The Hackett Group: Finance Leaders at a Crossroads as Gen AI Adoption Surges
Report reveals 89% of executives advancing Gen AI initiatives; finance teams will play a critical role in enterprise transformation or risk falling behind
The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCKT), a leading generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) strategic consultancy and executive advisory firm, today announced findings from its 2025 Key Issues Study, revealing that 89% of executives are advancing Gen AI initiatives – up from just 16% a year ago. Gen AI has moved from exploration to acceleration, and the study finds that finance leaders will increasingly be looked upon for transformation leadership. In fact, 65% of finance executives described their organization as a "valued business partner" – a significant jump from 41% last year – signaling that the finance function is evolving into a more strategic role within the enterprise. Yet, AI adoption within the finance function is still in its early stages and expected to grow 20% this year.
"The race to integrate AI into finance is on, and those who delay will fall behind," said Vince Griffin, principal and Finance Executive Advisory practice leader at The Hackett Group. "Our research shows that AI deployment in finance isn't just about efficiency gains – it's a catalyst for reimagining how the entire enterprise drives revenue and delivers value."
AI is reshaping finance – but only for those who act
Finance functions are seeing early gains from Gen AI, with a small but promising number of companies achieving productivity improvements, cost reductions and quality enhancements exceeding 10%. Yet, adoption remains in its infancy. The 2025 CFO Agenda reveals that:
- Approximately 22% of finance organizations have yet to act on Gen AI.
- The highest areas for AI include high-volume transactional processing and highly complex areas like tax management and financial planning and analysis.
- Approximately 44% of finance teams have initiatives planned for implementing AI-powered intelligent automation such as Gen AI.
- A 5% productivity gap looms, as workloads are set to rise by 4% while budgets and head counts shrink by 1%.
Despite the urgency, confidence in AI implementation remains low, with major concerns including data quality, process complexity, change management and lack of AI talent.
A call to action for chief financial officers
To address concerns and accelerate AI's impact, The Hackett Group recommends finance leaders:
- Develop a targeted Gen AI strategy aligned with enterprisewide AI goals.
- Prioritize AI use cases that drive tangible business value.
- Set realistic expectations for benefits and value potential.
- Build and refine a data ecosystem that enables cross-enterprise AI-driven insights.
- Simplify complex processes and eliminate manual inefficiencies.
- Invest in upskilling finance teams to ensure AI readiness.
The time to act is now
Early adopters of AI are redefining finance's role in driving business performance. Organizations that fail to embrace AI risk falling behind their competitors in agility, efficiency and strategic impact.
Download the full 2025 CFO Agenda report here.
About The Hackett Group®
The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCKT) is an IP and platform-based, Gen AI strategic consulting and executive advisory firm that enables Digital World Class® performance. Using AI XPLR™ and ZBrain™ – our ideation through implementation platforms – our experienced professionals help organizations realize the power of Gen AI and achieve quantifiable, breakthrough results, allowing us to be key architects of their Gen AI journey.
Our expertise is grounded in unparalleled best practices insights from benchmarking the world's leading businesses – including 97% of the Dow Jones Industrials, 89% of the Fortune 100, 70% of the DAX 40 and 55% of the FTSE 100. Visit us at www.thehackettgroup.com.
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