In our last blog we talked about how disruptive automation tools like smart bots and data visualization are helping finance become more efficient and strategic. Those are just a few of the many disruptive forces that are rapidly transforming finance into something that earlier generations of accountants and CFOs would barely recognize.

Another group of tools and technologies, which we group together under the umbrella term "cognitive," includes artificial intelligence, machine learning, and predictive analytics, many of which mimic (to varying degrees) how the human brain thinks.

Cognitive solutions can help companies get smarter and more efficient over time-just like humans do, only faster and more accurately. Far from esoteric, these solutions can have very practical uses. For instance, artificial intelligence and machine learning software can help organizations spot non-paying and late-paying customers pro-actively by tracking their behavior over time and flagging repeat offenders. And they can help on the payments processing side by using machine learning to recognize priority invoices, discard duplicate payments, and uncover fraudulent purchasing patterns.