From AI Talk To AI Results: A Readiness Playbook For CFOs

In 2025, AI is everywhere in finance and almost nowhere in the P&L. Around 58% of finance functions report using AI, and more than 90% of CFOs plan to increase their AI budgets, yet most organizations still struggle to move beyond pilots and experiments into scaled, measurable impact. A recent McKinsey survey shows AI use broadening while value remains concentrated in a small minority of companies, and a BCG study found that only about 5 percent of firms are actually capturing clear, quantifiable benefits from their AI investments, with 60 percent seeing little to no gain.  At the same time, many businesses are rushing into AI tools without the basics in place - clean data, integrated systems, clear controls - and two in five leaders say they feel unprepared for digital transformation at all.

This is the gap Qubittron’s AI Readiness Playbook for Finance Leaders is built to close: a practical guide that helps you understand where your finance organization really stands today, where time and budget are being burned with no ROI, what foundations you are missing, and which concrete AI use cases you can confidently move on in the next 90 days. Inside, you get a structured readiness checklist, a scoring model, and a focused action plan so that by the time you finish, you are no longer just talking about AI adoption but have a clear, finance first roadmap for turning AI from a cost center into a measurable source of value. 

From hype to hard numbers 

At Qubittron, we believe AI should serve the business, not the other way around. 

As our Managing Partner, Shubhendu Tripathi, puts it: “AI without a problem is theatre. Without ROI, it’s a waste. Real innovation starts with clarity, not code.” 

Our mission is to help CFOs turn AI from narrative into numbers - to align intelligent systems with measurable financial value. 

The Playbook isn’t another vendor pitch or tool demo. It’s a vendor-neutral guide built for finance leaders who want to: 

• Cut through the noise of trends and tools 

• Focus limited budgets on high-ROI opportunities 

• Build AI capabilities that actually show up in EBITDA, cash, and risk metrics 

We’re here to help organizations get their house in order so that any AI investment, with any vendor or internal team, delivers tangible outcomes. 

What is inside the AI Readiness Playbook 

Inside the playbook, you will find a complete but usable toolkit, built specifically for finance leaders: 

• A finance focused AI readiness framework that covers strategy, data, systems, people, governance and ROI 

• 15 readiness dimensions that break your finance function into clear, assessable areas 

• 130 plus checklist items in plain language that you can mark as Completed, In progress or Not started 

• A scoring model that turns your answers into simple readiness scores by area and overall 

• A prioritization view that surfaces where to invest first, what to park, and what to stop 

• A phased roadmap template that links your readiness gaps to concrete projects and pilots over the next 30, 60 and 90 days 

You can work through it alone, with your direct team, or as a structured exercise with your wider finance leadership. 

By the time you complete the playbook, you should have a very different level of clarity. Specifically, you will know: 

• How ready your data, ERP and core systems really are for AI, and where they are holding you back 

• Which AI use cases in finance make financial sense for you in the next 6 to 12 months, and which should wait 

• Where your biggest internal gaps are in skills, ownership, governance and controls 

• How much time and budget you are currently spending on AI activities that have weak or no ROI 

• What a realistic, CFO level AI roadmap looks like for your organization, with clear next actions and owners 

• How to talk to your CEO and board about AI in a way that is grounded in facts, trade offs and expected impact 

In short, when you finish the playbook you should move from “we need to do something with AI” to “here is what we are going to do, why it matters, and how we will know it worked.” 

If you are serious about AI in finance, you cannot afford more experiments with fuzzy outcomes. Qubittron’s AI Readiness Playbook gives you a clear view of where your finance function stands today, where time and budget are being wasted, and which AI initiatives will actually move the needle on cash, margin and risk. Use it to turn AI conversations into a focused roadmap you can execute in the next 90 days. 

Ready to move from AI talk to AI results? Download the AI Readiness Playbook for Finance Leaders.