Digital Lifescapes

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformational force, reshaping business processes and unlocking new possibilities for efficiency and innovation in corporate finance. The latest Gartner survey on AI usage in finance provides evidence of this emerging trend, offering valuable insights into the future growth trajectory of AI in finance. The Gartner survey reveals a significant milestone. As of 2024, 58 percent of finance functions actively use AI technology -- that's a substantial increase from previous years. Artificial Intelligence Market Development Perhaps even more telling is the projection that by 2026 more than 80 percent of finance functions are expected to be leveraging AI solutions. The survey sheds light on the use cases of AI in finance: AI is being deployed to enhance forecasting accuracy and provide deeper insights into financial trends. Automation of routine tasks and improved accuracy in financial reporting are key benefits observed. AI algorithms are ...

As an independent management consultant specializing in the tech sector, I've witnessed numerous technological advancements reshape vertical industry workflow and horizontal job functions. However, few innovations have shown as much promise to revolutionize business operations as Generative AI (GenAI). A recent Gartner market study has shed light on the transformative potential of this technology, particularly in the realm of finance. The findings reveal a significant shift in how finance leaders perceive and plan to implement generative AI, signaling a new era of data-driven decision-making and operational efficiency. The Gartner assessment provides compelling insights into the expectations and priorities of finance leaders regarding GenAI adoption. One of the most striking statistics is that 66 percent of finance leaders believe GenAI will have its most immediate impact on explaining forecast and budget variances. GenAI in Finance Market Development This high percentage undersc...

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) and/or the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) will guide Generative AI initiatives within the large enterprise C-Suite. They may already have the technical expertise and experience to understand the capabilities and limitations of Gen AI. They also have the authority and budget to make the necessary investments in infrastructure and talent to support Gen AI initiatives. Enterprise AI infrastructure is proven to be expensive to build, operate and maintain. That's why public cloud service provider solutions are often used for new AI use cases. AI Semiconductor Market Development Semiconductors designed to execute Artificial Intelligence (AI) workloads will represent a $53.4 billion revenue opportunity for the global semiconductor industry in 2023, an increase of 20.9 percent from 2022, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. "The developments in generative AI and the increasing use of a wide range AI-based applications in data c...

Enterprise IT is no longer a cost center. It is a strategic enabler of business growth. More senior executives are realigning their IT budgets to focus on growth initiatives. By reinvesting IT budget savings, they can ensure that their organizations are well-positioned to succeed in the future. Growth remains the top strategic business priority for both CFOs and CEOs, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. Forty-five percent of CEOs surveyed ranked growth in their top 3 strategic priorities, down from 53 percent in 2022, while 62 percent of CFOs put it in their top 3 -- that's up from 59 percent in 2022. Enterprise Digital Technology Market Development   While CFOs and CEOs agree on growth as their top priority, their emphasis on this and other priorities differ, according to the Gartner survey of CEOs, CFOs, and other senior executive business leaders. For example, the CFOs’ second top priority is corporate action such as M&A and restructuring (41 percent),...

Savvy leaders in the C-suite continue to invest in digital transformation that fuels net-new growth, regardless of global economic volatility concerns. Other leaders, consumed by fear, are undecided or already retreating.  Rising prices and interest rates along with other economic factors beyond a company’s control are leading CFOs to show the most concern about profitable growth, inflation, and balance sheet health in 2023, according to the latest market study by Gartner. Yet nine out of 10 CFOs plan to fund organic growth in 2023 at the same level or greater levels than their investment in 2022. Digital Growth Market Development "Macroeconomic factors that companies can do little to nothing about have created an uncertain setting in 2023, and have also led to many sleepless nights among CFOs," said Shannon Cole, senior director at Gartner . Borrowing has become more expensive, and inventory and fixed-asset values remain volatile, which inevitably leads to downstream income ...

In the Business-to-Business realm, credit cards provide access to working capital and offer rewards with enhanced controls over spending. Looking ahead, payment networks and card issuers will collaborate with Fintechs to capitalize on this growing opportunity. Virtual cards are financial tools that exist only in digital form and are utilized for online payments. Unlike physical cards, issuers can create a disposable, one-time card, whose unchangeable account numbers are randomly generated for a specific transaction. These digital cards can be linked to either debit or credit accounts, but account information is never shared with merchants. The underlying technology of these cards was first introduced to the consumer payments market almost two decades ago. Today, digital cards are used for corporate accounts. Digital Card Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the number of credit cards issued via digital card issuance platforms will excee...

