april2022 - 27

FEATURE
The State of AI in Professional Firms
By Mary Girsch-Bock
WHETHER YOU'VE ADOPTED artificial intelligence into your
practice, or remain undecided, AI's impact continues to grow.
Because AI can be a useful solution for
accounting firms struggling with increasing
amounts of data, using AI can significantly
reduce the amount of time spent on tedious
tasks, allowing staff to focus on areas that
require their expertise, such as tax planning
and strategy.
If you're curious about AI, check out these
survey results from McKinsey & Company
(https://tinyurl.com/mr22z38h), a worldwide
management consulting firm that recently completed
a global survey on the state of AI in 2021.
Released in December 2021, the survey
explored adoption and impact, the differentiators
of AI, and how to manage AI risks. Here are just
a few of the findings.
ADOPTION
Adoption of AI technology continues to increase
with more than 56% of respondents indicating
that they have adopted at least one AI function
in their business, a 6% rise from 2020. The survey
also indicated the top use cases by function:
* Service operations
* Contact center automation
* Product feature optimization
* Predictive service and intervention
* Customer service analytics & segmentation
In addition to increased adoption, AI
users have also reported an increase in
their bottom line, with 27% of respondents
reporting that AI is responsible for at least
5% of their earnings before interest and
taxes. Also impacting the bottom line, in
2020, 33% of businesses across all sectors
reported a decrease in expenses from adopting
AI adoption, with 51% of service operations
businesses reporting a decrease in expenses.
Don't look for adoption rates to drop anytime
soon. More than two-thirds of respondents indicated
that their company's investment in AI will
likely increase over the next three years.
DIFFERENTIATORS IN
PERFORMANCE
The survey also looked at high performers
within the survey. High performers are defined
as companies stating that AI accounted for at
least 20% of their earnings before interest and
taxes (EBIT) total. Some of the practices that
set these companies apart from others include
the following:
* More than 60% of high performers used design
thinking when developing AI tools
* 57% of high performers tested AI performance in
their business before deployment
* 46% of high performances regularly track
AI performance to ensure that outcomes
improve over time
* 45% of high performers have well-defined
processes in place for data governance
* 40% of high performers have protocols in place
that help to ensure quality data
Another item of interest that sets high
performers apart is running on public or hybrid
clouds, rather than on-premise platforms. Using
the cloud provided high performers with the ability
to access a wider range of AI features than
those using in-house applications.
MANAGING RISK
Everything comes with a certain level of risk,
and AI usage is no exception. Cybersecurity
is cited as the biggest risk of using AI in both
emerging economies and developed economies.
Other risks include:
* Regulations and compliance
* The ability to easily explain the decisions
reached by AI
* Privacy
* Equity and fairness
* Workforce displacement
There are ways to mitigate these and other
risks. These include more in-depth training, a
better review of data for skewed or biased results,
and the creation of a governance committee that
can oversee these and other potential AI risks.
It's clear that the state of AI continues to
grow and expand across all business sectors.
It might be time to introduce this technology
in your firm. ■
Mary Girsch-Bock began her career as an accountant
and later made the switch to writing full
time, concentrating on software reviews. A former
QuickBooks beta tester, Girsch-Bock specializes
in business and technology with a focus on small
businesses. Her work has appeared in The Motley
Fool, The Blueprint, Property Manager.com and she
currently writes a monthly business and technologyrelated
blog for PLANERGY, a Procure-to-Pay platform
designed for mid-market organizations.
APRIL 2022 ■ www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
27
https://www.tinyurl.com/mr22z38h http://www.Manager.com http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
april2022

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