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There’s an interesting data point in our research this year that says that over half of the

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executives we survey say that their corporate functions, like finance and HR, and IT, actually

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work together. But more than half of them also said that those functions are in need of

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substantial reinvention, both in terms of capability and mission to meet the changing

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demands of the business. I think that’s a true statement if I think about what I see in the

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market. You know, I think they are working closer together. But that doesn’t change the fact that I

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think all the functions, and finance in particular, seize opportunities to create efficiencies and

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create, you know, better insights. And I think part of the impetus for that is the fact that they’re

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working with the other functions as a business partner. Given the opportunities for AI and agentic

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AI to, in effect, democratize data and empower business people

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themselves to engage with data in different ways, what does that mean for the finance function as a

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business partner? I mean, we’re seeing the finance function really changed from being the stewards

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of the organization, you know, protecting the organization, to becoming more business partners

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that are driving operational efficiencies, but also being asked to provide insights that inform

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the strategy of the business. Something that could be done previously would take two weeks to pull a

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quarterly business report together with 20 people can now be done in 10 seconds, 

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utilizing some of the AI tools that exist. So what does that do? I think it really changes what you

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need from the organization, what you need from your people, and the type of work they’re going to

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be doing. And I think it’s going to be much more higher, higher function, higher level, taking the

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data that’s coming out of these AI systems and then, you know, coming up with what are the, what

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are the insights and outcomes that can actually drive the business. And I would imagine, in that

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scenario, it creates a different kind of conversation between the finance partner and

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their client. Right? The leader in the business? Yeah, I think so. I think it creates opportunities.

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It also creates a need for finance professionals to not just have finance capabilities. It’s going

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to be a merging of the skill set. The CFO is really moving much more to being a strategic

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partner, informing strategy, informing business decisions—less so of, you know, keeping

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the books and making sure that, you know, the EBITDA ratios are where they need to be, much

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more providing that insight into what’s happening in the business on a real-time basis

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to really be a part of that leadership team driving strategy.