Growth partner series - The CFO’s new superpower: Harnessing AI for sustainable growth

Running a growing business today isn’t easy. Costs are rising, staff are stretched, and cash flow is under constant pressure. I hear the same story from many of the firms I work with: they want to grow, add new sites, launch new products, increase turnover but they’re bogged down by the day-to-day.

Here’s the reality. If you don’t embrace technology now, or at least have a plan to embrace it tomorrow, growth will stall. In some cases, businesses will disappear altogether. I say this often, because I’ve seen it first-hand: the firms that embrace change thrive, and the ones that don’t fall behind.

AI isn’t replacing your team. It’s giving them back their time.

From headaches to headroom

At one of my clients — an IT and telephony company in Birmingham — it used to take six people and three days to get a customer signed up. Paperwork had to be shuffled across desks, delays crept in, and everyone involved was frustrated. Today, with AI-driven workflows, that same process takes just 20 minutes. Completely paperless, almost people-less, and the customer gets what they need immediately.

That’s the point. AI doesn’t replace the relationship with the customer. It doesn’t make the decision to redesign the process. People do. What AI does is take away the operational work — the heavy lifting — and give your team the headroom to focus on strategy, advice, and growth.

I often tell clients that operations and finance are two sides of the same coin. Operations give you efficiency and scalability. Finance gives you sustainability and succession. AI brings both together. Suddenly, you can see in real time which products are profitable, which are draining your margins, and where your cash flow is at risk. You can cut wasted spend on products that don’t move. You can re-allocate marketing to where it has the most impact. You can protect yourself from the silent bleed of late payments.

The human edge

And crucially, your finance leaders — your FD, your in-house accountants, your advisors — can lift their heads above the grind and act as strategists. That’s where the real value lies. I’ve seen accountants move into MD roles because they’re the ones who understand the numbers and the strategy. Even when they don’t hold the MD title, their role is every bit as important.

AI allows this elevation of human intelligence. By taking care of reconciliations, data entry, and the grind of reporting, it frees finance teams to deliver deeper insight and more meaningful customer interactions. Instead of providing numbers after the fact, they can sit with business leaders and say: “This is what it means. This is how we scale. This is how we protect the future of the firm.”

One client of mine was buried under energy costs. AI flagged anomalies in their spend, but it was the human consultation that turned it into action: apply for a solar grant and change the company fleet. They paid off the investment in three years from the savings alone. That’s not compliance work. That’s transformation.

This is the future for growing businesses. Your people aren’t replaced, they’re repurposed. Instead of chasing invoices or moving paper, they’re sitting with you to plan acquisitions, structure deals, and map succession. They’re spotting where efficiency gains can fund expansion. They’re advising you on how to make your growth sustainable, not just ambitious.

And it’s not just one sector. I see this playing out in construction, where visibility across projects can make or break cash flow. In retail, where inventory and fast-moving products define profitability. In manufacturing, where efficiency and supply chain resilience are everything. And in professional services, where firms win by advising, not administering. Across every industry, the story is the same: AI takes away the grind, so your people can deliver insight.

This is one of the biggest shifts we’ll see in business in our lifetime. Technology is levelling the playing field. You no longer need to be a corporate giant to have world-class insights at your fingertips.

Opportunity ahead

For businesses with growth plans — whether that’s opening new locations, expanding into new markets, or simply increasing turnover — AI is the partner that will make it possible. It will give you the visibility, the time, and the strategic edge you need to grow with confidence.

In a world drowning in data and complexity, you need a leader who can see the wood for the trees. You need someone who can cut through the noise, interpret the financial and operational signals, and provide a clear, strategic direction. 

The modern finance leader is no longer a historian recording what happened; they are a navigator, using real-time data and AI-powered insights to chart the course forward. They are the right people, with the right tools, in the right place to deliver sustainable growth.

The question isn’t whether AI will change your business. It already is. The real question is whether you’ll lead that change, or let competitors set the pace.

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