Why Finance Tools Fail: It’s Not Features, It’s Adoption and AI

In the world of financial software, two words come up again and again: adoption and AI.

Every company wants to simplify expense management, automate invoice collection, and boost finance team productivity. Yet many tools fail — not because they lack features, but because real-world usage never takes off.

1. Adoption: Simplicity Comes First

Take the example of receipt scanning.

Every expense management SaaS offers it. In theory, it’s simple: snap a photo of your receipt, it’s scanned, and sent straight to accounting.

In practice, the journey is clunky:

• Download (and constantly update) a new app

• Open the app

• Navigate to the right feature on the app

• Authorize camera access

• Take the photo, wait, validate… (UX is different for every scanning app)

A repetitive and frustrating process that discourages users.

Now compare it with a more natural alternative: a simple WhatsApp forward.

• Snap the photo with your usual camera app

• Forward it to a WhatsApp number connected to your expense tool

✅ Done.

No extra app. No new interface to learn. Result: much higher adoption.

Another common case is invoices received by email.

Many SaaS tools offer an email forwarding feature:

• The user receives an email with an invoice attached

• They forward it to a dedicated address (like invoice@your-financial-saas.xyz)

On paper, it sounds simple. In reality, it requires users to remember to forward each email, use the right address (sometimes different per vendor), and stay vigilant not to miss anything. What if a co-worker already sent the invoice? Subtle friction, but real.

Now compare this with a mailbox connector installed directly in the inbox:

• The tool automatically detects invoices in attachments

• Retrieves them instantly

• Sends them straight into accounting

✅ Zero effort for the user.

The lesson? Innovation isn’t always about “more features.” It’s often about removing friction and using the channels users already know.

2. AI: A New Paradigm for Finance SaaS

The other big challenge is collecting recurring financial data.

Think of monthly SaaS invoices (Amazon, Salesforce, Notion, your phone operator…).

• Without technology: finance teams log in to each portal every month, download the invoice, then upload it into accounting.

• With “old tech”: companies build (and maintain 🫠) API connectors — if an API exists at all. Or worse, they create bots that impersonate users with stored credentials — fragile, costly, and risky.

Today, AI completely changes the game.

It enables:

• On-the-fly connector creation

• Use of credentials already stored in the browser

• Automatic download and transfer of invoices into accounting

The result?

• No complex maintenance

• No risky credential storage

• Instant automation

AI doesn’t just replace manual tasks. It allows us to reinvent entire processes that once seemed impossible or too costly to maintain.

Conclusion: Adopt, Simplify, Reinvent

Financial management doesn’t suffer from a lack of tools. It suffers from a lack of adoption and simplicity.

The key is not adding more and more features, but reducing friction for users — and reinventing processes with AI in the background.

The tools that succeed tomorrow will be the ones that can combine these two imperatives:

• Be naturally adopted by users

• While leveraging AI to transform the infrastructure of finance.