This blog is written by Trintech CFO Omar Choucair and originally appeared on Forbes.com. It is republished with permission.

Chief financial officers face a multitude of challenges, from managing complex financial data to navigating regulatory requirements. Amid this backdrop, artificial intelligence presents a transformative opportunity for CFOs to revolutionize their operations and drive efficiency within the office of finance.

Big tech companies such as Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta are investing billions of dollars into AI because these tools have the potential to streamline processes and unlock valuable insights from vast amounts of financial data, which can ultimately enhance decision making.

However, a strategic approach is essential for CFOs to fully harness the power of AI. CFOs must prioritize understanding their organizations’ specific needs and pain points. After identifying the areas where automation and AI can make the greatest impact and generate ROI, CFOs can develop a tailored AI strategy aligned with their business objectives.

Determine AI’s Place In Your Organization

While there’s no question that hype around AI is warranted, knowing how and where to invest in it is increasingly complex. For example, should the focus be on making your consumer-facing product smarter and faster, or is it more important to focus on internal operations, where AI can quickly analyze all your data and help build more agile and effective marketing campaigns?

It will be critical to monitor which vendors are developing relevant AI solutions and which are simply looking to ride the bandwagon with superficial or incomplete AI solutions. Vendors developing relevant AI solutions will prioritize data governance, regulatory compliance and ethical considerations in their product development. A strategic AI vendor will showcase their expertise through case studies highlighting their experience and prominent partnerships or clients.

In contrast, early stage vendors often lack a solid track record and could overstate benefits without the research or methodology to support them. Companies looking to invest in AI solutions should thoroughly research vendors to ensure they choose trusted partners who prioritize these critical aspects.

CFOs will need to make sure their finance and accounting teams know what AI can and can’t do and how to distinguish between contenders and pretenders.

Collaboration between finance and technology teams is crucial. CFOs will need to work closely with chief information officers and chief technology officers to evaluate AI solutions and determine the most suitable options for their organization. This key partnership ensures that any applications are not only technically feasible but also are aligned with broader IT strategies and infrastructure capabilities.

Additionally, the importance of data quality and integrity in driving successful AI implementations will be a priority. Clean, accurate data is the foundation for AI-driven insights and ultimate decision making. Accordingly, investing in data management practices, such as data cleansing, normalization and governance, is essential to ensure the reliability and relevance of AI outputs.

At Trintech, our team has found that AI could revolutionize every aspect of our product operation. In particular, we have identified three areas where we believe that harnessing the power of AI can revolutionize the financial close. This includes transforming system configurations to elevate customer engagement, optimizing operations to be more efficient while still maintaining rigorous compliance requirements and enhancing data collection and analysis operations to unlock patterns and build predictive analytics.

We have also established a Center of Excellence to help our team research and quickly develop AI solutions that best align with our business model. While CFOs will need to decide how much of an investment in research makes sense for their organization, doing your homework now can have a huge impact on rolling out successful AI initiatives down the road.

Prioritize Skill Development And Be Willing To Experiment

CFOs should foster a culture of continuous learning and skill development within the finance team. As AI becomes increasingly integrated into finance operations, employees must acquire new skill sets and competencies, such as data analysis and AI model interpretation. Investing now in training programs and professional development initiatives enables finance professionals to adapt to the evolving technological landscape and maximize the value of AI tools.

Additionally, CFOs will need to embrace agility and experimentation in their AI initiatives. The rapid pace of technological innovation means that new AI capabilities and applications are constantly emerging. CFOs should remain open to exploring novel use cases and experimenting with different AI tools and techniques to uncover untapped opportunities for efficiency gains and competitive advantage.

Commit To Responsible AI Adoption

As AI continues to reshape the financial landscape, it will also be crucial for CFOs to prioritize data governance, regulatory compliance and ethical considerations when implementing these powerful technologies. With the increasing scrutiny on AI adoption and the sensitive nature of financial data, organizations must develop responsible AI practices that mitigate potential risks and maintain the trust of their clients and stakeholders. CFOs should ensure that their AI architectures are designed to keep each customer’s data secure and isolated, preventing any intermingling of sensitive information between clients.

A commitment to responsible AI adoption not only protects clients’ intellectual property but also enables companies to deliver innovative solutions that drive meaningful value without compromising integrity.

Don’t Forget To Measure Its Impact

CFOs should measure and evaluate the impact of AI implementations on key performance indicators and business outcomes. Establishing a clear set of KPIs to measure the impact of AI implementations is critical.

At Trintech, our Innovation Lab is dedicated to testing and measuring how different AI technologies integrate into our solutions. Specifically, we focus on KPIs such as ROI, productivity improvements and efficiency gains in the financial close process. Additionally, we measure key risk categories to ensure AI implementations meet the high standards and compliance expectations of CFOs and the office of finance. Before implementing any solution, we review it for transparency (understanding how inputs lead to outputs), reliability (validation of data by third-party applications) and bias (ensuring results are not influenced by biased data inputs).

By establishing metrics to assess the effectiveness and ROI of AI initiatives, CFOs can demonstrate the value of AI-driven innovation to senior leadership and stakeholders. Moreover, ongoing performance monitoring enables CFOs to identify areas for optimization and refinement, ensuring that AI continues to drive tangible business benefits over time.

In our experience, most CFOs have realized that AI represents a powerful opportunity to enhance efficiency and drive strategic value within the office of finance. While it can be tempting to jump full steam ahead into the latest trend, they will need to fully vet all the long-term implications of any integrations. By adopting a strategic approach grounded in understanding, collaboration, data integrity, ethics, learning, agility and measurement, CFOs can harness the full potential of AI to position their organizations for long-term success.

Omar Choucair, CFO, Trintech, has spent 20+ years leading financial and administrative organizations for public and private companies.