History of Work - The Dawn of AI

In this series we’ve seen how a small number of technological breakthroughs have changed how we work and delivered huge efficiency improvements to businesses worldwide. To end, we’re going to skip over the PC and the internet - let’s be honest, and if you’ve spent any time in a modern office then you’ll know what they’ve done, it’d be like looking at the history of electricity - and look at the next leap forward, which is unquestionably AI. The potential is huge, and while questions and concerns remain, it’s something that every business can see immediate benefit from. 

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That doesn’t mean going all-in right away. Starting with small, straightforward processes can make a significant difference, and you can prepare for bigger improvements later by improving your data and record-keeping in a way that’s suited for future AI tools. Around a quarter of service businesses have started to deploy AI tools in their workflow, according to research by Thompson Reuters, although many are confident that they’ll find themselves using it more in future. 

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Accountants, though, are a cautious bunch, mindful of their importance to a business’s compliance and bottom line. The same report suggested that 30% of tax and accounting firms are still considering whether to use AI, and 49% have no plans to use them at all. A mere 8% of financial professionals currently use AI, and the majority of those uses are personal rather than professional - craftily getting ChatGPT to draft emails, rather than having it run the audit. 

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The concern is well-founded. Recent research at Stamford on AI being used for legal casework found that it “hallucinated” fake data one time in every six. Industry research from the ICAEW highlights widespread caution around oversight and compliance, and the need to map out policies, procedures and internal ownership of AI initiatives - with ownership ideally residing at board level. On top of that, question marks remain over the direction of government legislation - there isn’t any, yet, but it’s already evident that the US, EU and UK are currently taking slightly different approaches. Extra compliance burdens beckon, once the finished laws finally arrive.

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In the face of these myriad challenges, it’s not surprising that many accountants are approaching with caution. Smaller firms are advancing slowest of all, as they don’t have the teams or research budgets of their larger competitors. Separate research by the ACCA indicated that while over 40% of large corporate firms have embraced AI for data analysis and reporting, less than 30% of sole practitioners and small or medium-sized practices have followed suit.

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With so much uncertainty around tools, use cases, legislation and compliance, the focus for many firms is on how AI can assist on simpler, well-defined tasks that can make a difference for both staff and clients. In the words of the ICAEW’s recent AI report: “the profession needs to focus on the fundamental business problems it aims to solve, and imagine how new technologies can transform its approach to them.”

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Concurrently, far-sighted teams are also getting their data in order, in readiness for AI deployment further down the line - data quality having quickly become a key issue in AI deployment in major companies. 70% of top performers in a recent McKinsey survey have hit problems integrating data into AI models, including issues with data quality, not having enough training data, and - once again - concerns around processes for data governance.

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Accordingly, Workiro’s AI focus is on delivering quick wins to support your business, while getting your data organised and accessible ready for more advanced solutions. A key bottleneck for many of our users is processing PDFs from clients, which used to require hours of manual data entry. Now, automated AI scanning enables users to bulk-upload PDFs for automatic scanning and processing of PDFs. Dates, document categories and client names are all recognised and filed accordingly, delivering a spotless filing system ready for human review.

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It’s a simple enhancement of a routine process, but it makes a major difference. Removing hours of manual filing frees up staff to work on doing true high-value work that can make a difference to clients. Plus, it creates a consistent filing structure across the business that makes future work easier. Every minute not wasted trying to find the data from last quarter is a minute that can be spent doing a better job on processing and analysis - and it means that you’re ready for the next step in your AI journey, because you have everything consistently organised and tagged in a way that can be easily processed.

It’s just one of the ways that Workiro improves efficiency by bringing all relevant files, approvals and emails into a single place, enabling you to track information across the organisation. It’s also emblematic of our commitment to solving existing problems and supporting your existing workflow - with seamless NetSuite and Office365 integration, you don’t need to move away from your existing tools. To find out more, join a group demo or set up a call with our team.