The AI business case: Real value or false promise? | Edinburgh

Join us for an insightful and highly practical evening seminar with Rebecca Hastings, Partner at Owendale Advisory and a leading expert in AI strategy, organisational design, and transformation.

As organisations across all sectors accelerate their use of AI to cut costs and fuel growth, finance professionals, especially management accountants, are increasingly asked to assess, validate, or challenge AI‑driven business cases. But with ambition often outpacing financial clarity, how do you know whether the numbers truly stack up?

In this interactive session, Rebecca will cut through the hype, sharing real‑world examples of where AI value is genuinely achievable, and where projections typically become overstated. You’ll gain tools to evaluate business cases confidently, challenge assumptions constructively, and support your organisation in building AI strategies grounded in credible, bankable value.

Rebecca Hastings is a Partner at Owendale Advisory, where she advises CEOs and boards on how AI will reshape operating models, workforce design, and governance. She specialises in complex and highly regulated sectors, including financial services, utilities, energy, and the public sector.

With more than fifteen years’ experience at the intersection of AI, technology, and organisational transformation, Rebecca helps organisations build AI strategies rooted in real business problems and clear financial logic. She works with leaders to:

• Stress‑test assumptions
• Separate genuine value from optimistic projections
• Design the organisational conditions needed for AI to deliver at scale

Her background spans accountancy, leadership, AI ethics, and FinTech, and she works with organisations across Scotland, the wider UK, and internationally.

By the end of the session, you will be able to:

• Recognise where AI business cases commonly overstate value
• Apply a practical framework for challenging AI business cases
• Distinguish credible, bankable value from optimistic projection

This seminar is perfect for CIMA Members, Students, and finance professionals looking to deepen their understanding of AI’s real financial implications. Whether you’re assessing proposals, shaping AI strategy, or simply wanting to stay ahead of the curve, you’ll leave with immediately useful insights.

The evening will finish with time to network, connect, and share experiences with fellow professionals who are keen to understand the opportunities - and realities - of AI.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher AICPA & CIMA