Hackett

Finance Leaders See Cost Containment and Cash Flow Optimization as Top Priorities for 2024

Cost containment and cash flow optimization have jumped to the top of the priority list for finance leaders for 2024, in response to an uncertain economic outlook, potential for slowing or stalling of global growth, and the unprecedented confluence of inflationary price increases, rising interest rates, supply market challenges, and geopolitical instability, according to new Finance Key Issues research from The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCKT).

Finance leaders will also need to do more with less operationally in 2024 because they expect to see a 5% increase in finance workloads and a slight decrease in staffing and operating budget, The Hackett Group found.

Digital transformation remains a top five priority for finance in 2024, the research found. Technology investments are one area where spending will actually increase in 2024, driven by digital transformation and efforts to implement artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (Gen AI). Overall, finance leaders continue to focus on digital transformation, using technology investments to reduce costs and create new capabilities. Net adoption growth rates for both core and emerging finance technologies are expected to be strong in 2024, with the greatest growth in areas such as business process management (18%), virtualized data platforms (15%), digital workforce enablement tools (13%) and robotic process automation (13%). Gen AI growth of 9% is expected, with 41% of companies expecting to implement pilots or small-scale deployments.

While finance and other business functions are still in the early stages of exploring Gen AI, enterprise funding is expected to increase in 2024, the research found. The most promising opportunities for finance to benefit from Gen AI include account-to-report, management reporting and planning, and forecasting processes – areas where easy access to accurate data can greatly enhance the effectiveness of personnel. Many finance leaders also see an opportunity for using Gen AI in business performance support, including amplified analytics, intelligent task automation, conversational agents for service requests and natural language processing for translation of narratives.