Artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and real-time data are no longer just emerging trends—they are reshaping the finance industry.

A 2024 Gartner survey found that 58% of organisations are now using AI in their finance functions, a sharp rise from 37% in 2023.

This shift is all about efficiency and the competitive advantage AI provides. Projections indicate that AI could boost operational efficiency by up to 40%.

From personalised financial planning to automation that streamlines processes and reduces costs, AI is also boosting insights, speed and accuracy to enhance strategic decision making.

In a world where finance teams are being asked to do more with less, retrospective reporting is no longer enough.

XU: Why is finance shifting from retrospective reporting to on-demand insights?

LW: Traditional reporting cycles can’t keep up with today’s pace— finance professionals need real-time insights to make informed decisions, stay agile, and plan with confidence.

Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen rapid adoption of real-time reporting. Customers who once consolidated accounts annually or quarterly are now doing it monthly, even daily—because it’s faster, more accurate, and instantly accessible.

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XU: How are your customers adapting to this trend?

LW: Over half of our customers now consolidate their group finances every month, with over 15,000 reports generated daily. Real-time dashboards give finance teams instant insights, allowing them to track performance and make adjustments as needed.

To support this shift, Joiin Intelligence, our next-generation AI tool is embedded alongside automation in our platform. It continuously uncovers key insights, accelerates data processing, and enables real-time reporting. Multi-entity consolidation is now on demand, saving customers significant time and costs. Our first AI-powered feature instantly surfaces key trends, removing the need for finance teams to manually analyse data. Instead, insights are automatically generated, ready to be reviewed and refined—saving time and effort.

“We now do monthly consolidations instead of quarterly, and I run daily reports to track my regions. The CFO at RocketDNA uses it too, appreciating how it gives a real-time global view of the business—where it once took days." — Charl Ryan, Group Finance Partner for Africa, RocketDNA

They’re not alone—across our customer base, we’re seeing a major shift towards real-time financial intelligence.

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XU: What does AI mean for finance teams in practice?

LW: Instead of dealing with the month-end or year-end crunch, finance professionals can now generate consolidated reports instantly and focus on making decisions, not chasing numbers.

With real-time insights, trends emerge as they happen—whether tracking AR/AP, understanding cash flow fluctuations, or monitoring P&L impact—allowing teams to act immediately. Potential issues can be addressed before they escalate, helping organisations stay ahead of financial risks and eliminating last-minute surprises or reporting bottlenecks.

However, while AI is a powerful tool, it doesn’t replace the expertise of accountants and finance teams. At Joiin, we see AI and people working together—AI streamlines repetitive tasks and spots trends, freeing finance professionals to focus on client relationships, business growth, and high-level decision-making that technology alone cannot replicate.

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XU: Should finance leaders trust AI-driven financial insights?

LW: AI is shaking up finance, but trust is still a big question. The biggest worries? Accuracy, bias, and understanding how AI reaches its conclusions.

At Joiin, we believe trust in AI starts with transparency. AI is powerful, but finance professionals need to understand and validate the insights it delivers. That’s why Joiin Intelligence doesn’t just generate insights—it gives finance teams control, allowing them to review, refine, and validate AI-powered recommendations before taking action.

AI is here to enhance, not replace financial expertise. It automates repetitive tasks, detects patterns, and flags anomalies, but the final decisions still rest with skilled finance professionals. The best finance teams won’t just trust AI blindly—they’ll leverage it strategically, ensuring smarter, faster, and more informed decision-making.

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XU: How is Joiin Intelligence helping customers unlock deeper financial insights?

LW: Designed to be intuitive and accessible, the interface works much like ChatGPT. Users can type a question such as “How are sales performing across my companies?” or select a suggested query like “Analyse ebitda across the periods shown” or “Prepare an email summary to send to the board”. This enables finance teams to quickly extract the insights they need without sifting through large datasets.

The benefits vary across roles:

• Accountants – Automate workflows, flag data anomalies, and draft client-ready email updates, making it easier to manage multiple clients.
• CEOs & Executives – Gain top-level insights quickly through concise summaries and key figures, supporting informed leadership decisions.
• Business Development Managers – Identify which products and services are performing well or underperforming. Joiin Intelligence examines historical data and highlights revenue-driving segments to guide strategy.
• Controllers & Finance Directors – Stay alert to irregularities in expenses or sales across cost centres, with AI flagging anomalies before they become major issues.
  

Our platform will continue to launch AI-driven features that will significantly boost financial consolidation and reporting, ensuring enhanced efficiency. With these advancements, customers will continue to experience instant consolidation, alongside new agentic features for reporting, data and insights.

XU: Joiin Intelligence is a big step forward, what other innovations are advancing Joiin’s capabilities?

LW: Joiin is all about making financial reporting instant and smarter —helping organisations and accountants cut through complexity. We’re a trusted 5-star app partner for Xero, QuickBooks, and Sage, relied upon by growing startups to global multi-entity groups to consolidate financial data effortlessly.

But we’re not stopping there. Joiin Connect, our API, takes things further to aggregate and sync financial data seamlessly. It connects with third-party platforms including Power BI, Power Query, Tableau, Google Data Studio, and Zapier, unlocking real-time insights, automated workflows, and deeper analytics—without the manual effort.

And for those who prefer to keep it simple, you don’t need an API to get powerful reporting.  You can connect spreadsheets directly, giving you complete flexibility while keeping everything seamless and accurate—whether you’re working across cloud platforms or offline data sources.

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XU: As AI transforms finance, how can organisations and accountants ensure security and compliance in a data-driven world?

LW: AI is unlocking powerful insights for finance teams, but it also raises critical questions about security, data integrity, and compliance. With financial data being one of the most sensitive assets a business holds, ensuring AI-driven reporting is secure, compliant, and transparent is non-negotiable.

Globally, regulators are moving fast—new AI governance frameworks are emerging, from the EU AI Act to updated financial data security standards. In finance, data privacy laws are already shaping how AI is used, making it essential for finance professionals to work with trusted, compliant AI platforms.

At Joiin, security and compliance are at the core of everything we do. Our AI-powered capabilities operate within Amazon Web Services (AWS) Bedrock, one of the most secure and compliant cloud environments available. We follow strict data security protocols, ensuring that customer data is protected at every stage while still delivering powerful, real-time financial insights.

AI-driven finance should never come at the expense of security—which is why we continuously evolve our security and compliance standards to meet the latest regulations and best practices. If security and AI in finance are on your mind, we’re always happy to chat.

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XU: What should finance leaders be doing now to stay ahead?

LW: Don’t get left behind. The way organisations and accountants manage financial data is changing fast. AI, automation, and real-time insights aren’t just trends—they’re becoming essential. Those who embrace these tools now will gain a real advantage in efficiency, cost savings, and smarter decision-making.

"Joiin changes the game when it comes to consolidation. Now it’s always there, automated, at our fingertips, and something we do and use every day. No longer is it the tedious and time-consuming process we would dread every month." — Ivan Landen, CEO & Founder, Blue Wireless

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