Finance automation for recession resilience
If sales and marketing falter, the smart move is to put cash into automation and come out the other side a lean mean fighting machine
I’ve been reading and listening to everything I can to get my head around what’s happening in the economy. Today I give you my contribution. Why listen to me? I've steered Kelsus through two economic downturns over the past 17 years, and despite the chaos, I remain optimistic about the future.
Every time the economy goes bear shaped, leaders face the same hard choices: where to cut, where to hold, and where to actually increase investment. I've watched this cycle repeatedly—but this time around, something fascinating is happening.
Tech forward CEOs aren't just tightening belts across the board; they're strategically investing in AI-powered finance solutions. Why? Because they've recognized a critical recession strategy: automating back-office financial operations frees up capital to fuel growth engines that actually pull companies through downturns.
The Strategic Advantage Smart Companies Are Seizing
During downturns, most businesses instinctively retreat. They cut across all departments equally, including both operational expenses and growth investments. But companies that thrive through downturns take a more surgical approach:
Reallocate, don't just reduce – By investing in AI-powered finance automation, companies can dramatically lower the cost of essential but non-differentiating back-office functions. Those savings can be strategically redirected to customer acquisition and strengthening distribution channels.
Turn finance from cost center to strategic asset – Modern AI solutions don't just cut costs; they transform financial operations into a source of competitive intelligence. I was reminded of Nathan Baschez's excellent article "Execution is Exponential" when thinking about this. He describes how small improvements at each step of a process can compound into massive differences in outcomes. The same principle applies here – when finance teams get better cash forecasting, faster financial close processes, and improved decision support, the compounding effect on the business is exponentially greater than the sum of those individual improvements.
Deploy talent strategically – Instead of watching smart people leave because they’re tired of being Team Lead of Double Checking Data Entry, automation allows employees to focus on high-impact analysis and strategic activities. This isn't about reducing headcount – it's about elevating your organization’s work.
Why this Automation Wave is Different
Previous downturns brought rigid, rule-based systems—heaps of never-quite-working Excel macros and database procedures that fell over in a light breeze. Today's AI-powered solutions offer something fundamentally different.
It's the difference between navigating with a road atlas versus GPS. Both can get you to your destination, but one will have you waiting in traffic while the other can put you on a faster route and help you avoid a speeding ticket. These new finance systems AI solutions provide:
Strategic agility – Quickly redeploy resources as market conditions change.
Competitive intelligence – Reveal hidden patterns in financial data swiftly.
Faster decision cycles – Minimize lag between financial events and leadership awareness.
Operational resilience – Reduce dependency on specialized knowledge vulnerable to layoffs.
Where Leaders Are Focusing Their Investments
Having built finance solutions across a wide range of companies, I've observed these strategic priorities:
Cash Flow Intelligence – Beyond basic forecasting, these systems answer specific, high-value questions like "How will hiring Kelsus impact our cash flows?” or “At what point will this investment start to pay off?”
Resource Optimization – Companies are using AI to identify which customers, products, and processes are truly profitable versus those that just take up organizational cognitive load. Surprisingly, many supposed "key accounts" prove unprofitable upon deeper analysis.
Accelerated Financial Closing – By automating reconciliations and preparation tasks, monthly books can now be closed in days rather than weeks, giving leadership teams faster access to the financial insights needed to navigate uncertain markets. We once worked with a client that had paid millions for canceled subscriptions because their manual reconciliation process missed the details in vendor invoices—a costly oversight that automated reconciliation would have caught immediately and prevented entirely.
Decision Support Augmentation – Advanced systems proactively highlight anomalies, suggest optimizations, and quantify risks and rewards. It's like having analysts available 24/7 without additional overhead.
Why This Matters Now
In economic uncertainty, companies face competing priorities: cut costs while improving visibility and planning capabilities. Traditional approaches force painful tradeoffs, but AI-powered finance solutions offer a smarter path.
The strategic advantage is clear: by automating back-office financial operations, you free up capital to fuel growth engines – finding new customers and strengthening distribution channels. This resource reallocation often separates companies that merely survive downturns from those that emerge stronger.
At Kelsus, we've seen this firsthand. For example, we've automated nearly 40% of contract evaluations against invoices for a PE-owned client with $2 billion in revenue. Elsewhere, we're working towards automating every step of a complex business process for financing personal injury cases.
So while broader tech spending may be under pressure, don't be surprised to see continued investment in AI-powered finance solutions. Then when this cloud passes, and sales and marketing engines light back up, the companies that put in the work on the back end are going to emerge indomitable.
What is your company doing to brace for the storm?
Thanks for reading.
—Jon Christensen