The newest, most powerful AI tools offer automation without the traditional tradeoffs, especially when combined with the right professionals.
By Bob Balfe
AI works ridiculously fast. If given the right instructions, it can do parts of my job 1,000 times quicker than I can. But AI has always come with tradeoffs due to its inherent limitations. Machines can carry out complicated tasks in the blink of an eye, but they stumble when forced off script.
Not anymore. The latest generations of large language models are finally closing the quality gap that has held back major gains in efficiency.
As a veteran software developer, I have seen how AI platforms like GitHub are now catching and finding elegant solutions to edge cases — rare but potentially ruinous bugs — without my help. Today’s AI assistants can figure out context. For the first time, they can go off script.
They still need smart directions and expert operators, however. The effectiveness of AI isn’t about how many people it replaces, but whether it optimizes how an organization operates and enhances existing superpowers within your team.
4Pines drives value with AI because our team has deep experience in both automation and financial services. We have been building financial software for decades; AI is just making us way, way faster.
Time to catch up
Last year, for example, we hired a team of developers to automate capital calls. It took almost three and a half months to develop. In the past few weeks, AI helped us build software that does the same thing – but in an hour and a half.
My example, one could argue, demonstrates how AI can replace people. However, in most cases in my experience, AI drives growth and scalability by augmenting the actual brains in your organization. My experience with coding points to the real magic of AI. The right people working together, combined with the right platforms, create jaw-dropping efficiency.
That’s true for the developers at 4Pines, but also for our clients, who may know less about source code or jQuery AJAX calls but can still reap tremendous benefits from strategically deploying AI tools.
The biggest question facing many executives today is not whether AI is worthwhile, but how to catch up with early adopters and big spenders.
At 4Pines, we have pioneered the approach of “co-sourcing,” in which we effectively plug into the back office to help CFOs and CTOs deploy the best AI solutions available without giving up control of their data. We help executives catch up and stay ahead in the AI race.
We are positioned to drive AI efficiency because we have spent years recruiting a team that understands how the latest accounting technology works. We have the architects and the experience to transform operations using these powerful new tools.
AI platforms like Azure are enabling rapid adoption of AI into products, from recommending an action on a shared email to transforming in bulk all in-bound emails to suggested tasks lists and processes. These types of patterns of efficiency are now rampant in all software. This simply means our clients using our software also can benefit from the new efficiencies.
Operating versus replacing
Crucially, we take an operating model perspective to deploying AI, as opposed to a replacement model perspective.
The goals under a replacement model will sound familiar to anyone who has heard an AI pitch: Minimize costs, improve reliability, and ensure the continued operation and delivery of essential services. This approach is task-oriented and narrowly focused.
A modern operating model, on the other hand, might include elements like agile teams, cloud-based infrastructure, and data-driven decision making. It aims to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and adaptability, while also enabling strategy execution and growth. This approach optimizes how the organization operates, including how we deliver products or services, manage resources, and make decisions.
AI is finally delivering the mix of speed and quality that creates real value in fund services. It’s time for CFOs to go all-in.
Bob Balfe is Chief Technology Officer at 4Pines Fund Services.
