In today's edition:

• Guides & How-Tos - How to create a Finance Business Partner Mentor GPT + FREE GPT & AI Bot Database

• Expert Resources - Microsoft Copilot for Power Automate is a game-changer | CFOTech Creator Spotlight - Wouter Born

• Tech tools & updates - Apps to take back your time, generate business plans and pick the right wine | Google Gemini UPDATE

PLUS - ‘Prompt of Week’ & ‘Best Bot’ recommendations

Guides & How-tos

How to create a Finance Business Partner Mentor GPT

It’s been a few weeks since OpenAI released GPTs (they’re super cool by the way)

I’ve been experimenting with them, and you can see the full video tutorial on how I created a Finance Business Partner Mentor here.

What are GPTs though?

They’re agents with a defined purpose that can help you with specific tasks and objectives.

So, the purpose of my ‘Finance Business Partner Mentor’ GPT is to coach Finance Pros to become better business partners by giving guidance on how to build influence and leverage soft skills.

Key points from tutorial:

1. Building Process: The process involves using a builder interface in ChatGPT Pro, where we input specific requirements for the GPT. This includes defining the GPT's focus areas such a soft skills like critical thinking.

2. Defining Personality and Communication Style: You can define the GPT's personality traits and communication style, choosing between options like formal and authoritative or friendly and encouraging.

3. Providing Examples for Better Customization: To ensure the GPT behaves as envisioned, you can input example questions and prompts. Examples include guidance on speaking with operations teams, delivering effective presentations to non-finance professionals, and improving emotional intelligence.

4. Testing and Refining the GPT: After setting up the initial parameters, you can test it with pre-suggested questions to evaluate its responses. You can refine the GPT's behavior and instructions based on these tests.

5. Uploading Files for Enhanced Training: You can upload additional files, like ebooks, to further train the GPT. However, the effectiveness of this feature is a bit hit and miss right now.

Previously, the closest we could get to these was custom instructions (available in the free version), but they’re a pain as you need to update custom instructions manually for different types of task.

Free alternative to create your own AI bots

Poe is still available as a free alternative to GPTs and you can find my previous post with instructions on how to use it here.

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Expert Resources

Copilot for Power Automate is a Game-Changer

So I think it’s fair to say that Microsoft are on a mission to rule the world! They appear to be building Copilots (powered by GPT-4) into everything!

Copilot for Power Automate is one that I’m getting really excited about. Similar to using ChatGPT to build workflows in Zapier, you can now build within your office environment.

Examples:

- Automate notification triggers across apps
- Automate routine recurring task creation
- Automate data transfer between apps

The power of pure creation enabled by AI.

If you can think it, you can make it.

Also watch out for:

- Microsoft Dynamics Copilot
- Microsoft security Copilot
- Microsoft GitHub Copilot
- Microsoft 365 Copilot

You can check out my previous guide on automating with Zapier here.

Creator Spotlight

Wouter is a massive advocate of CFOTech, and his company, Born Capital provides investment to companies breaking new ground in this space. He’s one of the few that actually specialise in CFOTech investments specifically.

It’s his company that is behind Puzzle’s (the AI accouting platform) recent investment mentioned in my last newsletter.

He was on the podcast a while back, and here are some of the highlights from our conversation.

1. AI and Finance Transformation: Wouter Born, a leader in finance transformation software, discusses the role of AI in transforming the CFO's office. He emphasizes the shift from pure automation to adding strategic value through technology.

2. Adoption of AI Tools in Business: The conversation explores how businesses are integrating AI tools like ChatGPT for tasks such as language processing and predictions. Born highlights the importance of AI in areas like predictions, forecasting, and human-style communication.

3. Strategic Investing in Solutions: The podcast discusses criteria for investing in data-driven tools, operational solutions, and FP&A solutions. Quick time-to-value and strategic value are considered crucial.

4. Future of Financial Reporting and FP&A Systems: Born talks about the potential of AI and automation in financial operations, particularly in FP&A systems, which provide a forward-looking view of an organization.

5. Human Skills in Decision Making: The discussion delves into the human side of financial operations, including the potential of scenario modeling with data and the role of CFO tech tools beyond the CFO's office.

6. Tech Tools for Parents: The podcast briefly touches on tools like Google Family Link, which helps parents regulate their children's technology use.

7. Innovative Companies and Tools: Born mentions several innovative companies and tools in the finance and accounting space, such as Glean AI (invoice recognition and cost-saving recommendations), OnPlan (FP&A solution within Google Sheets), and Bedrock AI (scans financial filings for red flags using large language models).

8. Challenges in Benchmarking: The podcast addresses the challenges of benchmarking due to different businesses and accounting roles, and how the market is maturing to provide more transparency and optimization.

9. Personal Productivity Tools: Born shares his preference for Android's personalized news feed and recommends Google Family Link for parents managing their children's device usage.

Check out the full discussion here on YouTube. And on this Podlink for audio (Episode 024)

More from Wouter

• 8 ways CFOs can fix FP&A - Link

• The traditional CFO stack is broken - Link

• 5 things CFOs can learn from Charlie Munger - Link

• A good CFO and a great (high-tech) CFO are not the same - Link

Tech Tools & Updates

Tools

Here’s some tools to get your teeth stuck into.

1. Sixty - Take back your time - Link here

2. Venturekit - AI generated business plan template - Link here

3. GrapeGPT [Fun] - Personal sommelier in your pocket- Link here

Updates

As some of you may know, I have an issue with Bard. OpenAI showed me the light, and I haven’t been able to go back since.

BUT - The new Gemini model shows promise…

It does seem to be a lot more capable, but as to whether it lives up to the ‘stats’ of outperforming ChatGPT remains to be seen. I’m excited for their ‘Ultra’ model due to be released next year. That’s where I think things could become really interesting.

Prompt of the week

This week’s prompt of the week goes to Lynne Titley (and it’s not just because she posted bout my Podcast)

The Prompt

"You are a Finance Manager for a [Company that does XYZ]. Write a one page report for the Board outlining how the Autumn Statement could affect the financial performance and position of the business in the next year and beyond. Make it as specific to your business as possible. Use language that non-finance professionals will understand. Include recommendations for measures that could be taken to mitigate any negative impacts and capitalise on any opportunities offered by the Autumn Statement."

Lynne then followed up with a second parter:

Best Bot

[NOTE - I am not affiliated with any of the tools in this e-mail.]

So that’s it for this week.

Until Next Time

Adam
—

P.S - The best thing you can do to help me is share this with a fellow finance professional, so please link / forward where you can 🙏

P.P.S - Don’t forget to check out the AI in Finance Club. I am both an affiliate and expert member, and can’t wait for you to join us!