Finance leaders are focused on AI-enabled technology solutions and intelligent process automation to align their finance technology investments with broader business goals to enhance speed, agility, and competitive advantage, according to Gartner, Inc. “CFOs are increasingly playing a strategic role in shaping technology roadmaps that support enterprise-wide innovation,” said Mike Helsel, Senior Director Analyst in the Gartner Finance practice. “Over 70% of CFOs have expanded responsibilities beyond finance to include enterprise data and analytics, AI, and corporate strategy, driving a focus towards finance technologies that support such enterprise initiatives.”A Gartner survey of 383 finance leaders was taken in October 2024 and showed that generative AI (GenAI), machine learning (ML) and cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) are the top technologies expected to receive future investment in the finance function (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Top 10 Finance Technologies Expected to Receive the Highest Future Investment
Source: Gartner (March 2025)
GenAI and ML
“Finance AI technologies, including GenAI and ML, are leading future finance investments. In fact, 50% of finance leaders are planning significant increases in GenAI spending,” said Helsel. “However, many finance leaders face challenges with fragmented automation technologies, which limit end-to-end process value creation. Addressing these challenges is crucial for realizing the full potential of technology investments.”Metrics, analytics, and reporting, along with planning, budgeting, and forecasting are among the top priorities for finance functions in 2025. This is driving the push toward AI and advanced analytics tools that transform finance operations by providing real-time insights and enhancing enterprise decision-making processes.
Cloud ERP
Future investments are set to rise over 3% overall in core finance technologies led by cloud ERP (38%) and financial planning software (FPS) (24%) which are essential to core finance operations, with new AI augmentations enhancing their capabilities.Eighty-seven percent of respondents from organizations that have already implemented ERP solutions say they have plans to replace or upgrade them in the next three years.“The substantial adoption levels and value of cloud ERP make it the top overall technology for finance functions,” said Helsel. “New self-service AI and data analytics capabilities being rolled out by cloud ERP vendors are providing an incentive for finance functions to upgrade, so they can better provide insights to the business in real time and at scale.”
