Here’s the essential truth: Artificial Intelligence (AI) will fundamentally change how business is done at every level.
The impact of AI will be no less profound than that of the Internet, permanently disrupting many existing business processes and changing the nature of customer and stakeholder interactions. The productivity impact of generative AI like ChatGPT is expected to add an equivalent of $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion annually.
The only choice for businesses that want to remain viable long-term is to embrace its potential. Enthusiasm is high – according to KPMG, 65% of executives believe that generative AI will have a high or extremely high impact on their organization in the next 3-5 years, while 60% say that they are only 1-2 years away from implementing their first generative AI solution.
That said, overenthusiasm can be as pernicious as indifference. We are in the very early stages of AI adoption. The technology is still fragile and unreliable if not managed and built properly. Additionally, there are many questions surrounding privacy, security, and intellectual property issues, not to mention concerns around AI bias and “hallucinations” that need addressing. Still, they shouldn’t hold organizations back from learning all they can and preparing for the technology’s rapid evolution.
The main question remains: How do organizations begin? While it's understandable that businesses want to jump right into AI solutions, building the proper foundation that encompasses the technical and culture around AI is essential.
Here are the crucial steps organizations need to get started:
Building a culture that is passionate about AI starts at the top. It needs leaders who are passionate about AI's potential and possibilities. Senior executives must be unified in believing that it will transform their organizations at many levels and should constantly communicate their enthusiasm to employees, customers, and other stakeholders.
AI should be framed as an opportunity for everyone’s professional growth and a way to rid the workplace of mundane and repetitive tasks. Concerns about risk should be addressed with responsible use policies and guardrails.
Most importantly, leaders must constantly consider AI implementation's human aspects. This includes stressing from the outset that AI is an opportunity to enrich everyone’s work and not an excuse for reducing headcount.
While some job losses are inevitable, history has repeatedly shown that new technologies ultimately create more jobs than they eliminate. There is no reason to believe AI will be any different; the World Economic Forum has estimated that while AI will eliminate 85 million jobs globally by 2025, it will also generate 97 million new ones.
The question then becomes: How are you preparing your teams for business change and ensuring they are ready to tackle the future with AI by their side?
It’s tempting to “get to the good stuff” with AI, but starting steadily and carefully lets you better understand how AI fits within your organizational needs and future growth. Getting a handle on the technology also helps your organization acclimate to the rapid evolution of the technology.
An excellent way to start is to designate a few people from diverse parts of the organization to act as “scouts.” Their job should be to monitor different segments of the AI market that are appropriate to your business. These may include machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), computer vision, expert systems, speech recognition, robotics, and industry use cases such as AI in healthcare and finance.
Your scouts should monitor the news and technology media and report regularly to senior management on opportunities and potential potholes. Remember: AI is still at a nascent stage. While it is already capable of incredible feats, it can also be capable of problematic aspects that can cause more harm than good.
Executives looking to cultivate an organization of AI enthusiasts should invest in educating employees about the technology, its benefits, and how it can enhance their work.
Regular workshops, seminars, and training sessions can help create awareness and build interest. But these training programs shouldn’t just focus on technical knowledge and work enhancements – they also need to stress alignment with the organization's objectives and show how AI is already being put to work in other organizations.
Additionally, you must focus on introducing and expanding your team’s data literacy as they explore the applications of using AI. This encompasses the ability to read, understand, create, and communicate data as information – essential skills that will be a cornerstone in helping employees quickly grasp how, when, and where to use AI tools in a way that supports their day-to-day while also keeping security, governance, and usability in mind.
Employees must understand how their contributions to AI initiatives support the company’s goals. For example, generative AI will allow software developers to create 15 times as much code as they can today. The business benefit of that productivity boost will come not from reducing your software development workforce but from generating more software faster than your competition.
Operationalizing AI is about making it part of everyday conversations. That is best done by repetition and structures that constantly remind people of AI’s value. Organizations can start by encouraging people to experiment with some of the tools available for free or at low cost online, keeping in mind that AI is about more than just answering questions or generating text.
