Across South Africa, boardrooms are buzzing with conversations about artificial intelligence (AI), automation and digital transformation.
By Dewald Lindeque, business development director at Moyo
Budgets are being approved. Pilots are being launched. Vendors are promising exponential gains. Yet most digital initiatives are failing to deliver sustained value. The issue is not a lack of technology. It is a lack of integration between business thinking and technical thinking.
We are seeing a growing pattern in organisations: referred to in the industry as “random acts of AI”.
An executive hears about ChatGPT or predictive analytics, a competitor announces an automation project, and suddenly tools are implemented without structure, governance, or measurable return on investment. Teams chase hype. Leaders fear being left behind. Strategy takes a back seat.
The result is fragmented systems, duplicated spend and disappointing outcomes. Digital transformation is not experimentation at scale. It is structured change.
One of the defining traits of so-called “Digital Vanguard” companies, the organisations that consistently get digital right, is leadership fluency across disciplines. Business leaders understand technology well enough to ask the right questions. Technical teams understand commercial realities well enough to prioritise value.
Where that bridge does not exist, digital initiatives drift. IT builds capability without clear business alignment. Business units push for quick wins without architectural thinking.
Finance signs off budgets without full visibility of long-term impact.
This is precisely why the finance function has become central to digital transformation. Traditionally, finance has been seen as a gatekeeper.
Today, it must become a navigator. Finance professionals already operate at the intersection of capital allocation, governance, risk, and performance measurement. In a digital economy, those capabilities are strategic assets.
When digital investments are being considered, someone needs to ask: What problem are we solving? What value is expected and how will it be measured? How does the value map to strategy? What are the cyber and data risks? How does this align with regulatory and ESG requirements?
These are finance questions. At the same time, finance itself is undergoing profound change. The shift from paper to digital workflows has accelerated into real-time dashboards, predictive forecasting, and scenario modelling.
We are moving from monthly closes to continuous insight. From static reporting to decision simulation. From retrospective compliance to embedded governance by design.
That evolution demands a new skill set. Financial professionals can no longer rely solely on accounting expertise. They need digital literacy, systems thinking, data awareness and an understanding of how automation and AI reshape processes.
Without that competence, finance risks either blocking innovation unnecessarily or enabling poorly structured investments. With it, finance becomes the stabilising force that prevents organisations from disappearing down the AI rabbit hole.
Another common failure we observe is layering new tools onto outdated processes. Technology does not repair poor process design and poor governance. It simply accelerates inefficiency. If underlying workflows are unclear, if data quality is weak, or if change management is ignored, even the most advanced AI solution will struggle to deliver return.
Governance cannot be something that happens after implementation. It must be built into digital initiatives from inception. That is where finance can exert real influence. Not as a compliance afterthought, but as a strategic partner shaping design, measurement, and value creation.
Digital transformation is often misunderstood as a technology upgrade. In reality, it is a mindset shift. It requires organisations to think in systems, measure continuously, collaborate across functions and prioritise long-term value over short-term hype.
For South African businesses operating in an increasingly competitive and digitally connected global market, this is not optional. AI is no longer experimental. It is mainstream. Automation is no longer a differentiator. It is expected. The question is not whether to digitise, but how to do it responsibly and profitably.
That responsibility cannot sit with IT alone. It cannot sit with strategy teams in isolation. It must include finance.
If we want to avoid random acts of AI and the costly disappointments that follow, we need financially trained professionals who understand both balance sheets and algorithms.
People who can evaluate digital investment with rigour, interpret data ethically, take a front seat in change governance and ensure that transformation initiatives are structured, measurable, and aligned to business strategy.
In the next phase of digital maturity, the most valuable finance professionals will not simply report on performance. They will shape it. And the organisations that recognise this shift early will be the ones that turn digital ambition into sustainable advantage.