NBOA President and CEO
It’s likely that leaders at your school talk a lot about artificial intelligence, or AI — but that may be mostly on the academic side of the house. Whether or not you’ve discussed it in terms of finance and operations, it’s inevitable — and increasingly essential — that our business offices find ways to adopt AI capabilities.
As with any new technology, trepidation and learning curves are part of the package. I wager many of you remember the early days of the internet as well as I do. To determine where our business offices stand today in the rapidly evolving AI environment, I touched base with a handful of CFOs and industry experts. They discussed how AI can enhance efficiency, improve decision-making and even boost the morale of our often-overburdened business officers and staff members.
“Go for it!” is the enthusiastic reaction I got from Nancy Greene when I asked her about how business officers should approach AI. Greene, who serves as vice president of finance and operations and CFO at Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is leading the school’s AI implementation effort along with Pine Crest’s vice president of academics and strategic initiatives. Their goal is to make sure “all the bases are covered” on both the administrative and academic sides.
Greene concedes that like many CFOs, she isn’t an expert on AI, so she’s working with Kathy Ferguson and Carmel Wynkoop, partners at Armanino LLP, the accounting and consulting firm, to move forward. Together, they are charting how AI tools can eliminate redundant tasks like student billing processes, batch uploads, accounts payable, and bank and credit card reconciliations. Greene looks forward to “efficiencies that will make room for more strategic work at all staff levels and create capacity for initiatives that allow for better use of staff FTEs.” She plans to compile a list of opportunities across departments that will be evaluated based on automation costs and efficiency savings.
Starting the AI Journey
Lauren Renninger, senior manager with Armanino’s Strategy and Transformation team, leads brainstorming sessions on how business officers can best use AI. She often starts by asking schools to list their pain points. Many times, repetitive duties top that list. The solutions range from implementing a chatbot to handle common inquiries to automating a specific financial process.
Ferguson and Renninger suggest that business offices start with small, manageable projects that quickly and clearly demonstrate the value of AI. “We get them comfortable with how to use AI and find safe ways to have small wins,” Renninger explained. These inroads can build confidence and pave the way for more ambitious initiatives.
To get a sense of where business officers are generally at with AI, I contacted two longtime members: Frank Aloise, CFO at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, and Alexander Heiberger, former CFO at The Madeira School in Virginia and now CFO at University School of Nashville. Both, it turns out, are pursuing “small wins.” A couple examples: Heiberger’s business office staff has begun exploring the use of AI to improve delinquency letters to families who are behind with their tuition payments, and Aloise has used AI to draft his school’s policy on jury service.
Both CFOs recognize the potential benefits of AI, but they acknowledge they still have much to learn. “AI is peripheral to my job right now,” Aloise told me. His challenge is finding the time to explore AI’s capabilities. Heiberger doesn’t feel his business office needs to be the “test case” for AI. Instead, he’s staying informed about the successes of other, earlier-adopters of AI in the business office. “Can AI draft my monthly financial report?” Heiberger wondered. “If so, I’m here for it.” I would imagine this outlook mirrors most in the NBOA community.
With AI handling routine inquiries and tasks, business officers and staff are more available for the people who need your expertise to thrive.
Time To Explore
What may be surprising is that those capabilities are already here. AI bots can log into bank accounts, export and import data, and perform reconciliations with greater accuracy and speed, freeing up valuable time for staff to focus on strategic initiatives. With AI handling routine inquiries and tasks, business officers and staff are more available for the people who need your expertise to thrive, said Ferguson. She believes AI has the potential to shatter stereotypes around traditional perceptions of the independent school business office. Her take: “You are no longer the business office of ‘no’ because with AI, you will have time to talk about the ‘why’ of what your head, trustees and other stakeholders want to explore.”
Handing over financial tasks to a bot may sound scary. But Greene and Ferguson are confident that with strong segregation of duties in the business office, AI won’t jeopardize security. AI bots can be configured with robust security protocols, ensuring that sensitive information is protected and reducing the risk of human error or bad behavior. “A bot,” Ferguson noted, “isn’t motivated to steal from you.” If internal controls are weak, however, AI will likely not help improve the situation.
Beyond making repetitive tasks more efficient, Greene wants to use AI to provide predictive analytics. Right now, the school has a massive amount of data, but she and her staff don’t have time to distill it all and create models for strategic planning. As AI technologies evolve, though, we can expect more sophisticated data analytics capabilities. Schools will be able to harness AI to analyze those large datasets, uncovering insights that drive strategic decision-making. This could include everything from financial forecasting to identifying trends in student performance and behavior.
Shared Enthusiasm
Adding AI to the business office doesn’t necessarily mean subtracting staff. Instead, the staff of the future will know how to use AI effectively, from strategic, sustainability and efficiency standpoints. If staff members fail to harness the power of AI over time, they may be replaced, Ferguson cautioned. Instead of fearing for their jobs, Greene’s staff shares her enthusiasm about embracing AI. They understand that lightening the load and making room for new projects means their work will be less routine and more meaningful. “No one is worried about job security because I have made them part of the AI exploration process,” Greene told me.
The business office of the future — one that includes AI tools that meet a school’s unique needs — will look different from the business office of today.
Business officers can foster that same positive attitude if they invest in educating their staff about AI technologies and their potential benefits. “Emphasize that AI is a tool to augment human capabilities, not replace them,” Ferguson said. Offer workshops, webinars and brainstorming sessions, and look for help from organizations like NBOA, ATLIS (Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools), business partners with AI expertise and colleagues who have a head start on AI.
The business office of the future — one that includes AI tools that meet a school’s unique needs — will look different from the business office of today. Business offices that fail to adopt AI capabilities risk being less efficient, less strategic and less responsive. They may devote resources, be it time or money, to areas that are less mission-aligned than they could be. They also risk failing to meet the expectations of their trustees — many of whom have already adopted AI tools in the companies they lead. To recall the advice of Nancy Greene, Go for it. Look to trusted experts and colleagues for guidance and find those small wins that will lead to significant, positive advances.
Follow NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields on LinkedIn.