Employees will learn quickly enough that there are a variety of AI solutions at their fingertips. Specialized AI tools can create and edit media, design publications and presentations, assist with research, build and optimize workflows, transcribe and analyze speech, translate languages, recognize faces and objects, and write software code.
The relevance of these tools to daily operations only becomes evident when people begin to use them. Any short-term productivity hit you take from giving people the freedom to experiment will be more than made up by the innovative uses of AI they invent. Tech giants like Google, for instance, allowed their employees to spend 20% of their time on innovation activities outside their primary focus areas for over 20 years.
Don’t just keep AI adoption and usage within a few aspects of the organization. Igniting passion across multiple functions and departments can lead to surprising and successful results—one way to operationalize innovation is by setting up tiers of innovation teams. At the foundational level, employees in functional areas such as accounting and marketing meet regularly to discuss the new tools they’ve discovered and brainstorm ideas for applying AI to their work. Including a few people from outside the functional area in these sessions is a good idea to inject a fresh perspective.
The best way to encourage technology adoption is for all levels of organizational leaders to embrace and encourage the use of the new technology. With AI, it's important to stress that adopting new technology will augment skills, do away with rote and unpleasant tasks, and equip everyone with the skills they need to thrive. Beyond just encouraging the use of AI, organizations must support the education and uses of AI specific to the organization.
Organizations would do well to appoint a dedicated person or team to evaluate and review the use of AI within an organization to ensure that it is connected, secure, and appropriately used for business cases. This can help organizations avoid significant pitfalls in AI implementations, such as model siloes, inaccurate output from foundational models, and how AI operationally connects to the organization.
That way, you can ensure that AI’s benefits are felt across the entire organization while giving you insight into the requirements and gaps for each function that can be addressed.
Let’s face it: People resist change because of fear and uncertainty. The best way to encourage technology adoption is for all organizational leaders to embrace and promote the use of the new technology. With AI, it's important to stress that adopting new technology will augment skills, do away with rote and unpleasant tasks, and equip everyone with the skills they need to thrive.
Beyond just encouraging the use of AI, it is crucial that organizations support the education and uses of AI specific to the organization.
It’s critical not to pretend that disruption won’t occur or that some jobs may need to be eliminated. Stress that the company is committed to skills development and handling workforce reductions with generosity and compassion. Trust is the most important asset the leadership of any company possesses.
As you continue your AI journey and acclimate to the organizational and cultural shifts that come with it, keeping a “fail-forward” attitude is crucial. There are no bad ideas; all proposals deserve consideration, and failure is a learning process rather than a setback.
What’s next? First, organizations need to assess their data readiness, as AI relies on data for training while simultaneously being capable of solving data problems within the company. Assessing the organization's data state is critical in developing an AI plan, and many executives will find many data issues to resolve, from how data gets siloed over time to dealing with ownership issues. It’s best to start early and engage with the right people to ensure the proper infrastructure and foundations are in place.
Sparking a business passion for AI and implementing it for success can be complicated, but belief is critical to overcoming these challenges. If you believe AI will make your organization more competitive, resilient, and innovative - and if you repeatedly communicate that commitment to your people – you’re on your way to reaping the bounty AI promises to deliver.
Need answers to all your significant challenges with AI? Check out our free eBook below, “Sparking Business Passion for AI”:
Have questions about AI? Wondering how to operationalize AI successfully or solve complex problems with AI? Reach out to us! We’re happy to help. Talk to us here.
Here’s the essential truth: Artificial Intelligence (AI) will fundamentally change how business is done at every level.
The impact of AI will be no less profound than that of the Internet, permanently disrupting many existing business processes and changing the nature of customer and stakeholder interactions. The productivity impact of generative AI like ChatGPT is expected to add an equivalent of $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion annually.
The only choice for businesses that want to remain viable long-term is to embrace its potential. Enthusiasm is high – according to KPMG, 65% of executives believe that generative AI will have a high or extremely high impact on their organization in the next 3-5 years, while 60% say that they are only 1-2 years away from implementing their first generative AI solution.
