Artificial Intelligence and RPA usage and competencies in Finnish SMEs’ finance and accounting processes
Nechiporenko, Aleksandr (2022)
2022
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022061517987
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022061517987
Tiivistelmä
Artificial Intelligence and robotic process automation technologies are the current trends in various business processes, such as marketing, customer service, logistics, finance, and accounting. These technologies provide a range of benefits to their users, thus adopting AI and RPA might help to overcome the challenges the pandemic has brought to the companies, especially SMEs as they present the majority of companies. This thesis aims to discover the competencies needed to adopt AI and RPA, and the current state of their adoption in accounting and finance processes among Finnish SMEs.
The thesis was written in cooperation with a commissioning organisation that plans to enhance the digital transformation of SMEs by creating a knowledge hub where specialists and SMEs would collaborate. The results of the thesis would be used later on to provide training to SMEs that want to take the next step in digitalisation.
This thesis consists of a theoretical part and an empirical part. More precisely, the theory part contains information regarding the history of AI and RPA, the main technological drivers, the benefits and challenges of their adoption, and the effects AI and RPA would have on the workplaces in the future. Also, the theory part contains information about accounting and finance processes. The second part of this thesis focuses on mixed research, thus it contains information about population, data collection methods, and analysis methods. During this research, the author of the thesis conducted a survey with 28 questions and studied whether Finnish SMEs use AI and RPA, what are the fields of the business where they adopt it, and what are the main benefits and challenges of using these technologies.
Therefore, the author has found that Finnish SMEs are in the early stage of adoption that means not so many businesses use AI and RPA in their processes and many SMEs do not agree the use of these technologies would benefit their organisations. On the other hand, many SMEs were keen to participate in training to enhance their knowledge and skills.
The thesis was written in cooperation with a commissioning organisation that plans to enhance the digital transformation of SMEs by creating a knowledge hub where specialists and SMEs would collaborate. The results of the thesis would be used later on to provide training to SMEs that want to take the next step in digitalisation.
This thesis consists of a theoretical part and an empirical part. More precisely, the theory part contains information regarding the history of AI and RPA, the main technological drivers, the benefits and challenges of their adoption, and the effects AI and RPA would have on the workplaces in the future. Also, the theory part contains information about accounting and finance processes. The second part of this thesis focuses on mixed research, thus it contains information about population, data collection methods, and analysis methods. During this research, the author of the thesis conducted a survey with 28 questions and studied whether Finnish SMEs use AI and RPA, what are the fields of the business where they adopt it, and what are the main benefits and challenges of using these technologies.
Therefore, the author has found that Finnish SMEs are in the early stage of adoption that means not so many businesses use AI and RPA in their processes and many SMEs do not agree the use of these technologies would benefit their organisations. On the other hand, many SMEs were keen to participate in training to enhance their knowledge and skills.