An AI on the Future of Hospitality Finance

Percipient’s Kody Devlin looks at the potential of AI to further transform finance and the role of the CFO in hospitality, and looks at the importance of use cases, trust and confidence in driving wider adoption

AI: the fabric of modern finance

As Sage CTO Aaron Harris outlined at Sage Transform last year, AI is very much part of the fabric upon which the future Office of the CFO (OCFO) is woven into. Sage’s vision is a finance operation which manifests digital as a prerequisite, is intelligently automated and leverages AI to drive value and enhance strategy.

In his keynotes, he spoke about the importance of integrity, accuracy, security and trust in driving confidence and adoption. And as we see both use cases and questions emerge, it’s clear that we’re in the throes of moving from the hype phase seen in 2024,  to a more stabilised, real-world phase of Gartner’s GenAI hype cycle in 2025.

While McKinsey reports that 65% of businesses are already using AI tools to reduce costs, improve reliability and governance, reports from RAND Corporation state that 80% of AI projects fail, highlighting the importance of getting it right rather than being caught up in the hype.

Hyper automation and intelligence

Much of the work to come out of Sage’s lab in the AI space is focused on hyper automation, leveraging AI to learn about, and continuously refine processes, in the same way as the human brain works. And in the context of finance, combined with rigour, integrity, security and accuracy, this is incredibly powerful.

We’re already seeing a seismic shift in the role of finance, with hospitality CFOs making an unprecedented transition from record keeper and number crunchers, to intelligence gatherers and value creators with modern finance systems such as Sage Intacct driving the kind of automation and intelligence to truly facilitate this shift.

I talk to CFOs and finance professionals every week who remark on Sage Intacct’s ability to elevate their role and enable them to provide far greater value both to the finance function and the wider business. Because it takes seconds to access intelligent insights on any area of financials, time can be spent making decisions and designing actionable strategic planning which drives performance and competitive advantage.

Next level speed, accuracy and insights

AI’s role in the fabric as it were, is to take this capability to the next level, bringing next level speed, accuracy and insights in a completely intuitive way.

In my view, the ability of AI to take patterns and learn from very specific process flows and tasks in a finite area such as finance, will really consolidate its potential. Being given the opportunity to learn specific patterns, behaviours and nuances from across say AP, credit management and procurement, will bring rigour, diligence and speed, the value of which we know drives better decisions and performance.

Beyond the hype

As the cycle points to, the next 12-24 months will be pivotal in seeing the hype play out, AI use cases will come to the forefront, and we’ll likely see a more measured and steady approach to adoption as early mistakes are rectified, the areas with most potential are capitalised on, and value is delivered in a more pragmatic and metric-led way.

Embracing continual transformation

The team here at Percipient is so excited to build on the momentum we’ve created with Sage Intacct, helping our customers to unlock the potential of world-class AI capabilities to complement existing capabilities and drive further transformation of the Office of the CFO.

Representing the next iteration and generation of digital transformation, AI is bringing genuinely exciting opportunities for automation and innovation across the industry, elevating the way people can perform their roles. As the quote goes, AI will not replace people, but people with AI will undoubtedly replace people without.

To find out how we can support your AI journey, contact us today.