As CFOs head into 2025 with restored confidence, they also face growing challenges in talent management, operational efficiency, and risk mitigation. Deloitte’s recent CFO Signals survey highlights the top priorities for finance leaders this year, including:

1. Hiring or promoting from within the company (49%)

2. Tying compensation to performance (49%)

3. Changing benefits or transferring costs to workers (47%)

4. Building cash reserves (46%)

5. Increasing investment in generative AI for finance (46%)

While confidence among CFOs is higher than it’s been in 10 quarters, these priorities clearly indicate that finance teams are under pressure to develop talent, automate manual processes, and leverage AI to increase productivity. At Motive, we know AI can be a strategic differentiator for finance leaders, enabling them to transform operations, reduce risk, improve efficiency, and strengthen their bottom line.

AI is especially important for businesses with physical operations — those who produce and distribute goods and services using machinery, labor, and natural resources. The nature of their work makes these businesses heavily reliant on fleet vehicles and skilled physical labor. 

CFOs across transportation and logistics, construction, energy/oil and gas, field services, and other physical industries are intimately familiar with — and easily affected by — changing tides in global affairs and international relations. 

Global supply chains and the world order are highly susceptible to fluctuating costs, increasing fraud and theft, and a scarcity of skilled labor. For many fleets, limited visibility and data silos hamper profitability and heighten safety risks, both on the road and across job sites. 

However, our research found that leaders see AI as a game-changer for automating proactive decisions, improving visibility, and enhancing safety, effectively addressing industry challenges and presenting opportunities across this critical sector of our economy.

AI-powered automation: A competitive advantage for CFOs

CFOs have traditionally focused on cost control and risk management, but as AI adoption becomes table stakes, finance leaders must become technology enablers. With Motive’s AI platform, CFOs can:

  • Automate Manual Workflows: AI-powered automation eliminates tedious financial tasks, enabling employees to focus on strategic, high-value work. For example, as the only provider that natively integrated fleet and spend data, Motive’s AI automatically detects and flags fraudulent transactions and missed savings, reducing financial leakage.
  • Enhance Risk Management: AI-powered cameras have been proven to decrease company risk by increasing safety effectiveness — especially for businesses that operate fleets on the road. When Ernst Concrete faced a wave of liability, they turned to Motive to better manage fleet safety and protect against false claims. With Motive, the company achieved a 2,000% return on investment in just 13 months, generating $6.5 million in estimated savings while reducing cell phone use by 97%.
  • Generate Real-Time Insights: AI-powered analytics transform raw operational data into strategic intelligence, helping CFOs make informed decisions on fleet spending, asset utilization, and workforce management. With a single AI-powered platform, Motive empowers physical economy leaders to improve the safety, productivity, and profitability of their operations. Cascade Environmental saved 800 hours a month on IFTA reporting with Motive, seeing an additional 50% improvement in safety and compliance.
  • Improve Talent Development: AI doesn’t just automate — it empowers teams. By reducing manual workloads, finance leaders can allocate more time to upskilling their workforce and mentoring future leaders – a key focus area according to the Deloitte CFO survey discussed above. Struggling with time-consuming and costly processes, Interstate Power Systems was looking for a way to cut costs and work faster. With Motive, the company was able to save $50K on administrative work and reduced roadside violations by 83%.

When we switched to Motive to complete IFTA reports, we calculated time savings of more than 800 hours a month just from trip reports. Additionally, on our last state of Oregon routine fuel tax audit, the data from Motive had zero errors in it, compared to previous months’ manual data entry, which had mistakes that had to be fixed retroactively.

–  Alex Amort, vice president of risk and compliance, Cascade Environmental

How Motive’s AI platform empowers CFOs

Motive’s AI solutions are designed to help finance teams in physical operations manage their most pressing challenges — from risk mitigation to cost control. Our AI-powered tools support CFOs by:

As finance leaders prioritize automation, AI adoption, and risk management, Motive is the only unified platform that natively integrates safety, operations, and finance to drive real business impact.

AI-powered finance is here — Are you ready?

With nearly half (46%) of CFOs planning to increase their future AI investment, the question isn’t if finance leaders should leverage AI — it’s how quickly they can integrate it and where. 

Motive is committed to helping CFOs harness AI to drive profitability, efficiency, and risk reduction. Ready to see how AI can transform your finance operations? Download our 2025 Guide to Computer Vision today and unlock new opportunities for smarter, more strategic decision-making.

Contact us today to learn more about AI-powered automation for finance leaders.