What is the Future of Generative AI? More Human

As a teenager, I spent countless summers at my father's accounting firm, Kanungo & Associates. With over 200 clients ranging from bookkeeping to part-time CFO services, the second floor office was always bustling. What stands out most in my memory is the parade of clients arriving with garbage bags and shoeboxes full of crumpled, faded, and sometimes smelly receipts.

I started to think that my father was a garbage man.?

The receipts would be crumpled, some would be faded, and some would even smell.

My job? Data entry. I was the Excel monkey, inputting endless streams of numbers while my CD player blasted Craig David and 112. It was tedious work.?

I hated it.

I tried all these ways of making the experience better. I told my dad that we should invest in like a OCR reader, but honestly, it created more work at that time.

My father, though, he came alive during client interactions. He'd discuss their businesses, growth plans, and ambitions with genuine enthusiasm. Yet, like me, he too was often bogged down by data entry - a task that detracted from his true value as a trusted advisor.

Fast forward 25 years, and I'm leading conversations with some of the world's largest companies about Generative AI. The transformation has been nothing short of revolutionary. I’m constantly in awe maybe because I was the receipt capture specialist and understood the grind.?

We're experiencing an unprecedented shift in human history. Generative AI acts like a superhuman assistant. It’s ALREADY handling tasks with efficiency we've never seen before. Companies, like SAP Concur, are at the forefront, leveraging thoughtful automation to free employees for more meaningful work.

Consider the evolving expectations of AI in finance. According to the latest SAP Concur CFO insights report , CFOs now prioritize accurate forecasting (67%), risk management (64%), and automation of mundane tasks (64%) as the top expected benefits of AI. This marks a significant shift from previous focuses, highlighting the growing sophistication of AI applications in finance.

The impact is already evident. According to the same report , 63% of CFOs are investing in cutting-edge technologies, up from 33% in the previous survey. This shift isn't just about efficiency - it's about reimagining how we work.

With full disclosure, I'm partnering with SAP Concur because I deeply believe in their mission. I WISH my father had tools like Verify from SAP Concur, which automatically checks 100% of expenses for compliance and anomalies – it would have been transformative for his business. Even more impactful would have been Concur Expense and ExpenseIt , automatically creating expense reports from receipt information.

I would have had a real summer!

In April 2008, my father passed away unexpectedly, leaving me to take over his firm. It was the most challenging period of my life. ?I didn’t know where to even start. I was literally Googling, “what happens when your accountant dies?”

I had to pick up the pieces.

Without a consolidated view of the business or accurate dashboards, I struggled to understand our true financial position. The lack of clarity forced me to sell the business for far less than its worth - a decision that I think about all the time.

The buyer took advantage of this, and I knew it.

The proceeds from the sale were crucial for our family at that moment. My brother and I were in the early stages of our careers, and my mother, who had not been in the workforce, relied on this financial cushion.

In today's AI-driven world, I would have had all the necessary financial data at my fingertips. This accessibility and clarity would have given me the confidence not just to negotiate a better sale price, but potentially to grow the business instead.

As we look to the future, it's clear that Generative AI isn't about replacing human interaction - it's about enhancing it. By automating mundane tasks, AI frees us up to focus on what truly matters: building relationships, providing insights, and driving growth. In essence, the future of Generative AI is making business more human, not less.

As I reflect on my journey from the kid taking out receipts from garbage mans to leading AI strategy discussions, I'm filled with optimism. The tools we dreamed of 25 years ago are now reality, and they're set to supercharge small and medium-sized businesses in ways we're only beginning to imagine. The future of work, powered by thoughtful automation, is going to be spectacular.

#sponsored?SAP Concur #ConcurExpense #ConcurTravel #ad?

?