The availability of artificial intelligence tools that investors use for research is causing CFOs to spend more time on investor relations, according to new research by Gartner.
In a survey of 146 finance chiefs, 43% of them said they spent more time preparing for earnings calls in 2025 compared to 2024. Further, at least 34% of the participants reported increases in several other measures of the volume, frequency and sensitivity of investor communications and engagements.
Additionally, companies need to meet investors’ growing AI capabilities with their own upgrades, according to Dymah Paige, director analyst for research in Gartner’s finance practice.
“It is going to become increasingly difficult for organizations to control their narrative and influence investors with manual tools alone,” Paige said. “To keep pace, CFOs should be considering private AI solutions that can help them to spend more of their time and effort on higher-impact priorities.”
While the information Gartner released publicly did not identify specific tools, some of the categories of AI tools aimed at investors include:
- Fundamental and equity research terminals, which replace the manual labor of reading annual reports, earnings call transcripts and news articles.
- Technical analysis and trading bots, which automate chart patterns and entry/exit signals.
- Portfolio management “co-pilots,” which act as digital advisers, helping investors optimize what they already own.
- Alternative data and sentiment trackers, which look at unstructured data (i.e., items not found on a balance sheet).
According to Gartner, finance teams can use the same AI capabilities that are accelerating investor research to enhance the depth of intelligence and operational efficiencies in their IR workflows.
Companies can leverage these tools off the shelf and start to deploy right away, but in private, contained and traceable environments, Paige said.
Meanwhile, Gartner’s research report delved into how companies can maximize AI-driven cost savings, underscoring a significant challenge facing CFOs: managing AI’s financial impact while capturing its strategic value.
Initial AI investments often focus on experimentation and rollout, Gartner noted. But as usage scales, costs shift toward ongoing consumption, data management and vendor dependencies.
“These costs can escalate quickly, especially when organizations lack governance or rely heavily on external providers,” Gartner wrote. “CFOs must act now to prevent AI-related expenses from undermining financial health.”
That means identifying the cost drivers that are especially volatile for AI compared to other technologies and targeting them with precision, the report said.
Three cost drivers stand out, Gartner said:
1. Pace of consumption: “As AI usage grows, so do costs. CFOs should advocate for governance tools that monitor and regulate usage.”
2. Vendor dependency: Organizations with lower AI maturity often rely on external vendors, Gartner noted. CFOs should push for transparency in pricing models and negotiate flexible terms, like rolling over credits into the next contract period.
3. Data management: Maintaining high-quality data is expensive, so CFOs “should champion federated, adaptive data governance strategies that reduce duplication and tailor standards to specific use cases.”
