AI isn’t a singular, monolithic solution into which different teams plug different inputs and data sources—in the manner of a traditional finance system of record or ERP platform. Instead, it’s a coordinated series of tools that work together to create autonomous processes. Some of these tools have already been around for quite some time.
What makes “modern-day” AI so potentially transformative is the way different applications can be brought together on infinitely scalable enterprise cloud platforms.
Many AI workflows are extremely resource intensive, making their universal rollout difficult prior to cloud maturity. But the drive to adopt AI is also accelerating cloud adoption. It’s estimated that by 2026, over 60% of ERP spending will be cloud-based, though significant legacy installations persist with SAP’s 2027 ECC deadline creating migration pressure.
Alongside data integrity concerns, this means that your major challenge in making use of AI will likely be your legacy tech systems. API-led approaches will allow some AI tools (particularly LLM or “generative AI” programs) to interface directly with legacy systems, but API calls can be costly and may limit flexibility in deployment.
Depending on your organization’s particular setup and needs across different regions, you’ll have to make sure that your:
- ERP platform(s)
- Financial system(s) of record
- CRM (or whatever order-in system your sales teams use) are all capable of freely sharing data with each other, and with whatever AI tools you’re looking to integrate.
To establish a clear roadmap for achieving a compatible ERP landscape, you’ll need to pursue AI integration within finance in a similar way to any other large IT change management plan.
First, define the business objectives driving your transformation initiative.
Organizations typically focus on three primary areas when setting these goals:
- Enhancing operational efficiency through automated data transfers.
- Improving accuracy by eliminating errors caused by manual data entry.
- Enabling real-time decision-making through continuous information availability and instant data exchanges across different finance departments.
By eliminating manual input and duplicate processes through ERP transformation, companies often reduce reconciliation time by up to 70%. This obviously has huge advantages. Finance teams are notable beneficiaries, able to shift their attention from routine administrative tasks to strategic priorities.
This is often easier said than done. But with many organizations building business cases for—or already on the way to—ERP migrations or the adoption of cloud-first strategies, there’s unlikely to be a better moment to lay the groundwork than over the next couple of years.
The most important steps to ensure your finance department’s tech stack is prepared to integrate AI tools will be similar to any other change management plan.
You’ll need to ask these questions:
1. What does my finance organization need to achieve to drive the business outcomes necessary to create a secure foundation for growth?
For many organizations, the answer is brief yet complex: Scalability.
Automation and systemic integrations allow clean data to constantly and accurately communicate with you, your tech stack, and other finance teams.
Integrated platforms enable seamless growth without cutting you short on control and visibility into operations and data.
Once your systems and data sets are fully integrated, cleaned up, and automated, expanding into new markets, launching new product lines or adding new business functions (such as cash application or invoice processing automation) to your modernized finance landscape will no longer be a question of capacity.
2. How will each part of the team contribute to building that foundation?
Each team member can contribute by ensuring data accuracy, monitoring results and precision rates, and course-correcting the automation pattern when needed within their scope.
Procurement focuses on the consolidation and maintenance of master data sets while AP teams monitor recognition rates and relay results. IT and finance operations collaborate to maintain integrated platforms, ensuring seamless communication across systems.
3. What’s currently stopping them from doing this?
Multiple studies have shown that ERP-enabled automated processes can cut reconciliation errors in half, reduce compliance risks, and ensure audit-ready records—as we say, they’re a key part of achieving working capital intelligence.
But despite the evident benefits for your finance operations, ERP integrations present challenges that may exceed your internal resources and capabilities.
The root causes of these issues often lie in the legacy systems themselves, especially when information is stored in incompatible formats, leading to inefficient data exports and ultimately, data silos.
Once a mismatch of data formats occurs during transmission between systems, the information itself can become corrupted.
Leading to reporting and operational errors and an increased need for manual post processing. To achieve the scalability and intelligence the technology promises, your data needs to be clean, unique, and readable.
A lack of in-house expertise can also open the door to security-related vulnerabilities as cybercriminals become more sophisticated in identifying operational and security gaps within organizations. With organizations losing around 5% of their annual revenue to fraud, taking a “do-it-yourself” approach here can create risk exposure that simply isn’t acceptable.
Experienced third-party integrators can offer advanced encryption and secure authentication protocols to address your security vulnerabilities. And your internal capacities can be further strengthened through professional integration platforms that use data mapping techniques to standardize formats across systems, break down silos, and preserve business-wide data integrity.
4. Where could AI potentially help to eliminate or reduce these barriers?
AI can help your business establish a single source of truth across O2C and P2P, including integration with your sales and ordering, procurement, and ERP systems. This single source of truth will effectively become your entire finance function’s data layer, and make working capital intelligence a reality.
Following the data-first approach in AI automation will set you up for self-optimizing workflow automation and operational excellence during and after your ERP transformation.
Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll need to ask some more:
- Which of our existing solutions manage the processes we’ve identified as having strong use cases for AI?
- Can these systems support AI integrations, or will we need to upgrade or replace them?
- Do we have the correct approach to storing master data across or between our existing systems?
- Can we integrate external data sources as needed? If so, do we have the correct legal agreements in place to do so?
Hybrid implementation: the best of both worlds for complex financial environments leveraging AI for autonomous workflows
In a highly fragmented operating environment, you can use two software solutions in parallel to support a hybrid implementation approach.
The first migrates on-premises processes to a private cloud, while automation provides the necessary data cleansing and standardization for a future migration to public cloud.
A second solution migrates those processes that are already (public)-cloud ready.
This is a great strategy if your organization is using legacy ERP across different business units—especially if they’re highly customized (whether in their approach to handling workflows or data management) and don’t meet the required level of standardization for a complete cloud migration yet.
Middleware solutions can further bridge API gaps between modern ERPs and legacy applications and manage the necessary synchronization in hybrid ERP transformations.
Whether in a hybrid model or a full-scale ERP transformation project, this isn’t likely to be a smooth process. You may find that your forward technology investment roadmap will have to change somewhat.
You’ll have to spend some time in discussion with your O2C, P2P, and treasury teams to build a coherent picture of where they do their jobs—across what systems, using what information, and how.
And you’ll almost certainly find capacity gaps that’ll require some changes and upgrades to your existing systems and processes.
How can Serrala help your organization integrate finance automation with your existing ERP investment to leverage the power of AI and autonomous finance?
At Serrala, we’ve been helping CFOs and their teams automate finance operations for over 40 years. It’s our job to help you integrate new technologies within your organization in a way that makes sense both for your challenges and their capabilities.
We’ve developed our newly released Serrala Finance Platform with AI-readiness and autonomous finance principles in mind.
A single working capital intelligence hub that provides the foundation to bring AR, AP, payments, and treasury workflows together in a flexible system that adapts to individual organizations’ digital transformation roadmaps while enabling AI integration in every single process.
Most importantly, the Platform is designed to make the kind of data clarity and quality necessary to leverage AI for autonomous processes simpler for organizations to achieve. We leave storage to your ERP—after all, that’s what it’s designed for—and allow every part of the finance department to access it to automate workflows, accelerate decisions, and deliver measurable ROI.
This allows us to provide the integrated architecture to deploy all AI use cases in a way that ensures total and seamless operational efficiency while still providing complete choice and flexibility as to which parts of the offering your organization uses (and pays for) at every stage of your transformation journey.
This means our solutions empower your organization to start with the workflows you need today, then expand as your needs grow and your transformation plans mature.
If you’re ready to learn more, check out our full report on the Road to Autonomous Finance here, or get in touch with a Serrala expert today to book a demo.
