When speaking to clients across financial services AI is inevitably in every conversation. Every board talks about it, every business case includes it, and every interim CV seems to mention it. But here is the truth : saving a few hours, cutting some roles, or automating simple tasks no longer impresses anyone.
The firms that succeed with AI are the ones who can show real money results. Not in theory or potential, but in clear and measurable business outcomes. In this article Joe O’Flynn looks at the current rhetoric around AI adoption and the need for tangible revenue generation.
It Is Not Just About Saving Time
Efficiency is good. Automating reports, speeding up processes, and reducing duplicate work helps. But if that is all you do, you miss the bigger opportunity. The real value in AI is:
- Bringing in new customers
- Growing revenue
- Improving customer experience and satisfaction scores
- Reducing risk in ways that protect profit
- Spotting chances your competitors do not see
That is what leaders want to see. That is what investors care about. And that is what makes AI specialists truly valuable.
AI without real business results is just an expensive toy
We’ve all seen the same presentations that talk about hours saved or fewer jobs, but cannot answer the most important question: “What difference did it make to business outcomes?”
If you lead or advise on AI projects, you need to show what your work actually delivered. Not what it might deliver, but what really happened, such as:
- Did customer numbers go up by fifteen percent?
- Did customer satisfaction scores improve?
- Did it find cross sell chances worth millions?
- Did it lower customer loss or improve first contact problem solving?
If you cannot show that, the story is not complete.
The real experts focus on results not buzzwords
There is a growing gap between those who know the buzzwords and those who quietly deliver real results. The market is watching. As companies get stricter about where they spend money, they require people who turn AI into revenue, customer growth, and real value.
Those specifically in the Interim space who can do that, or help businesses figure it out, are and will continue to be in high demand.
Final Thought
AI is not a fad, it is firmly here to stay, but the conversation is changing fast. It is no longer enough to talk about saving time or costs. The AI change and transformation experts who succeed will be the ones who prove its ability to help grow business, improve customer experience, and deliver lasting value.
If Joe could give one piece of advice to interims working on AI right now it would be this: Stop talking about the programmes you delivered and start talking about the products you built and the outcomes they achieved.
Instead of saying “I delivered X programme,” say “I built Y product that increased customer acquisition by 20 percent” or “I led the launch of Z tool that improved customer satisfaction scores by 15 points.”
Outcomes and impact are what get interim managers noticed and keep them in demand.