- Artificial Intelligence
- Written By Harriet Kotvics
How Davidson Hospitality Saved 80% of Finance Team Time with AI, Automation
16-Apr-2025 . 3 min read
Davidson Hospitality Group has advanced its digital transformation by implementing AI and automation in its finance function. Partnering with Centelli, the group optimized its reconciliation process, ensuring all financial records are accurate and consistent.
With simplified, streamlined process, Davidson’s accounting team can focus on strategic tasks, boosting productivity and enabling better insights that drive organizational growth.
Importantly, this digital transformation also aligns with the company’s goal of integrating advanced technologies to enhance service offerings and operational efficiency.
The Challenge
Notably, Davidson Hospitality manages over 200 hotels, resorts, and restaurants. And it faced the challenge of reconciling financial data from multiple sources on a daily basis. The key ineffeincies included:
- Traditionally, its team of ten accountants spent around 80–85% of their time manually reconciling this data.
- This monotonous and error-prone process often resulted in outdated business insights.
So, these manual reconciliations, performed via older systems accessed through Remote Desktop, drained valuable time. Consequently, it limited the team’s capacity to drive business performance.
How Finance Automation Makes a Difference
Centelli’s solution introduced a Digital Worker (DW) designed to emulate human actions on a computer system. It manages tasks like logging into various applications, downloading data from banks, and processing it.
Here’s a closer look at what the Digital Worker does:
1. Logins and Data Downloads: The Digital Worker bot securely logs into banking applications and downloads transaction data Then it starts the reconciliation process without human intervention.
2. Intelligent Data Matching: The specialized bot uses a central mapping spreadsheet to efficiently match transactions, interpreting naming inconsistencies and adapting to new data over time.
3. Seamless Integration with Active Systems: Despite the challenges posed by older systems, the Digital Worker adapts easily, ensuring continuous, accurate processing across multiple accounts.
Real-World Financial Impact and Benefits of AI and Automation
Significantly, the benefits of Centelli’s finance automation for Davidson Hospitality are transformative. If the numbers could speak!
- Time Efficiency: By automating up to 80% of the reconciliation workload translates to roughly 700 reconciliations per night. This frees their accountants to concentrate on more strategic initiatives.
- Enhanced Accuracy: It checks over 250 validation criteria in every run, ensuring reliable and up-to-date financial data.
- Scalability in Design: Using this scalable design easily accommodates expansion from five banks to a robust network of 80 with minimal further training.
We all love our Digital colleague. While we are at home each night, they are working away doing what was the most time-consuming part of my day—reconciliations. This transformative shift empowers our staff to focus on high-impact activities that enhance their skills and drive exceptional business performance!
— Kyla Lawson, Senior Corporate Accountant
Why You Should Care
Because this AI solution is not just an automation tool; it’s a strategic asset that enhances operational efficiency! For Davidson, this technology allows accountants to move away from monotonous tasks and focus on insights that drive the business forward.
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You can also empower your finance team and achieve seamless reconciliations with Centelli’s innovative approach. Interested?
