The CFOs of Four Major Companies Discuss their Perspectives on AI

“I’ve spent a lot of time in the last six months thinking about the impact AI will have on our business,” Elena Gomez, CFO at Toast, a cloud-based restaurant management software company, told the audience in Dana Point, California.

Gomez recounted how, at a recent CFO dinner, an exec said in the next three years, although their businesses will grow, they’ll most likely only have 80% of the headcount they have today. “I have reflected on that at least 10 times since that dinner,” Gomez said. 

That is something that not only affects CFOs in terms of how they think about capital allocation, but it is something that will impact all C-suite roles. “The fabric of companies may change,” she said. 

At Toast, Gomez said execs are approaching AI with an eye to enhancing customers’ experience and determining the best use cases internally. “We will invest across both those dimensions to be balanced,” Gomez said.

Maria Ferraro, the CFO and chief inclusion and diversity officer at Siemens Energy, also explained how finance chiefs are at the center of technology investments.

“The transformation journey of the role of the CFO, digitalization and using AI is going at a pace where some of us are wondering if we’re behind, or whether we need to do something different, maybe pivot,” Ferraro said.

She brought up a recent McKinsey report that found 98% of CFOs surveyed said their finance functions have invested in digitization and automation, and believe that generative AI has the potential to create value. However, just one-quarter or less of their processes were digitized or automated in the past 12 months. 

As a CFO, you have to determine where you are going to allocate the spending because it could be significant, Ferraro said. 

“It’s more than just saying, ‘Here’s the money, go do it,” she said. “It’s a culture shift and a learning journey.”

At Siemens, Ferraro said she has embarked on a digital and finance initiative, which involves looking at the areas where all the businesses and functions in the organization intersect. Then, she says, the goal is to get everyone aligned on a North Star when it comes to AI and automation—a task that will also involve upskilling and addressing areas where some are still working with legacy tools.

Emily Reuter, CFO of the grocery-delivery business Instacart, said that at the end of the day, Instacart is a technology company. “So if we’re going to invest anywhere, that’s where it’s going to be,” Reuter said. AI is incorporated into Instacart’s product and set to meet future e-commerce trends, she said.

Regarding the finance function, generative AI can unlock areas of growth and efficiency, she said. “We’re going to take a lower risk approach and really try to understand what’s going on out there, and where we feel comfortable,” Reuter said. 

At the cosmetics and skincare company e.l.f. Beauty, a generative-AI-powered social media bot is churning out content with 90% accuracy. The CFO, Mandy Fields, described AI as a collaborative effort, and added that the C-suite reflects upon a question of “how do we become more efficient and make sure that it’s human-led?”

Collaboration for Fields also means getting executives up to speed on finance. She’s taken the chief marketing officer, head of operations, and even general counsel, to an investor meeting. And she wants everyone to have some finance savvy.

“I hosted a session called, ‘What the e.l.f. is EBITDA?’ for the entire company,” Fields said.

Read here to find out what the finance chiefs said is the role of a modern CFO.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Leaderboard

Mark Hirschhorn was named CFO at Amwell (NYSE: AMWL), a digital care provider, effective Oct. 21. He succeeds Robert Shepardson, who has been in the role since 2021. Hirschhorn has over three decades of experience. Most recently, he served as CEO of TapestryHealth. Before that, he spent seven years at Teladoc Health where he held the roles of CFO and chief operating officer. Hirschhorn was also previously president and COO of Talkspace. 

William L. Phelan was named CFO and chief accounting officer at Luna Innovations Incorporated (Nasdaq: LUNA), a fiber optic-based technology provider, effective immediately. Phelan succeeds John Roiko, who joined Luna out of retirement in May. Roiko will shift to a consulting role. Phelan brings more than 25 years of experience. He has been a full-time advisor to the company since May. Before joining Luna, Phelan served as chief accounting officer at MiMedx Group, Inc.

Big deal

A CFO’s competence is the most important factor when considering investing in a company, second only to market expansion, and ranking above the competency of the CEO. That’s one of the key findings of the report, “Finance 2035: Return to Investment,” newly released by KKR-backed software company OneStream. 

The data is based on a survey of 2,000 global CFOs, CEOs, line of business leaders, and investors. And 88% percent of investors and 65% of business leaders agree the CFO will become more important to business success over the next 10 years. 

With persistent economic uncertainties and an evolving regulatory environment, finance chiefs already feel pressure, according to Tom Shea, CEO of OneStream. And a lot of chief executives rely on CFOs as their strategic partners. The research found that 67% of CEOs surveyed believe an organization’s success or failure rests on the shoulders of the CFO.

Companies want to understand the trends that are driving their business in real time, Shea said during a media event OneStream hosted on Monday in New York City. And Robert Lewin, CFO of the private equity firm KKR, said during the event that a core part of his job is supporting business leaders and the CEO with the information, tools, and advice to make informed decisions.

“Accurate and timely reporting is table stakes,” Lewin said.

Going deeper

“How Hidden Risk Factors in Corporate Securities Can Reveal Potential Upsides” is a new article in Wharton’s business journal. Experts at Wharton and elsewhere are winners of the 2024 Jacobs Levy Center Best Paper prize for an empirical study that found the common latent risk factors across stocks, bonds, and options. 

Overheard

“It’s not by accident that a lot of the hot brands that are trending, that are only sold at Sephora, are on TikTok.”

—President and CEO of Sephora North America Artemis Patrick said at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit in Laguna Niguel, Calif. on Wednesday. “I’ve been through all of it, through YouTube, through Instagram, and obviously TikTok is a big part of it,” Patrick said. “It’s really about understanding the trends before they happen.”