In brief
- Despite heavy investment in financial software, many finance teams are still bogged down by spreadsheets, but a new wave of AI-powered tools is set to change that.
- CFOs are increasingly looking to adopt AI, with 79% planning to boost their AI budgets in 2025, signaling a major shift from experimentation to real-world application.
- New AI-native platforms are promising to deliver real-time financial data, moving finance teams from being reactive number-crunchers to proactive strategic advisors.
- While challenges like data security and finding the right solutions persist, the consensus is that 2025 will be a pivotal year for AI in transforming business finance.
The Excel Era Is Fading as AI Reshapes Business Finance
For years, finance departments have been stuck in a familiar cycle. Despite spending millions on sophisticated software, many teams still find themselves leaning on old-school Excel spreadsheets to close the books and get numbers ready for audit. “Despite millions spent on financial software, many finance teams still rely on Excel to close their books and reconcile numbers while preparing them for audit,” says Ramnandan Krishnamurthy, the co-founder and CEO of Maximor, a startup aiming to fix this very problem. But it looks like that’s all about to change.
A recent Bain Capital Ventures survey of its CFO Advisory Board found that a whopping 79% of CFOs plan to increase their AI budgets in 2025. The same survey revealed that 94% believe generative AI could significantly benefit at least one part of their finance organization within the next year. This isn’t just hype, it’s a clear signal that the world of finance is on the brink of a massive overhaul, moving away from manual data entry and toward a more automated, strategic future where the roles of finance professionals are evolving.
From Experimentation to Real Adoption
Even with all the excitement, adoption is still in its early days. The Bain Capital Ventures survey also noted that 71% of CFOs aren’t currently using generative AI in their finance and accounting functions, despite high interest. But the tide is turning, thanks to tangible results from early adopters.
Take proptech firm Rently, for example. According to its CFO Dustin Neel, implementing Maximor’s agentic platform helped them slash their closing time from eight days down to four and saved them from having to hire two more accountants. This kind of success story is pushing other leaders to get serious about upskilling their teams. A recent Fortune survey found that nearly two-thirds of finance leaders (64%) are planning to add more technical skills by 2026, with a focus on AI, automation, and data analysis.
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For finance teams looking to embrace the automation trend, The TechBull recommends exploring platforms like Make.com. It’s a no-code AI automation tool that can help connect different systems, such as your ERP and CRM, without needing a team of developers. This makes it easier to streamline workflows and get different software talking to each other, a key step in building a more efficient finance function. You can check out Make.com here.
The New Wave of AI-Native Finance Tools
The new kids on the block are AI-native ERPs like Doss, Everest, Quanta, and Rillet. According to Bain Capital Ventures, these platforms are trying to rebuild the CFO’s toolkit from the ground up, replacing outdated systems to create a single, real-time source of financial truth.
Other tools are tackling specific pain points. Numeric, for instance, helps speed up the month-end close with its smart checklists, automated reconciliation, and an AI assistant that can analyze fluctuations in the numbers. Then there’s Maximor, which uses a network of AI agents that plug directly into a company’s ERP, CRM, and billing systems. As CEO Ramnandan Krishnamurthy explains, this allows them to continuously pull transaction data, giving businesses a live view of their finances instead of making them wait until the end of the month. This approach is a core part of the agentic AI revolution, where autonomous systems handle complex, multi-step tasks.
What CFOs Actually Want AI to Do
So, what are finance leaders hoping to get out of AI? It’s not just about automation. According to anonymous feedback gathered by Bain Capital Ventures, CFOs are looking for AI that can perform “variance analysis similar to what an FPA analyst does, and providing results and commentary.” Another CFO even requested AI that could take “operational inputs from our financial plan and running something like a Monte Carlo simulation to estimate financial outcomes.”
It’s clear they want AI to handle high-level, strategic tasks. Kyriba’s 2025 US CFO Survey confirms this, showing that US CFOs are using AI for things like strategic planning (52%) and investment analysis (48%).
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The Strategic Shift From Number-Crunching to Decision-Making
The real promise of AI in finance is its ability to free up teams from tedious, manual work so they can focus on what really matters—strategy. Rently’s CFO, Dustin Neel, reported that after bringing in Maximor’s platform, he was able to redirect nearly half of his team’s time to more strategic initiatives.
This shift is becoming a necessity. A 2026 priorities survey found that 72% of CFOs are now using AI, as they grapple with challenges like tariff uncertainty and disruptions to forecasting. As a Deloitte analysis on tech trends puts it, AI is not just a tool for automation but a strategic asset that can drive decision-making and innovation in modern finance.
Real-Time Data Becomes the New Standard
One of the biggest frustrations in traditional finance has always been the lag time. As Fuelfinance points out in an analysis of the problem, workflows were slow, and “by the time reports are ready, current data has already changed.” With AI, finance leaders are moving from being “the last to know” to being “the first to act.”
Tools like Aleph are making this a reality by allowing teams to ask questions about their financial data in plain English and get intelligent predictions in return. This automates basic modeling and saves countless hours that used to be spent answering questions from stakeholders.
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Creating these real-time dashboards can be a challenge without the right tools. For businesses looking to get a live pulse on their financials without complex coding, The TechBull suggests looking into a tool like Databox. It’s a business intelligence platform that makes it easy to pull data from different sources into one automated, real-time dashboard. This can help finance teams deliver the on-demand insights the rest of the business is asking for. Find out more about Databox here.
The Persistent Challenges Holding Back Full Adoption
Of course, the road to full AI adoption isn’t without its bumps. Many CFOs in the Bain Capital Ventures survey said that even with interest and a budget, they’ve been held back because they haven’t been able to find solutions that truly meet their needs.
Beyond that, data privacy and security are huge concerns. As FD Capital’s analysis notes, financial institutions have to make sure sensitive information stays protected when they bring in AI. There are also ethical questions about AI-driven decision-making that need to be carefully handled to maintain trust and transparency.
Looking Ahead From Early Adoption to Industry Standard
Despite the challenges, the direction of travel is clear. “If 2024 was the year of initial experimentation for AI in the Office of the CFO, we expect to see early majority adoption begin in 2025,” predicts Bain Capital Ventures. The folks at Fuelfinance put it more bluntly, arguing that the real risk for CFOs isn’t AI itself, but getting left behind as their competitors embrace these new technologies.
It seems certain that AI will fundamentally change how finance departments work. As Workday’s analysis of financial planning trends suggests, 2025 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for the transformation of finance.