A new report by Procol in collaboration with Kearney reveals that 92% of CFOs plan to increase investments in AI, signalling a major shift towards AI-native finance and procurement operating models across enterprises.
The report, titled “From Cost Centre to Strategic Value: Why CFOs must rethink procurement, governance, and ROI in the age of agentic AI”, highlights how organisations are moving beyond automation pilots towards integrated, intelligent financial ecosystems that combine procurement, compliance, analytics, and decision-making into unified platforms.
A key theme emerging from the findings is the rise of agentic AI in enterprise operations. Instead of functioning as isolated automation tools, AI systems are increasingly being embedded into end-to-end workflows, enabling autonomous sourcing, intelligent approvals, predictive analytics, and continuous governance across procurement and finance functions.
From a technology perspective, enterprises are leveraging AI to create real-time visibility across financial operations, integrating structured and unstructured datasets such as contracts, spend records, and supplier information. This is enabling faster decision-making, improved compliance, and more dynamic cost optimisation strategies.
The report highlights significant operational gains from AI adoption, including up to 80% faster accounts payable processing and 50% faster requisition handling, driven by intelligent workflow orchestration and reduced manual intervention. These capabilities are helping organisations improve agility while enhancing transaction accuracy and operational efficiency.
AI-driven procurement systems are also transforming sourcing and supplier management. By combining internal spend intelligence with external market data, organisations are reducing sourcing cycle times by 40–70% while achieving additional cost savings through AI-led pricing insights and contract governance mechanisms.
Another major area of impact is compliance and governance. AI-enabled systems are automating due diligence checks and continuously monitoring policy adherence, enabling stronger audit readiness and reducing operational risk. This reflects the growing importance of embedded governance frameworks within AI-powered enterprise systems.
According to the report, finance and procurement teams are increasingly evolving from operational support functions into strategic intelligence hubs, where AI is used not only to automate processes but also to improve resilience, optimise working capital, and drive business growth.
Overall, the findings underscore a broader transformation underway across enterprise operations, where CFOs are repositioning AI from a productivity tool to a core infrastructure layer powering autonomous finance, intelligent procurement, and data-driven enterprise decision-making.