Across industries and growth stages, accounting and finance teams are under pressure to move faster and scale smarter. On every project, Siegfried professionals help eliminate the manual, time-consuming tasks that often limit strategic capacity, creating the opportunity for our clients to reflect and focus on what matters most. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a powerful tool in making this possible.
Emily, a Senior Director & National Technical Leader in New Jersey, has spent 10 years at Siegfried, enjoying meaningful and challenging client opportunities that blend her accounting expertise with her interest in IT operations. The recent rise of AI has not only elevated Emily’s ability to identify opportunities for technology-driven improvements at her clients, but it has helped her embed the best solutions – those that synergize with her clients’ unique needs and available resources.
For six years, Emily was engaged at an insurtech client, leading a team of 30-40 Siegfried resources through the discovery and deployment of RPA and data analytics tools to create end-to-end automations in the company’s revenue recognition process. As an early adopter, she learned to leverage Generative AI in the discovery phase, and when the team faced issues related to data volume and processing time in their Excel-based revenue forecasting model, Emily asked Generative AI to provide solutions. AI’s assistance in compiling improvement opportunities, along with the pros and cons of each, was helpful in expediting options for the executive team to consider. Emily ultimately presented a proof of concept that resulted in an approved CapEx budget of $500K, which included upskilling for her team and the implementation of the platform.
“AI is an incredible tool for brainstorming and asking thoughtful questions,” Emily explained. “It gives you a starting point – high-level information to kickstart any initiative you’re working on. Then, it can help you dig deeper and deploy the tools that drive efficient, effective results.”
Following the insurtech client, Emily transitioned to another revenue recognition project at a leading global insurance company. She worked collaboratively with the IT team to explore system and process enhancements, and after eight months, the client asked her to step up as their Vice President of IT, Financial Systems.
Emily continued using AI to enhance her research and implementation of automation and process enhancement opportunities. Generative AI helped her provide detailed improvement options to executives – complete with timelines, costs of implementation, pros and cons, and team needs. This information allowed the client to make more informed, expedited decisions based on the company’s unique challenges and resources.
“Once you learn to optimize Generative AI’s output through good prompting, it can help you create specific, customized solutions to mitigate client issues,” said Emily. “This has the power to transform the way that Siegfried professionals deliver lasting value.”
Further, Emily realized that AI could help lessen the burden of the manual and time-consuming initial tasks that threaten to derail implementations once the right technology is chosen, like creating training manuals. She utilized AI to implement new tools and drive process enhancements faster and more effectively, allowing her client to be more strategic earlier in their implementations and see greater returns on their investments.
“As accounting and finance professionals, we need to be continually thinking, ‘I know how we’ve done this in the past, but what tools are available at my clients – or what should I implement or automate using AI – to make those traditional processes better, faster, and more effective?’” Emily shared.
In summary, Emily elevated with AI by:
- Resolving data volume and processing time issues to enhance processes.
- Compiling comparative pros/cons to inform system selection during the discovery phase.
- Understanding system functionalities in relation to companies’ unique needs and challenges, ensuring utilization to the full and highest potential.
- Developing training and onboarding materials for system implementations to remove friction and prevent delays.
