Written by stevek in Business
Introduction
Three weeks ago, I wrote about overhauling a legacy B2B manufacturing sales team. That was the visible part of the transformation.
The next stage proved much harder.
As production, procurement, marketing and sales began working together, one thing became obvious.
None of those improvements would deliver lasting results without a finance department capable of supporting a modern business.
On paper, finance looked like the obvious place to start.
In reality, it was the last place I wanted to begin.
Why Finance Wasn’t the Problem
The Finance Director had been with the company from the very beginning.
He had built a loyal team who had seen the business through recessions, rapid growth and changing markets.
Many consultants would have started by restructuring finance.
I disagreed.
By this stage we had already uncovered duplicated management roles, ageing machinery, inefficient production systems and constant disagreement between production, procurement and quality.
Finance wasn’t creating those problems.
Finance was simply trying to keep the business afloat while everyone else argued.
That was my first turning point.
The Meeting That Changed Everything
The breakthrough didn’t happen in the boardroom.
It happened on a golf course in the New Forest.
Neither of us could claim to be much of a golfer, but spending a day away from the office proved invaluable.
Between a questionable round of golf and a couple of single malts afterwards, we stopped talking about software and started talking about the business.
For the first time, the Finance Director wasn’t defending existing systems.
He was thinking about what the business could become.
That conversation changed the entire project.
The conversation took an unexpected turn.
We spent surprisingly little time discussing the cost of new machinery, software or transport. Those were simply numbers.
What weighed far more heavily on the Finance Director was the personal cost of the restructure.
Not the redundancy packages.
The people.
Many had worked alongside him for decades. Somewhere along the way they had stopped being employees and had become friends.
So I asked him one simple question.
“Will you miss Margaret?”
It was a deliberately cheeky question.
Everyone in the office was terrified of Margaret.
Without hesitation he replied, “Of course I will.”
At that moment the conversation changed.
He was no longer speaking as the Finance Director protecting a set of accounts.
He was speaking as a leader carrying the weight of difficult decisions that affected people he genuinely cared about.
That single answer changed the direction of our discussions.
From then on, we stopped talking about what the business could afford.
We started talking about what the business needed to become.
Looking back, I don’t think AI transformed that company.
Trust did.
Once the Finance Director trusted that we weren’t trying to replace loyal people but give the business a sustainable future, he became the strongest advocate for change in the boardroom.
The Questions That Changed the Conversation
Rather than beginning with software demonstrations or AI presentations, I began with questions.
What is the real purpose of a finance department?
Is it there to process paperwork?
Or is it there to help management make better decisions?
Why are we spending so much time explaining last month instead of preparing for next month?
Historical reports matter.
But businesses succeed by making tomorrow’s decisions better than yesterday’s.
Which finance tasks genuinely require experience?
This wasn’t difficult to answer.
Entering invoices.
Reconciling paperwork.
Routine administration.
These are repetitive tasks.
Protecting cash flow.
Understanding margins.
Supporting production and sales.
Those are the jobs where experienced people add enormous value.
If technology removed repetitive work, what would your finance team do with the time?
This was the moment the atmosphere changed.
Nobody talked about redundancies.
Instead we discussed better forecasting.
Better commercial decisions.
More time supporting the rest of the business.
The technology hadn’t become more impressive.
The purpose had become clearer.
Why AI Was the Right Tool—But Not the Starting Point
I’m a strong supporter of AI.
Used properly, it removes repetitive administration, improves visibility and gives experienced people more time to think.
Used badly, it simply automates inefficient processes faster.
For this client, AI was never the strategy.
It was one of the tools that helped us deliver the strategy.
The leadership came first.
The software came second.
The Three Principles I Took Away
1. Win trust before introducing technology.
People support change when they understand its purpose.
2. Automate repetitive work, not experience.
The objective isn’t replacing knowledge.
It’s giving experienced people more opportunity to use it.
3. Build one integrated business.
Sales.
Production.
Procurement.
Marketing.
Finance.
Each department succeeds when they stop working in isolation.
Three Questions for the Week
- Is your finance team helping shape the future or simply reporting the past?
- Are your most experienced people spending enough time using their judgement?
- When introducing AI, are you leading with technology or with trust?
Frequently Asked Questions
Should AI replace finance staff?
No. In my experience, AI is most valuable when it removes repetitive administration and allows experienced people to concentrate on commercial decision-making.
Where should a business start when introducing AI?
Start with leadership and business processes. Technology should support a clear strategy, not become the strategy.
Why do finance teams often resist change?
In many established businesses they aren’t resisting technology—they’re protecting the people, systems and financial discipline that have kept the company alive for years.
Next Week
We’ve now looked at sales, production and finance.
Next Monday, I’ll explain how we brought everything together using an executive dashboard that gave directors an honest picture of the business in under five minutes
