At a time when AI dominates headlines, the question of whether it is truly a business imperative, or whether organisations are simply chasing the next technological buzz, arose during a panel session at the 2025 Finance Indaba.
The session themed Contrarian: AI not a business imperative? brought together Joanne Tanner, CFO at Decision Inc; Taryn Woodbridge, CFO at Mercedes-Benz South Africa; and Peter Meijer, digital finance transformation expert, to explore this very tension.
Joanne, CFO at Decision Inc., opened the conversation by focusing on the generational shift in AI fluency.
“Our learners today engage with AI daily across all the subjects they are learning. These young individuals are going to enter our workforce with skills that many organisations are currently unprepared for. They don’t view AI as a tool the way we do. For them, it is native. It is an integrated educational assistant that helps with learning, problem-solving and productivity. They will have an expectation – one they may not even realise, that the organisations they join should be fluent and proficient in AI technology,” she explained.
She continued to express that businesses must provide an environment where curiosity and digital savviness are welcomed and leveraged to challenge the status quo.
“We often talk about competitive advantage in business. Traditionally, that relates to building the next biggest or best product, service line, or gaining market share. It is all of those things, but in today’s world, where native AI skills are rare, competitive advantage is about being able to attract and retain these skills,” she said.
She continued, stating, “There is a clear gap today between what children are learning in primary education regarding AI and what professionals are learning in their professional training. Curriculums are misaligned, and this is something we all must engage with, even if it feels a little intimidating. We must start somewhere because solving this challenge is critical.”
A safe space for experimentation
Taryn, CFO at Mercedes-Benz South Africa, picked up the conversation by addressing workforce readiness and the human element of AI adoption.
“In our journey, we knew that we needed to be more digital focused and AI-driven. This was a strategic objective of ours, but it seemed to be taking time. When I look back, it was about putting it there as a goal, having the discussion with the team, making sure we realised this was important, but we weren’t moving the goalpost, and it really is a transformation imperative actually to get onto the journey of embracing this.”
Taryn described how Mercedes-Benz then identified AI change agents within their teams, utilising individuals with curiosity and initiative who could champion digital innovation. By giving them access to tools and learning platforms, the organisation created a safe space for experimentation, accelerating adoption without imposing it from the top down.
She acknowledged this approach culminating in the creation of internal showcases where team members demonstrated AI-enabled solutions they had developed themselves.
Digital reality
Peter, digital finance transformation expert, then entered to describe AI as a disruptive human technology, but noted that the principles of adoption remain similar to previous technological innovations.
“If you look back at printing in the Middle Ages, the telephone in 1900, the internet in the 1990s, or machine learning more recently, they all follow the same route. For AI, that will not be different. The route I would call here is digital transformation. If you want to get the best out of technology, you need to adopt it in a kind of digital transformation,” said Peter.
“But AI is also very different. The collaboration between humans and machines has emerged as a new topic of focus. Imagine being able to talk directly to your data – that possibility creates a completely different scene. As finance people, we are there to make the business successful. That should still be our overall ambition,” he concluded.
