Stop thinking about “AI initiatives.”
Start thinking about which core processes you are going to delete entirely in the next 24 months.
In 2025, strategic innovation is no longer about launching new products faster.
It’s about permanently removing entire functions that used to consume tens of millions in cost and human time — and turning that freed capacity into new sources of revenue and competitive moat.
Here are four core processes that are already gone at our most advanced clients:
- The traditional month-end close (dead) Replaced by a generative + predictive close engine that runs continuously and finishes in 1.8–3.5 days. Hard cost saving: $4–12 million p.a. Soft benefit: finance becomes a real-time strategic weapon instead of a historical scorekeeper.
- External audit fee negotiation theatre (dead) When AI tests 100 % of SOX controls daily with full audit trails, the external auditor’s leverage collapses. Average fee reduction: 30–41 %. One client cut their Big 4 bill by $5.4 million and used the savings to fund two acquisitions.
- Static 13-week cash forecasting (dead) Replaced by reinforcement-learning cash simulators that run millions of scenarios daily and auto-execute optimal working-capital decisions. Average cash freed: $28–$41 million in the first year, then compounding.
- Human-in-the-loop transfer-pricing compliance (dead) Fine-tuned LLMs now validate 96 % of intercompany transactions against OECD guidelines in real time. Audit adjustments down 35 %, documentation time down 82 %.
The strategic innovation happens when you redirect the freed human and financial capacity:
Example 1 – A retailer took the $420 million incremental revenue from their new AI personalisation engine and funded an entirely new direct-to-consumer brand that is now on a $1 billion run-rate.
Example 2 – A health system took the $11.4 million saved from readmission prediction models and launched a telehealth prevention platform that is now their fastest-growing service line.
Example 3 – A private-equity-backed manufacturer used the $41 million recovered by our vendor-audit agent to fund two add-on acquisitions without raising new equity — on track for 4.1× MOIC instead of 3.0×.
This is the new innovation flywheel:
Delete → Free → Redirect → Compound
Most companies are still stuck at the “pilot” stage because they treat AI as a side project.
The leaders have made it the primary operating system for every repeatable process in finance, tax, compliance, and operations.
The gap is no longer incremental.
It is existential.
If your 2026 budget still contains line items for “month-end close overtime,” “external audit fees,” or “manual cash forecasting,” you are already competing with one hand tied behind your back.
Strategic business innovation in 2025 has one definition:
How fast can you make the old way impossible?
Want to see which of your core processes are already dead — and what you could build with the capacity you’re about to free?
Book a 10-day AI Discovery Sprint with us.
We’ll show you, with your own data, exactly which functions are about to disappear — and the new strategic options that will open up when they do.
Most leaders who run the sprint never go back to the old way.
You’ve been warned.