Cloud-based planning and reporting solutions remain the most used data analysis tool (91%), however, most organizations also use predictive analytics (85%), business intelligence (84%) and machine learning/artificial intelligence (75%) tools at least intermittently. About half of organizations are planning to invest more in each of these tools this year, compared to 2022, according to new research from OneStream Software, conducted by Hanover Research.
“The current economic headwinds have finance leaders acutely aware of their investment decisions and weighing the benefits vs. the costs,” says Bill Koefoed, CFO, OneStream. “With revenue growth through economic uncertainty in mind, financial leaders are looking to invest in solutions that can support more agile decision-making, while delivering a fast return on investment. AutoAI and other AI innovations coming to light in the last couple of years have the potential to improve the speed and accuracy of forecasting and support more informed, confident decision making. OneStream is a proud innovator in this space and partners with organizations around the globe to help them navigate these challenging times.”
From BusinessWire:
- The survey revealed that continued inflation and economic disruptions are the top concerns for more than half of organizations in 2023. Despite this, most organizations expect their revenues to either increase or stay the same this year. As a result, three-quarters of organizations plan to resume business travel in 2023 and half of organizations surveyed plan to invest in analytic technologies that can help navigate uncertain economic conditions.
- More than half of financial leaders expect COVID-related supply chain disruptions to continue into 2024 (54%) or beyond, down 18% from the Spring 2022 survey. Business travel is poised for a comeback this year as 75% of organizations plan to resume this practice in 2023. In the Spring 2022 survey, most organizations (80%) had planned to resume business travel, but the study shows very few have actually implemented the plan (10%), citing the costs of flights, hotel, food and the lack of necessity.
- According to the Spring 2021 survey, organizations said that in comparison to pre-pandemic, they were increasing investments in artificial intelligence (59%), predictive analytics (58%), cloud-based planning and reporting solutions (57%) and machine learning (54%).
- Two-thirds of organizations (68%) have adopted an automated machine learning (AutoML) solution to supplement some of their workforce needs, a significant uptick when compared to Spring 2022 (56%). In the Fall 2022 survey, 48% of respondents planned to investigate an AutoML solution in the future, which suggests respondents stayed true to their word and dove in on the technology in the last six months.
- Along with investing in new technology, almost all organizations (91%) are investing or planning to invest in new solutions that specifically support finance functions. The most common solutions are cloud-based applications (52%), AI/ML (43%), advanced predictive analytics (42%) and budgeting/planning systems (42%).
