Wolters Kluwer Survey Reveals Rapid Rise of Agentic AI in Finance
Wolters Kluwer’s latest survey has highlighted the significant and growing role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in transforming the office of the CFO. The survey reveals that 6% of finance leaders are already utilizing agentic AI, with an additional 38% planning to adopt it within the next 12 months. By 2026, 44% of finance teams are expected to integrate agentic AI, signaling a remarkable increase of over 600%.
Agentic AI: Transforming the Role of Finance Leaders
Karen Abramson, CEO of Wolters Kluwer Corporate Performance & ESG, said, “At Wolters Kluwer, we are committed to continuous innovation for the office of the CFO. Last year, we launched the market's first AI-powered corporate performance management platform - the CCH Tagetik Intelligent Platform with Ask AI.
She added, “We have evolved Ask AI to an embedded super agent; it now mobilizes cutting-edge agentic technology across multiple use cases, including responding to voice commands in multiple languages, drilling into data without the need for IT skills, and testing assumptions and running analysis. Agentic AI represents an evolutionary leap in how finance leaders operate.”
AI Adoption to Address Economic Volatility
The survey also uncovered how economic volatility is driving AI adoption. 67% of finance leaders plan to use AI for Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) for the first time. An additional 14% plan to increase their AI adoption due to economic factors. Furthermore, 33% of leaders are considering new hires to address economic challenges, with 24% contemplating restructuring their teams.
The survey highlighted that 85% of finance leaders consider AI skills important when recruiting for their teams, with 11% considering them essential. Data readiness was identified as a key driver for AI adoption by 44% of respondents, followed by the need for AI-powered corporate performance management (CPM) technologies (25%) and AI training (23%).
In response, Wolters Kluwer has launched a Learning Hub aimed at boosting AI fluency and data proficiency among finance professionals, empowering them to leverage advanced technologies to drive productivity.
Also read: Huawei Launches AI-Banking Infrastructure at 13th Global Intelligent Finance Summit
AI Driving Efficiency and Accuracy
The primary benefits of AI adoption, as identified by 40% of finance leaders, are increasing accuracy and reducing human error. A further 36% cited efficiency and productivity gains. In the next 12 months, 42% of respondents expect AI to save them 10% of their working time (approximately 26 days), with others anticipating savings of up to 20% or 5%, respectively. This shift allows finance teams to focus more on strategic tasks.
Wolters Kluwer has introduced a new Excel 365-based tool within its Intelligent Analytics solution, featuring Ask AI for natural language data analysis from CCH Tagetik. A survey of 392 finance leaders at CCH Tagetik inTouch 25 highlights accelerating AI adoption in finance, driving efficiency, accuracy, and strategic decision-making.
