Offering resources and training for much-needed AI skills is essential for CFOs looking to drive critical ROI with such technology investments.

To effectively harness the power of AI, business leaders must prioritise “AI literacy” as a critical skill set. For any technology investment, successful implementation goes far beyond the initial deployment. Without the right strategies in place, especially comprehensive learning programs tailored to the technology, it’s impossible to unlock its full potential. AI is no exception. Without proper education and resources, organisations risk falling short on adoption, losing out on the transformative benefits AI can bring across the enterprise.

Driving Maximum ROI

Just over two years after the launch of OpenAI’s generative AI tool, ChatGPT, business leaders are thinking more strategically about how to implement AI effectively across their organisations. This shift in mindset reflects the growing recognition of AI as a transformative tool for achieving growth and efficiency.

The starting point for AI implementation is asking, "What is the fastest and smartest path to growth?" Leaders are prioritising intentionality, focusing on use cases that can scale and deliver measurable business impact. Identifying these high-value opportunities is key to ensuring AI investments align with broader organisational goals.

As companies embrace AI, having a robust change management strategy is critical. CFOs, in particular, are playing a pivotal role in drafting AI strategies, balancing technology spend with thoughtful deployment across the organisation. This dual responsibility positions finance chiefs as strategic architects, ensuring AI investments deliver maximum value while addressing operational challenges.

Many CFOs are leaning into AI’s potential, seeing it as a powerful engine for growth. They are not only identifying areas where AI can supplement costs but also steering its adoption to unlock competitive advantages. However, this optimism is paired with heightened accountability, particularly for finance chiefs at public companies. Increasingly, they are being tasked with defending technology investments and justifying expenditures to stakeholders.

In this landscape, there’s an intensified focus on streamlining the technology stack. Every piece of technology must deliver maximum ROI, with CFOs leading the charge to ensure that AI is not just another tool, but a cornerstone of sustainable growth.

Keeping AI Literacy Top of Mind

To achieve the ROI demanded from technology investments, CFOs must prioritise equipping employees with AI Literacy— the critical skills needed to effectively use AI tools. Without providing the necessary resources and time for training, even the most advanced AI solutions risk falling short of their potential.

In an increasingly data-driven world, AI literacy isn’t just an optional skill; it’s a competitive imperative. Empowering teams across all functions to effectively use AI ensures that its benefits are realised organisation-wide, from improved operational efficiency to innovative decision-making.

Strategic investment in upskilling is critical. As Kerry Ryan, senior director of finance at Seismic put it, “Providing your team with the tools and knowledge to succeed with AI, no matter their function, is a cornerstone of driving transformational results.” This sentiment reflects the need for CFOs to balance investment in AI technology with investment in people, ensuring that AI adoption supports organisational growth without alienating the workforce.

The shift towards AI adoption also raises broader questions for finance leaders. According to research by Datarails, over half of CFOs anticipate their finance teams will shrink by 2026 as automation and AI become integral to daily operations. For others, AI represents a redefinition of roles rather than a reduction in headcount, with automation taking over repetitive tasks and allowing finance professionals to focus on higher-value activities, such as strategy and analysis.

The ongoing integration of AI into the finance function underscores the importance of a long-term vision for AI literacy. While AI’s initial applications often focus on streamlining existing processes, its future lies in more specialised use cases tailored to specific business needs. This evolution demands that employees not only learn how to use AI but also develop a deeper understanding of its capabilities to unlock advanced benefits.

Education and literacy are at the heart of this transformation. As use cases become more specialised, organisations must foster a culture of continuous learning. AI literacy isn’t just about knowing how to operate tools; it’s about understanding how AI can be applied strategically within unique business contexts. For CFOs, this means ensuring that upskilling efforts align with the metrics that matter most—whether that’s improved efficiency, better decision-making, or stronger reporting to stakeholders.

By embracing AI literacy as a fundamental part of their strategy, CFOs can help their organisations adapt to the changing landscape, empowering their teams to stay ahead of the curve and unlocking the full potential of AI-driven innovation.

