peekpublishersKey Points:
– In 2024, advancements in AI will unlock new possibilities for finance professionals in spend management.
– Virtual payments will become more widely adopted, simplifying reimbursement processes and streamlining travel, expense, and invoice management.
– Predictive analytics tools will emerge, allowing businesses to analyze data and derive trends to optimize operations and improve spend management.
Finance professionals can expect significant advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on spend management in 2024, according to SAP Concur executives Christopher Juneau and Tim Lebel. They predict that virtual payments will simplify reimbursement processes, with employees using virtual payment methods for all business expenses, including travel. Trusted transactions will be validated quickly and reimbursed near-immediately, while exceptions will undergo AI-driven automated audits to ensure compliance. This will result in faster payments and more focused employees.
Predictive analytics tools will also emerge in 2024, powered by generative AI. These tools will analyze financial data and derive trends, insights, and solutions that can inform and optimize business operations. Rather than manually analyzing data, finance professionals will be able to delegate this task to AI, which will provide data-backed recommendations. For example, AI could determine the ideal time to book a business trip or the optimal date for a team meeting to minimize travel costs.
The rapid advancement of AI technology presents opportunities for finance professionals to improve financial processes and explore cutting-edge technology. The adoption of generative AI in 2024 will give companies a significant competitive advantage in spend management.
