Setting the Vision for AI-Powered IT Finance
The pace of business change demands that IT and finance evolve together. Artificial Intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept—it is actively reshaping how IT financial management operates today, enabling organizations to achieve quicker insights, leaner operations, and sharper strategic alignment.
In this opening session of our series on AI for the IT Finance Practice, market strategist Eveline Oehrlich brings together two thought leaders who have bridged technology, finance, and business strategy for decades: Nancy Braun, a recognized expert in IT finance transformation, and Dr. Alexander Becker, COO of Serviceware and a long-time leader in business strategy alignment with a focus on Technology Business Management (TBM), IT financial management (ITFM) and FinOps.
Together they explore how AI can elevate IT finance from a back-office function to a proactive strategic advisor.
The Vision: From Data Collection to Decision Intelligence
AI equips IT finance teams with tools to automate data entry, streamline reporting, and focus on value creation. Instead of closing the books and looking backward, organizations can now leverage AI models for predictive analytics—forecasting spend patterns, projecting ROI, and identifying optimization opportunities before they occur.
Key shifts include:
- From manual reconciliation to intelligent automation
- From static reporting to continuous predictive forecasting
- From reactive analysis to proactive business advising
As Nancy Braun describes, AI helps IT finance "move at the speed of business"—turning raw data into real-time insight and empowering teams to guide technology investment decisions collaboratively with business leaders.
The Organizational Impact: Redefining Roles and Skills
AI won’t eliminate finance roles—it will transform them. Budget coordinators and cost modelers become analysts and advisors, focusing on interpretation, scenario modeling, and strategic business conversations.
This change requires upskilling, mindset evolution, and leadership investment to free teams from repetitive work and enable true partnership across departments.
Expected outcomes:
- Stronger business collaboration
- Faster, data-driven decision-making
- Greater job satisfaction and professional development
As Dr. Alexander Becker puts it, “AI flips the pyramid—automating the base layer of repetitive work so teams can spend time advising rather than reconciling.”
Current State of Adoption
While global AI adoption in finance has risen sharply—from 37% in 2023 to nearly 60% by 2025—active use in IT finance remains limited. Most organizations are still in exploratory stages, experimenting with pilots and building internal business cases.
Barriers include data readiness, process maturity, and organizational capacity. Yet leading CIOs and IT controllers are recognizing that early investment yields disproportionate benefit in analytical agility and business responsiveness.
The Business Case for AI in IT Finance
Adoption of AI in IT finance delivers measurable impact in four areas:
- Efficiency – Automating data consolidation, reporting, and reconciliation.
- Accuracy – Reducing human error in modeling and forecasting.
- Insight – Generating deeper, predictive analytics at speed.
- Agility – Enabling finance to respond instantly to business change.
Real transformation begins when leadership commits to creating time for experimentation, piloting new approaches, and investing in workforce upskilling. The rewards are not just operational—they redefine how finance supports business strategy.
Continue the Conversation
Explore this topic further in our upcoming sessions and in the white paper AI for the IT Finance Practice, authored by Nancy Braun and Dr. Alexander Becker.
Download it and start assessing your organization’s readiness for the next evolution of IT finance.
Connect with Nancy Braun and Dr. Alexander Becker on LinkedIn for thought leadership insights, free readiness assessments, and further discussion about implementing AI in IT Financial Management.