8 Steps to Build and Scale a Successful AI Literacy Program

1.Secure Executive Sponsorship & Leadership

Bolstering AI literacy as a transformational program necessitates strong executive sponsorship and leadership. Executives must champion the initiative, communicate its strategic importance, and allocate resources to support its implementation and ongoing development. Buy-in from the CDO, CEO, and CHRO executive trifecta is a great way to ensure an AI literacy vision gets translated into action.

Prosci reported that “active and visible” executive sponsorship has ranked consistently as the top contributing factor to project success since it started capturing benchmarking data in 1998.

2. Perform Skill Gap Analysis

As a second step in your AI literacy program, conduct a comprehensive assessment of the organisation's current AI capabilities, literacy levels, and readiness for transformation. Identify gaps, challenges, and opportunities, and develop a detailed plan for launching, scaling, and embedding AI literacy across the organisation.

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3. Build A Diverse Team Of Stakeholders

Inspire and empower stakeholders from various departments and business units. Create core roles and make them accountable to deliver key objectives that are pivotal to the success of the program. Engage managers and get their buy-in to ensure their participating teams have the time arrangements and good conditions to focus on this learning experience.

Articulate the desired outcomes and benefits of AI literacy, such as driving innovation, improving decision making, and enhancing operational efficiency. Then, define a clear vision and set of objectives for the AI literacy program, aligning them with the organisation's strategic goals and priorities. For example, a vision could be, "To cultivate a workforce proficient in AI, enabling 75% of core business processes to be enhanced by ethical AI solutions within three years, driving at least a 20% improvement in operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.”

5. Identify the Metrics That Matter

Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to measure the effectiveness and impact of the AI literacy program. Monitor progress, gather feedback, and iterate on the program to ensure alignment with organisational goals and evolving business needs. Here is a starting point of some metrics to measure success.

6. Develop Tailored Training and Role Specific Learning Paths

Develop and deliver customised training programs to enhance AI literacy across all employee levels.

To optimise your AI literacy initiatives, design programs tailored to various roles and skill levels. Segment employees based on their current skills, aspirations, and needs. By addressing the diverse expectations of learners, you can create personalised training experiences that accelerate their journey toward AI proficiency. This targeted approach not only supports skill development but also aligns with career growth, empowering individuals to deepen their expertise and make meaningful contributions to organisational goals.

Provide a blend of classroom-based learning, hands-on workshops, and self-paced resources to accommodate different learning preferences. Evaluate the most effective methods for your teams by leveraging a range of strategies, such as offering flexible, self-paced learning through online platforms or MOOCs, organising cohort kickoffs for collaborative learning, partnering with training experts for specialised knowledge, and integrating instructor-led sessions with e-learning for a well-rounded and engaging training experience.

Make AI literacy a core competency and continuous experience. Start at day one, in employee onboarding.

7. Support Continuous Learning, Inclusivity & Active Engagement

Cultivate a culture of continuous learning by offering ongoing support, resources, and opportunities for skill enhancement. Encourage employees to stay informed about emerging AI trends, technologies, and best practices through networking, community forums, and industry events.

Your next AI superstar could emerge from anywhere. By adopting an inclusive and expansive selection process for practitioners, organisations can discover their top innovators. A diverse talent pool not only fosters inclusivity but also drives creativity, resulting in groundbreaking solutions. Casting a wide net isn’t just about finding talent—it’s about creating a culture of innovation that drives organisations forward.

To build an active and engaged learning community, use communication channels to tackle initial challenges, help learners overcome obstacles, and boost engagement during the critical early weeks. Promote interaction by encouraging learners to share resources.

8. Democratise with Control

A platform that provides a user-friendly interface and empowers employees across different roles and skill levels to build, deploy, and consume AI solutions plays a key role in democratising AI literacy. It can empower every employee to do as much as possible — and appropriate — with their data to derive insights and create value.

At the same time, said platform will need to enable control through robust governance features like role-based access controls, model documentation, and audit trails, ensuring the responsible and secure use of AI assets as literacy scales across the organisation. This balance of democratisation and control is critical for successful AI literacy initiatives that aim to drive broad adoption while mitigating risks.

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