Guest Author
Oct 29, 20202 min
Updated: Jan 20, 2021
by Vic.ai
In the rush and excitement to launch your accounting firm into the future, you might find
that you’ve overlooked a critical question: what exactly are you going to use artificial
intelligence (AI) for?
Sure, you’re probably going to use it to automate your processes, but which processes? And
what will the anticipated ROI be?
Let’s break down the biggest misconception about AI right now: AI, like any other
technology, is not a miracle cure or a magic wand. In order to determine if it’s the right
solution, pick a specific use case your firm is trying to solve for - that way, you have a clear
focus when selecting an accounting AI provider.
For example, if an AI platform claims to be able to run your entire business for you, that
should raise some red flags right away.
When you start outsourcing your outsourced accounting and CFO services, the first thing
that you lose is control. Control over things like:
The security of your clients’ data. Do you know how many third parties have handled it? Does the data live in the U.S. or somewhere else that has more lax regulations?
The accuracy of the accounting AI. What is the error rate for the AI, and how can you tell if you can’t see for yourself?
The intelligence of the AI . Is the AI operating on its own, or is it overseen by another bookkeeper who may not even have your team’s skills?
Your revenue. If your clients interact directly with your accounting AI vendor and have to turn over all your books, that’s going to start eating into your margins. Where does that leave your business?
If you’re looking to add AI to your organization, you’re not looking to do so because you
want to outsource your operations entirely and put yourself out of business. You’re
interested in accounting AI to make your business more efficient and accurate so that you
build client trust and have time to scale your organization.
AI automation should be something that your team can use and control internally to do
tasks like processing invoices better.. It should not be something that competes with your
business model. Do you really want to outsource your outsourced accounting department?
Or do you want to fix it so you can keep all revenue in house?
The choice comes down to hiring more headcount or finding the right technology partner to
enhance your team’s capabilities. Like hiring a new assistant, your accounting AI should
continuously get smarter so it can function as the new, little genius team member who
always remembers what it’s been taught, never gets tired, whose talent you never lose to
other opportunities, and who you manage directly.
The options for accounting AI are constantly growing and can get pretty confusing very
quickly.
The challenge is not just figuring out what technology to source, but also figuring out what
problem your organization needs to address first. Without that key step, whatever AI
platform you choose, no matter how advanced, may prove to be utterly useless for your
purposes.
For additional AI technology considerations, check out the Vic.ai eBook How to Select the