RESEARCH REPORT
Smarter Spend: AI that actually works for finance teams
A blueprint for CFOs on how to use AI to win back time and eliminate hidden productivity costs. Built on Forrester’s 2026 research with more than 700 finance leaders, explore practical automation insights, alongside growth stories from leading ANZ businesses.
Trusted across ANZ's fastest-scaling enterprises
IN THIS PLAYBOOK
Why finance is taking a different path to AI
Why 84% of finance workflows still require manual intervention and why cautious adoption is becoming a competitive advantage rather than a weakness.
The hidden productivity taxes in finance
How everyday tasks like receipt processing, expense approvals and reconciliation quietly consume valuable finance capacity and where AI is already delivering measurable ROI.
Why the rails matter more than the agents
Why AI is only as effective as the financial infrastructure underneath it, and how connected financial data creates the foundation for automation at scale.
AI in action
How leading organisations are using AI to automate expense policies, receipt processing, categorisation and reporting while maintaining governance and control.
Your first 90 days
A practical roadmap for identifying high-impact automation opportunities, piloting AI safely and scaling with confidence.
A NEW ERA
Finance was right to be cautious. Today, technology has caught up.
A misfiring marketing chatbot is embarassing. A misfiring finance agent can miscategorise thousands of transactions, breach tax rules or release payments that should never have been made. That's why finance has adopted AI more cautiously than any other business function.
But technology has evolved.
AI is no longer limited to chatbots sitting alongside finance systems. Today's most effective solutions are built directly into trusted financial infrastructure, automating repetitive, rule-based work while users maintain governance and control.
This playbook explores where AI is already delivering measurable value in spend management, why the rails underneath matter more than the agents on top, and how leading finance teams are supercharging productivity.
Ready to explore AI strategies that can transform finance processes?
Download the playbook and discover how connected financial infrastructure enables finance teams to automate manual work without compromising control or accuracy.
ABOUT AIRWALLEX
Airwallex is an AI native financial operating system for modern businesses.
We are building the future of global banking for a borderless, real-time, intelligent economy.
We serve more than 676,000 businesses worldwide, either directly or through our platform customers. From startups to public enterprises, our customers use Airwallex to manage their global banking and financial operations, or to build and monetise their own financial products.
Founded in Melbourne in 2015, Airwallex holds 85+ licenses across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, forming one of the most comprehensive financial infrastructures in the world. This regulated backbone powers Airwallex products at global scale, including payment acceptance, billing, global accounts, corporate cards, and spend management.
The company is co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore with over 2,300 employees across 27 offices.
