AI in Finance: Why the Driver Still Needs a Map
Quick Summary: AI isn’t a replacement for human intelligence and it certainly doesn’t have wisdom; it’s a high-torque performance enhancer. But a new system fed with poor data is just an expensive way to get the wrong answers. By using the “Electric Bike” principle and flushing out “Dirty Water” data with the “Fishtank” principle, businesses can automate the mundane while maintaining the professional accountability only a CIMA professional can provide.
The Trap: Drowning in Digital Noise
Most business owners and Finance Controllers across the Northamptonshire Motorsport Valley and, in fact, the UK and beyond are staring at mountains of data, feeling both overwhelmed and under-informed. You’ve been told AI is the “silver bullet” that will slash costs and replace headcount.
But here is the reality: AI is incredibly fast at making mistakes if it isn’t steered. If you let a chatbot drive your cash flow forecast without a map, you aren’t “optimising”—you’re just accelerating toward a cliff edge. The fear of “AI taking jobs” misses the point. The fear of ‘AI taking jobs’ misses the point. The real risk is AI taking your focus away from the physical reality of your shop floor by burying you in high-speed, automated ‘murky water’—giving you the confidence to make the wrong decisions even faster.
The Pivot: From the Bin Lorry to the Electric Bike
When I was driving a dustcart around Northamptonshire, the job was manual, heavy, and limited by physical stamina. Today, as a Chartered Management Accountant, I see Finance Teams doing the digital equivalent—lifting heavy “data bags” manually every single day.
At Neuvantage, we view AI through the lens of the Electric Bike Analogy:
- The Battery (AI): Provides the torque. It handles the heavy data processing and the rapid calculations that would take a human weeks.
- The Rider (The Architect): Provides the steering, the balance, and—most importantly—the brakes.
An electric bike allows you to go further and faster, but it doesn’t decide the destination. It enables greater job satisfaction because it removes the “drudgery” of the pedal, leaving your team free to focus on high-value strategy.
The Warning: Don’t Put Dirty Water in a New Tank
However, even the best rider can’t win a race if they are blinded. Many business owners think buying a shiny new AI tool or an expensive ERP system will magically fix their visibility.
Think of your business data like a fish tank. If your current decision-making is “murky” because of data errors, buying a brand-new, designer tank (the AI) and pouring in your old, dirty water (the bad data) leaves you with the same result: You still can’t see the fish.
You end up making high-stakes decisions—hiring, pricing, or Capex—while peering through green algae. At Neuvantage, we don’t just sell you the tank; we flush the system. We ensure the data “water” is crystal-clear so that the AI “battery” actually powers you toward profit.
The Evidence: The Profit-Ability Math
Murky data and manual errors lead to “Leakage.” When your team spends 80% of their time fixing data and only 20% analysing it, you are burning cash.
If poor data or manual “spreadsheet gymnastics” leads to a 5% error rate in your procurement or invoicing—costing you £20,000 annually—and your net margin is 10%, you have a massive mountain to climb:
The Sales Equivalent:
£20,000 in waste / 10% Profit margin = £200,000
You need £200,000 in new sales just to stand still and pay for the “tax” of your own dirty data.
The Keys: Mastering AI in your business
- Automation: Before human effort is spent, digital options must be exhausted. We use the “Three-Strike Rule”: if a process is done manually three times, we build an automation for it.
- The “Co-Driver” Check: AI can process data, but it cannot provide Assurance. As a CIMA Member in Practice, I provide the “Shield”—professional accountability, ethics, and insurance—that a chatbot cannot.
- Bridge the Shop Floor Gap: AI lives on a server; we live on the shop floor. Use AI to gather the data, but use the Neuvantage Operational Profit Architect to walk the warehouse and validate the physical reality that data often hides.
The Escape
AI is the battery, but are you steering in the right direction? Don’t let your business run on “Range Anxiety” or make decisions through murky water. Let’s clear the tank and install a real-time Financial Cockpit.
