Rohini Jain, CFO of business payments platform Bill, shares her perspective on how artificial intelligence is reshaping finance, the future of cross-border payments, and the challenges facing small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) in today’s economic landscape.

BCI: How is AI changing finance?

Rohini Jain: I’ve spent more than 20 years in finance, and early in my career, the role was largely focused on bookkeeping—balancing the books and ensuring the numbers were accurate. Over time, it evolved into a more strategic function, supporting decision-making for the CEO and business teams.

Today, finance sits at the center of everything. It’s not just about shaping strategy anymore- it’s about executing it, driving accountability, and building long-term roadmaps. Finance is truly at the core of running a business. Outside of the CEO, the CFO is the only leader with visibility across every function. AI has become an incredible partner in that role, enabling us to accomplish far more, much faster.

BCI: Is AI expanding opportunities for diverse leadership?

Jain: For people who are open to learning, AI provides an incredible set of tools to quickly build new skills and grow into larger roles. It lowers barriers for those willing to take on bigger challenges. Traditional education pathways are no longer as critical as they once were.

Speaking personally, as a woman balancing family responsibilities- I want to be present for my kids, my husband, and my home while also pursuing a strong career—time is always limited. I may not always have the opportunity to learn in structured settings. AI allows people in situations like mine to learn quickly and accelerate their professional growth.

BCI: Bill serves SMBs. How are they using AI?

Jain: When we think about delivering AI solutions to SMBs, we focus on reducing friction—where managing a business is still unnecessarily difficult.

For example, AI can create a modern, seamless experience by pulling together vendor history, payment patterns, and other data points. It simplifies tasks for business owners who don’t want to spend time on administrative work. The key is integrating data across systems and that’s where Bill plays a critical role.

BCI: Are there areas where AI performs better than humans?

Jain: The AI models we’re building can significantly simplify workflows. Imagine running your business and having a bill that’s typically due in the second week of every month. An AI agent can monitor that and prompt you: “It looks like this bill hasn’t been paid yet—would you like me to take care of it?”

It can also recommend the best payment method say, a specific credit card that maximizes rewards or suggest delaying payment by a few days to optimize cash flow. These decisions involve many variables, and AI is often better equipped than humans to process them all simultaneously.

BCI: What AI risks concern you most?

Jain: Many of the concerns are shared broadly. Looking ahead to 2030 and beyond, it’s unclear where this all leads. How will economies evolve when individual productivity increases so dramatically? How do we ensure we capture AI’s benefits while maintaining healthy employment levels and broad-based prosperity?

There’s also the risk of widening economic inequality, where control of wealth becomes even more concentrated. And frankly, we’re dealing with unknowns. Regulation is still catching up, and it’s difficult to put the right controls in place. That said, if we approach AI thoughtfully and regulation evolves alongside it, I believe the positives will outweigh the negatives.

BCI: Let’s talk about blockchain. How could it change payments?

Jain: Blockchain has enormous potential, though its adoption may not match the pace we’re seeing with AI. Its use cases today are more targeted.

One major opportunity is in cross-border transactions, which are often expensive, slow, and complex. Blockchain, especially through stable coins can significantly reduce transaction costs and friction. It can also facilitate trade in less commonly used currencies by increasing trust and accessibility.

BCI: What are the advantages of stablecoins over the U.S. dollar?

Jain: There are trade-offs. One advantage of stablecoins is flexibility, partly because they operate in a less regulated environment. That can be beneficial in certain contexts, though it also comes with its own risks.

BCI: How are tariffs and current economic conditions affecting SMBs?

Jain: Several factors are impacting SMBs right now. First is consumer demand- how willing people are to spend. Second is tariffs. While there was a long period of uncertainty, tariffs are now more defined, and businesses are starting to feel the impact in their cost structures.

What’s interesting is that not all of these costs are being passed on to consumers, especially by large enterprises, which are better positioned to absorb them. SMBs, however, often have to shoulder a portion of these costs, which directly affects their margins and limits their ability to invest elsewhere.

BCI: Are there any positive signals in the economy?

Jain: I’m hopeful SMBs will see some relief from a cash flow standpoint. Certain tax deductions and policy measures could help put more money back into their businesses.

What SMBs really need from fintech providers is simplicity—tools that streamline operations and help them make smarter financial decisions to optimize cash flow.

BCI: How do you compete with large banks entering your space?

Jain: SMBs are looking for integrated solutions. They don’t want to work with multiple providers for different services—it creates fragmented data, operational complexity, and unnecessary costs.

At Bill, integration has been a core strategy. Our early embedded solutions with financial institutions helped us deeply understand customer needs. While banks excel at payments, they’re not always as strong in delivering intuitive, user-friendly software that adds real business value. That’s where we’ve seen strong success through our embedded partnerships.

BCI: Where do you see growth opportunities?

Jain: One key focus is our Embed 2.0 strategy. We’re building on what we learned from our initial embedded offerings and expanding partnerships more broadly.

For example, our recent partnership with Paychex allows customers to seamlessly access Bill’s services within a platform they already use. We’re also preparing to announce another Fortune 500 partnership, which will expand our reach into upper SMB and lower mid-market segments.

BCI: How are you approaching M&A opportunities?

Jain: I recently read that, at best, only about 50% of M&A deals succeed. So the key question becomes: do you build, buy, or partner?

Historically, companies focused on build or buy. Now, partnership is an increasingly important third option. M&A can be a powerful way to acquire talent, but you need absolute clarity on the purpose. It must align culturally and strategically with your organization.

Large-scale M&A carries significant risk, so there has to be a very compelling reason to pursue it.

Website: https://www.bill.com/