CFOs Rethink ROI as AI Moves to Center Stage in Enterprise Strategy
This evolution underscores a broader recognition of AI’s potential to optimize operations, drive revenue, and reshape business models.
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[Image source: Krishna Prasad/MITSMR Middle East]
In a landscape where AI is moving from experimental to essential, CFOs are stepping beyond caution. New Salesforce research reveals a global shift with strong relevance for regional enterprises: finance leaders now see AI as a driver of long-term growth rather than merely a tool for short-term cost savings.
The shift marks a dramatic realignment in financial leadership, as CFOs embrace AI not just as a tool for cost control but as a long-term engine of business growth and innovation.
The latest study, based on a survey of 261 global CFOs, reveals that in 2020, 70% of finance leaders had conservative AI strategies. Today, only 4% still hold that view. This evolution underscores a broader recognition of AI’s potential to optimize operations, drive revenue, and reshape business models.
A major factor in this shift is how CFOs now evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of technology. According to the data, 61% of CFOs say AI agents—autonomous digital labor performing both routine and strategic tasks—are transforming ROI evaluation by pushing it beyond short-term metrics toward broader business outcomes. Robin Washington, President and Chief Operating and Financial Officer at Salesforce, explains that the introduction of digital labor represents not just a technical upgrade but a decisive and strategic shift for CFOs. With AI agents, she notes, CFOs are fundamentally reshaping their role—from traditional financial stewards to architects of what she calls “agentic enterprise value.”
This change comes amid increasing pressure to accelerate tech ROI. In 2024, 65% of CFOs reported heightened urgency to prove investment value. Now, they’re focusing on AI’s long-term benefits—from revenue gains and improved decision-making to productivity boosts.
One CFO survey respondent highlighted the contrast between legacy and AI technology returns: “The ROI of older technology often depends on immediate, measurable results, while AI’s returns may accrue over the long term through an ongoing process and new business models.”
The Numbers Tell the Story
- In 2020, 70% of CFOs pursued a conservative AI strategy; by 2023, it dropped to 34%; now just 4%.
- One-third of CFOs have since adopted an aggressive AI approach.
- CFOs now dedicate 25% of their total AI budgets to agentic AI.
- 61% say AI agents are critical to compete in today’s economic environment.
- 64% say AI is changing how their business spends money, and 35% believe it requires a riskier investment mindset.
- 74% believe AI agents will cut costs and drive revenue.
- CFOs expect agents to increase revenue by nearly 20%.
- 72% say AI agents will transform their business models.
- 55% believe agents will take on more strategic tasks than routine ones.
CFOs Are Also Rethinking How to Assess AI’s Value
A CFO survey respondent noted that “traditional technology investments mainly focus on immediate financial returns… but AI benefits are a mix of long- and short-term duration.” Top ROI factors now include cost savings, compliance risk mitigation, revenue growth, efficiency, and decision quality. Financial leaders are also turning to AI for better forecasting and real-time budget tracking. Another respondent explained, “AI provides real-time budget tracking, which improves forecasting accuracy and helps protect ROI from overspending.”
However, the shift isn’t without challenges. CFOs cite security threats (66%) and the long time to ROI (56%) as top concerns. One CFO noted that “other technology does not typically involve the ethical risks AI does. If AI goes wrong, the reputational cost affects ROI in ways regular tools never would.” Another added, “The ongoing investment required for retraining, monitoring, and improving AI models makes ROI more fluid than for fixed-function tools.”
As AI agents redefine the parameters of financial leadership, CFOs are not just adapting—they’re setting a new strategic agenda for enterprise transformation across industries in the Middle East and beyond.
