Contact

Reimagining Finance Leadership: A Practical Roadmap to Sustainable AI Adoption

Oracle Insight Report

Introduction

The consensus is clear: AI is no longer optional, but an essential component for organisational productivity and growth. Successful finance leaders are those not just adopting AI tools, but who are fundamentally re-engineering their operating models and team capabilities for an AI-centric future.

This was the strategic context that drove discussions during the recent executive roundtable hosted by Oracle, supported by Connect Media. Following the theme of accelerating productivity and growth through AI powered innovation the roundtable convened chief finance leaders to examine the critical drivers and implementation strategies for sustainable AI adoption in finance.

Conversations were led by Dr Keith Kendall, Chair, Australian Accounting Standards Board with exclusive insights from Shilpa Bhale, Director, Product Management, Oracle and Marty Engel, Partner, Consulting, Deloitte

Cultural Transformation: The Bedrock of AI Adoption

Building an AI-first culture is the foundational first step that separates failed technology integration from long-term value creation. This requires a fundamentally reframing organisational mindset by replacing risk-aversion and siloed experimentation with collaborative, strategic approaches.

Forward-thinking finance leaders are capturing this competitive advantage by fostering curiosity and structured experimentation across their teams. When leaders enable employees to identify and solve discrete problems, they ignite a bottom-up wave of innovation that accelerates momentum, builds organisational trust in AI, and generates demonstrable wins that strengthen executive buy-in through clear ROI narratives.

This cultural shift also demands transparent change management. As AI automates repetitive tasks, finance leaders must proactively redefine team value, evolving employee roles to become strategic advisors and data interpreters. This approach ensures staff become partners in digital transformation efforts, with their deep institutional knowledge channeled into higher-value oversight and analytical functions.

Making AI Practical: Prioritising Impactful Use-Cases

For finance leaders navigating the AI landscape, success demands disciplined focus on practical, high-impact applications. Roundtable participants emphasised the importance of establishing a maturity model that begins with foundational productivity tools and evolves toward embedding agentic AI into core financial systems.

The first phase of integration leverages tools like Copilot and Gemini to automate individual tasks, from structuring emails and report summarisation to presentation design. While these generate immediate efficiency gains, they represent merely the entry point of what is possible.

Real transformation occurs when AI addresses core finance processing challenges. High-value use-cases include automated expense reporting with intelligent receipt matching, AI-assisted journal entry creation and explainable variance analysis. Unlike basic narrative reporting, this approach enables AI to identify root causes directly from transactional data – revealing for example, the specific supplier contract change driving a variance.

Yet the most significant operational gains emerge not from automating individual tasks, but from fundamentally reimagining work flows across the organisation. This is where process intelligence becomes transformative, a methodology that combines process mapping with data mining across multiple systems. This reveals hidden inefficiencies like warehouse pick-and-pack delays and communication gaps in patient flow, to approval bottlenecks that slow financial close cycles. By using process intelligence to diagnose problems first, organisations are able to apply AI with surgical precision, automating solutions that genuinely address key pain points across the business.

These scaled examples of success generate rapid ROI and build the compelling case needed for wider AI adoption. Each win demonstrates tangible business value, converting skeptics and securing executive sponsorship for subsequent investments.

The Next-Generation Finance Leader: Evolving Skills and Mindsets

AI integration within finance demands a fundamental shift in the capabilities and qualities required for business success. The next generation of finance professionals will be defined by three interdependent capabilities:

Technology Fluency

Finance leaders must develop a technology-aware mindset, understanding both the capabilities and limitations of AI tools to leverage them effectively and interrogate their outputs. The historic gap between finance and technology is closing. Business teams must now speak the language of digital transformation, not as specialists, but as informed operators capable of translating between human intent and machine capability.

Transformational Leadership

The future finance leader is a catalyst for organisational change. This requires exceptional communication and influence skills to guide teams through continuous adaptation and times of uncertainty. Finance leaders must position themselves as stewards of AI transformation, asking the critical questions that balance innovation with control, challenging both premature adoption and unnecessary caution.

The Finance Function: A Strategic Business Partnership

Most critically, AI adoption demands deeper business and strategic insight. Freed from manual number-processing, finance professionals must redirect their capacity toward understanding operational drivers, building robust internal relationships, and translating data into actionable business guidance. The value of the finance function will increasingly be measured not by analytical rigor alone, but by its ability to articulate compelling narratives about business performance and shape strategic direction.

Each of these capabilities is deeply intertwined and when embodied defines finance leaders who will thrive in the AI-driven era.