Across the globe, many forward-thinking CEOs and CFOs continue to fund business technology investments that enable meaningful and substantive digital transformations, ahead of their industry peer group. That's why CIOs and other IT leaders must now accelerate the quest for value creation and drive digital growth from those ongoing investments, according to the latest market study by Gartner. "The pressure on CIOs to deliver digital dividends is higher than ever," said Daniel Sanchez-Reina, VP Analyst at Gartner . "CEOs and boards anticipated that investments in digital assets, channels, and digital business capabilities would accelerate growth beyond what was previously possible." Digital Business Market Development   CIOs expect IT budgets to increase 5.1 percent on average in 2023 -- that's lower than the projected 6.5 percent global economy inflation rate. A Gartner survey analysis revealed several ways in which CIOs can deliver "digital dividends...

Recent global economic trends may motivate some leadership teams to make across-the-board cuts to their operations. However, the savviest executives will selectively optimize their operating budget to sustain strategic imperatives. Just 7 percent of Chief Finacial Officers (CFOs) plan to decrease customer service spending over the next 12 months, according to the latest market study by Gartner. Moreover, 21 percent plan to increase customer spending, and 72 percent plan to maintain spending. "In response to inflation, supply chain disruptions, and a tight labor market, CFOs will make trade-offs in spending that affect customer service and support (CSS) leaders," said Sarah Dibble, Director at Gartner . CSS Business Technology Market Development Their essential function is not a top priority for cost-cutting, compared to commercial real estate expenses or facility management and finance, which are most likely to face budget cuts next year.  Nearly all CFOs will prioritize digi...

Business model evolution and growth are still top priorities for forward-thinking leadership. In fact, 70 percent of surveyed boards of directors will accelerate digital business initiatives, steering the organization to digitally-enabled growth. Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) also plan to protect their digital transformation investments as they cut costs elsewhere in their operations, according to the latest market study by Gartner. Among technology priorities, CFOs have particularly prioritized back-office business automation technology as a key to driving down costs in the face of ongoing inflation and supply chain challenges. Digital Applications Market Development A survey of CFOs found that digital business app acceleration was the top spending priority over the next 12 months, with 98 percent of respondents saying they will protect digital investments. Meanwhile, 66 percent of surveyed CFOs said they plan to increase their digital app investments. A separate survey of CEOs high...

The global cloud computing market is driven by the belief that provisioning IT infrastructure is without differentiation. Cost reduction is often the key motivation. Moreover, in order to shift their human resources toward the enablement of digital business outcomes, IT leaders are reskilling their legacy IT staff. The total worldwide public cloud services market grew 29 percent year-over-year in 2021 with revenues totaling $408.6 billion, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Market consolidation continued in 2021 with the revenue of the top five public cloud service providers capturing nearly 40 percent of the worldwide total and growing 36.6 percent year-over-year. Public Cloud Computing Market Development With offerings in all four deployment categories, Microsoft captured the top position in the overall public cloud services market with 14.4 percent share in 2021, followed closely by Amazon Web Services with 13.7 percent share. "Organiz...

Your Digital Transformation depends on strategic investment in business technology that drives profitability and growth. Given the current global economic outlook, will your Chief Financial Officer (CFO) deny your next request for IT project funding? Think again. Seventy-eight percent of CFOs plan to maintain or increase their enterprise-wide digital investments in the next two years, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. The findings come even as CFOs indicate they are planning cost reductions in other areas of the business if inflation persists this year. Digital Transformation Market Development "Companies that drive the right digital investments have 2.7x higher customer retention, 1.6x higher customer satisfaction rates, and 1.9x higher average order value," said Alexander Bant, chief of finance research at Gartner . Leading digital-enabled companies are also 3x more likely to achieve above-industry revenue and margin growth. Gartner has also found t...

How businesses pay each other is an essential process for all organizations. They have suppliers, and therefore all need access to effective payment systems. That said, the lack of meaningful digital transformation within the business-to-business (B2B) payments sector has challenged the established systems. In this context, the digital disruption of the traditional B2B payments ecosystem is now more important, to enable companies to perform financial transactions as efficiently as possible. Fortunately, there's a multitude of forces developing in this market, with more new vendors attempting to drive innovation. B2B Payments Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the volume of B2B payments facilitated by non-banks will exceed 53 billion in 2022 -- that's up from a COVID-related low of 38 billion in 2020; representing 42 percent growth. These new vendors will account for 12.6 percent of B2B payments by volume in 2022. Despite the s...

CIOs and CTOs are developing comprehensive Hybrid IT infrastructure models, in response to growing demand from CFOs and line of business leaders that request access to applications hosted via both on-premises private cloud and off-premises public cloud offerings. That's why savvy technology leaders must therefore align with the most qualified vendors and service providers that enable them to manage and support these complex multi-cloud scenarios. Furthermore, the chosen provider must demonstrate vertical industry knowledge and prior experience. A major shift is taking place in how enterprises select their financial management applications, with a migration to cloud applications happening faster than expected, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. Multi-Cloud Service Market Development A recent Gartner survey of senior finance executives found that by 2020, 36 percent of enterprises will use the cloud to support more than half of their transactional syst...