good morning. luckAt the Future of Finance event in New York City last week, Accenture Chief Financial Officer KC McClure and Wells Fargo Senior Vice President and Head of Technology Tracy Kerins , shared their views on how AI will change the business world.
McClure discussed Accenture, a global professional services firm, and its “unique position” to help clients implement technology while using it within their companies. For example, its financial AI platform “helped us identify and put $600 million in idle cash to good use,” McClure said, adding that Accenture has used predictive analytics tools for years to predict revenue. However, he added that those tools will now be powered by generative AI. (The company is also considering using GenAI to help with management.)
“Everyone closes the books every month, every quarter. That doesn't seem very fun,” she said. “But using GenAI, we save tens of thousands of hours a year.” McClure said another important aspect of the process is capital allocation. “I think this is really where we work with our technology partners in terms of approaching different use cases,” she said.
But AI requires huge datasets. How should companies go about processing and organizing them?
“Every company needs to really focus on their digital core,” McClure said, continuing that it's important to assess data readiness. Some of the company's customers have strong digital cores and are ready to migrate quickly. Meanwhile, other companies are now “really thinking about the fact that they need to focus more on data,” she says.
Kerins said Wells Fargo has long focused on its data and described her employer as “an AI-heavy store.”
“Good data coming in is the same as good data coming out. Bad data coming in is the same as bad data coming out,” Kerins added. Wells Fargo uses some of this data in models to assess compliance with regulatory measures and risks such as AI ethics that require continuous reassessment of governance.
“When you add additional information to a model, does that change the decisions that come from that model in ways that you don't agree with or that weren't originally approved?” Kerins pointed out. “We have to course correct.”
Because financial services is one of the most highly regulated industries in the world, Wells Fargo's approach to GenAI “means we're putting a lot of extra oversight on it,” Kerrins said. The company has established a Generative AI Council that includes Kerrins and members of its legal, risk and compliance teams. “We're not just evaluating the data, we're evaluating these cases themselves.”
Accenture's McClure added that if you look closely at CFO executives, there is “no question” that AI and GenAI are “transformative.” The question is not if it will be deployed, but when. “It's about thinking, 'How do I start and where do I go?'”
A video of the entire panel session can be viewed here.
Cheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Leader board
Jamie G. Pearson Mr. Pearson has been appointed interim CFO of Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ: FWRD), effective May 20. Pearson will succeed Rebecca Garbrick, who is retiring. Garbrick, who has been CFO since 2020, will remain in his role during the transition period. Mr. Pearson most recently served as his CFO for MV Transportation. Prior to that, he held various senior management positions including EVP and CFO of Ecobat Technologies and YRC Worldwide, Inc. Forward began his CFO search with the help of an executive search firm.
Daniel Tempesta, the chief financial officer (CFO) of AI company Cerence, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRNC) has resigned from his position effective May 17 for personal reasons, according to a regulatory filing. Mr. Tempesta assumed the position on March 18th. The Board of Directors has interim appointed President and CEO Stefan Ortmans as the company's chief financial officer and Vice President and Corporate Controller Kathryn Lohmann as the company's chief accounting officer. . The company has begun searching for a permanent CFO.
big deal
93% of security professionals surveyed by CyberArk said their organizations experienced two or more identity-related breaches in the past year. The company's new report found that machine identities often lack identity security controls and are open to exploitation. For example, criminals use identity deep fakes to specifically target machine identities.
Approximately 61% of organizations define privileged users as humans only. Additionally, only 38% of organizations define all human and machine identities with sensitive access as privileged users. Phishing and vishing attacks (fraudulent phone calls and voicemails) affected 9 out of 10 respondents. Meanwhile, 87% said they had experienced credential theft or privileged access compromise (85%).
The findings are based on a global survey of 2,400 cybersecurity decision makers from private and public sector organizations with 500 or more employees.
even deeper
The article “Four Pillars of Decision-Driven Analytics” published in Wharton's Business Journal includes excerpts from a new book by Wharton's Stefano Puntoni and co-author Bert de Lange. They argue that the power of data can only be realized by harnessing human intelligence. The authors write: “Without data, we act blindly. With data, we can make evidence-based decisions. Good thinking is about thinking with data.” means.”
overheard
“This is not a technical story, it's a financial story. There are no technical barriers to building high-speed rail. But what is needed is political and financial coordination to make the investment.”
—Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner said. luck In an interview, he shared his views on the barriers to building high-speed rail in the United States.
