How to talk to your clients about AI at your firm

SMBs and accounting firms alike are preparing to embrace a future of Artificial Intelligence. In a report from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, 50% of the respondents said that they use AI at their firm or have plans to implement AI in the next two years. It seems like everyone is introducing AI products, so your clients may wonder how your firm uses AI or is planning to implement it. 

When people think of “AI” they might picture spaceships and robots and self-driving cars. But the term AI covers everything from generative chatbots to automatic receipt matching within BILL Spend & Expense or duplicate invoice detection on BILL Accounts Payable 

Some clients may have concerns about AI and need reassurance. Other clients might just be curious about how your firm employs AI. What information you share with your clients will depend on their level of concern and how much you want to share with them. Here are some guidelines that should help in most conversations.

1. Focus on benefit to client: Ultimately, your client’s main concern is how AI is going to impact their finances and relationship with your firm. For this conversation, focus on how your use of AI can benefit them. For example, you could point to how AI takes care of manual tasks so that your staff can focus on their finances. ‍
2. Talk about the benefits of automation: This conversation is a great opportunity to talk about the big picture with your clients about automation tools. Make comparisons between the benefits of AI and your automation tools. And, if your client isn’t already using BILL AP/AR or BILL Spend & Expense, this is the perfect time to get them on board!‍
3. Avoid talking about less work: Your client is probably not interested in how AI is taking care of parts of the work they pay you for! Instead of drawing attention to the tasks that AI removes from your workload, focus on the work that you get to do alongside AI. ‍
4. Use this opportunity to move into value pricing: While your client doesn’t need to know that you are saving time with AI, that is a big benefit of implementing AI at your firm, but it means you may be losing money on work for clients who pay you hourly. As you discuss the added value that AI brings to your firm, you can use this opportunity to update these clients into value-based pricing. ‍
5. Discuss your firm’s policies around privacy customer data: Some of the most common concerns we’ve seen around AI have to do with data privacy. Your clients may just need reassurance that your use of AI does not share their data with organizations outside of your firm.

What you tell your clients about your firm’s use of AI depends on your relationship with that client and what they want to know. Some clients may want a peek behind the curtain and require a more lengthy explanation, while others might be content to let your firm work however you need. 

Ultimately, AI is a tool for your firm—just like your financial automation program or your bookkeeping software. A good rule of thumb is to approach these conversations about AI the same way you would approach conversations about any other tool.

‍

‍