5 ways automation and AI will transform the expense process

With the wealth of cloud-based finance and accounting tools available, it's tempting to think that the digital transformation of the finance department is nearly complete. But many of today's tools simply digitize cumbersome processes and workflows -- take expense management solutions as a prime example, which rely on the old paper-based expense report metaphor. Systems like these still require a huge amount of manual processing and data input, particularly from controllers and accounting teams. Because today's tools don't address the underlying issues perpetuated by traditional workflows, finance teams spend far too much time chasing down missing information, aggregating data, and correcting errors instead of focusing on more strategic and impactful activities, as reported in a recent study on operational challenges for finance teams. The next wave of technology, powered by advanced automation and AI, will completely transform the complete expense process, streamlining workflows and integrating real-time data so that finance teams only need to focus on the issues that matter most.