Conclusion

Unlocking Unprecedented Productivity with AI

Finance leaders who delay AI adoption face compounding disadvantages in the future. Those who act today with disciplined groundwork- stablishing strong data foundations, running focused digital pilots, and equipping teams with the right capabilities, will emerge as strategic leaders of their organisations. The question is no longer whether to embrace AI, but how to effectively drive transformation for unlocking business value and growth for the future.

Download the Insight Report
close menu icon

Contact

Phone Number:
02 8004 8590

Subscribe







Interested In*:

Arti Oza

As Connect Media’s sole Designer, Arti is responsible for the creative visual direction and design of our entire suite of multimedia commercial and promotional material. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree of Design in Animation from the University of Technology Sydney. Arti’s artistic skill extends beyond her diverse corporate portfolio, and she has been known to draw incredibly realistic and stylised portraits of people.

Caprice Jee 

As the Event Producer, Caprice is responsible for acquiring the speakers to perform keynotes and participate in panel discussion. She liaises with C-suite and senior level executives to ensure that they are well-prepared for their speaking arrangement. She also supports sponsor needs through roundtable offerings.
 
Caprice holds a Bachelors in Psychological Science from UNSW, a background in Recruitment, and thus extensive corporate background knowledge. In her spare time, Caprice loves to cosy down with a good book and hot cup of peppermint tea. 

Mitch Cohen

As Head of Content & Strategy, Mitch is responsible for developing  the strategic-agendas for our entire portfolio of industry and bespoke events, as well as the design, execution and editorial oversight of B2B content marketing services for our clients. 

In his free time Mitch enjoys exploring Sydney’s music scene, surfing and a good cup of coffee. 

Lachlan Watts

Lachlan is responsible for driving strategy and partnerships across Connect Media’s portfolio of events and digital services. With a background in marketing, communications, and stakeholder engagement, he’s passionate about delivering value for clients and building strong, long-term relationships. Outside the office, Lachlan keeps busy as a drummer, and is heavily involved in community service & volunteering.

Lisa Eam

As Client Event Manager, Lisa is responsible for the seamless, back-end management of our event operations. She also charges the management of client, speaker and sponsor needs across both our event and bespoke roundtable offerings. Lisa holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Management in Events and Leisure from the University of Technology Sydney and has an extensive background in venue management and hospitality.

She currently holds the office title of ‘In-House Expert’ when it comes to the Sydney culinary scene, and is often the envy of all our office lunches.

Jack Martin

Jack leads sponsorship, business development, and client relationship management for our leading organisations. With a background in supply chain, he brings a strategic approach to creating meaningful impact for clients and building long-term, trusted partnerships. Outside of work, Jack is passionate about meditation, golf, and travel.

Malin Haug

As Event Manager, Malin is responsible for the seamless back-end management of our event operations. She also leads the management of client, speaker, and sponsor needs across our events and bespoke roundtable offerings. Malin holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Event Management from the University of Technology Sydney and brings extensive experience from the event space and customer service to her role.

Malin is an eager hobby sewist and creates her own clothes. Whether it’s a carefully crafted blouse or a tailored vest, chances are she’s sporting one of her designs whilst on-site

Jane Forbes

As Marketing Director, Jane plays a pivotal role in realising our long-term marketing agenda. Before assuming her current role, Jane served as Connect Media’s Data Manager for over two years. Jane holds an Advanced Diploma in Hospitality Management, and has over a decade’s dedicated senior experience in the events space. Jane enjoys escaping the hustle and bustle of the city to spend quality time at the beach with her young family.

Bridee Arrighi

As General Manager, Bridee has operational and strategic oversight of the entire business. Building on her previous role as Operations Director, she continues to lead our stakeholder relations and event management, drawing on over five years of dedicated experience. Bridee graduated from Macleay College with a Bachelor of Business specialising in Event Management, and has over five years’ dedicated experience in the events space. Bridee has a passion for the outdoors, and was quick to commandeer the best window seat in our office.

Dominic Patterson

Since founding the company in 2009, Dominic has fostered a culture of innovation and creativity, producing world-class conferences and pioneering advancements within the industry.

A media entrepreneur with over 20 years’ experience in B2B communications and events, Dominic has led Connect Media to be twice recognised as a BRW Fast Starter, a BRW Fast 100 Company, and a SmartCompanySmart50.

A keen sportsman and a supporter of the performing arts, Dominic maintains an active interest in public policy and has hosted a radio show with several listeners.

He has a Bachelor of Arts in Management (Economics) from the University of Westminster in London, certificates from AFTRS, NIDA and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.