology to streamline procurement processes, from sourcing and supplier management to contract negotiation and compliance. By automating the repetitive, manual elements of these tasks and adding data-driven intelligent spend insights, organizations can achieve substantial cost savings, improve productivity, and ensure greater compliance and risk management.

How AI Can Achieve These Goals
In discussions with finance leaders from Global 2000 companies across the US and beyond, their primary priorities were clear – increasing efficiency, speeding up processes, and improving both the top and bottom lines. They are actively seeking new technologies that can optimize spend management processes while ensuring compliance with internal and external financial policies and regulations.

AI has the potential to achieve these goals by bringing more spend under control, driving double-digit cost reductions through enhanced competition in the sourcing process, negotiating better contracts with existing suppliers, and identifying new diverse suppliers.

Driving Better Business Outcomes
AI-driven spend management leads to better business outcomes through enhanced strategic decision-making – with access to real-time data and predictive analytics, CFOs can gain deeper insights into spending patterns and trends. Furthermore, optimizing the spend management model helps companies strengthen relationships with key suppliers and foster a culture of collaboration and partnership. This leads to greater value creation across the entire supply chain, ensuring that every dollar spent contributes to the company's overall success.

Act Now to Seize the Opportunity
On the latest edition of our Spend Sessions podcast, senior corporate procurement leader turned digital transformation consultant Amanda Prochaska told me: “Gone are the days of 18 months transformation programs, we're going to move much more quickly with the implementation of AI-powered technologies. The speed of change is going to intensify.”

Companies that are bold enough to seize this moment and transform their processes quickly and effectively will gain a decisive competitive advantage. There is a real sense of urgency among finance leaders – they understand that they can no longer afford to adopt a wait-and-see approach. The time to leverage AI for efficiency savings is now.

Click here for a demo of Globality’s AI-powered spend management platform to see how it uses gen AI to deliver 70% efficiencies and 10-20% cost savings instantly.