That said, overenthusiasm can be as pernicious as indifference. We are in the very early stages of AI adoption. The technology is still fragile and unreliable if not managed and built properly. Additionally, there are many questions surrounding privacy, security, and intellectual property issues, not to mention concerns around AI bias and “hallucinations” that need addressing. Still, they shouldn’t hold organizations back from learning all they can and preparing for the technology’s rapid evolution.
The main question remains: How do organizations begin? While it's understandable that businesses want to jump right into AI solutions, building the proper foundation that encompasses the technical and culture around AI is essential.
Here are the crucial steps organizations need to get started:
Building a culture that is passionate about AI starts at the top. It needs leaders who are passionate about AI's potential and possibilities. Senior executives must be unified in believing that it will transform their organizations at many levels and should constantly communicate their enthusiasm to employees, customers, and other stakeholders.
AI should be framed as an opportunity for everyone’s professional growth and a way to rid the workplace of mundane and repetitive tasks. Concerns about risk should be addressed with responsible use policies and guardrails.
Most importantly, leaders must constantly consider AI implementation's human aspects. This includes stressing from the outset that AI is an opportunity to enrich everyone’s work and not an excuse for reducing headcount.
While some job losses are inevitable, history has repeatedly shown that new technologies ultimately create more jobs than they eliminate. There is no reason to believe AI will be any different; the World Economic Forum has estimated that while AI will eliminate 85 million jobs globally by 2025, it will also generate 97 million new ones.
The question then becomes: How are you preparing your teams for business change and ensuring they are ready to tackle the future with AI by their side?
It’s tempting to “get to the good stuff” with AI, but starting steadily and carefully lets you better understand how AI fits within your organizational needs and future growth. Getting a handle on the technology also helps your organization acclimate to the rapid evolution of the technology.
An excellent way to start is to designate a few people from diverse parts of the organization to act as “scouts.” Their job should be to monitor different segments of the AI market that are appropriate to your business. These may include machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), computer vision, expert systems, speech recognition, robotics, and industry use cases such as AI in healthcare and finance.
Your scouts should monitor the news and technology media and report regularly to senior management on opportunities and potential potholes. Remember: AI is still at a nascent stage. While it is already capable of incredible feats, it can also be capable of problematic aspects that can cause more harm than good.
Executives looking to cultivate an organization of AI enthusiasts should invest in educating employees about the technology, its benefits, and how it can enhance their work.
Regular workshops, seminars, and training sessions can help create awareness and build interest. But these training programs shouldn’t just focus on technical knowledge and work enhancements – they also need to stress alignment with the organization's objectives and show how AI is already being put to work in other organizations.
Additionally, you must focus on introducing and expanding your team’s data literacy as they explore the applications of using AI. This encompasses the ability to read, understand, create, and communicate data as information – essential skills that will be a cornerstone in helping employees quickly grasp how, when, and where to use AI tools in a way that supports their day-to-day while also keeping security, governance, and usability in mind.
Employees must understand how their contributions to AI initiatives support the company’s goals. For example, generative AI will allow software developers to create 15 times as much code as they can today. The business benefit of that productivity boost will come not from reducing your software development workforce but from generating more software faster than your competition.
Operationalizing AI is about making it part of everyday conversations. That is best done by repetition and structures that constantly remind people of AI’s value. Organizations can start by encouraging people to experiment with some of the tools available for free or at low cost online, keeping in mind that AI is about more than just answering questions or generating text.
Employees will learn quickly enough that there are a variety of AI solutions at their fingertips. Specialized AI tools can create and edit media, design publications and presentations, assist with research, build and optimize workflows, transcribe and analyze speech, translate languages, recognize faces and objects, and write software code.
The relevance of these tools to daily operations only becomes evident when people begin to use them. Any short-term productivity hit you take from giving people the freedom to experiment will be more than made up by the innovative uses of AI they invent. Tech giants like Google, for instance, allowed their employees to spend 20% of their time on innovation activities outside their primary focus areas for over 20 years.
Don’t just keep AI adoption and usage within a few aspects of the organization. Igniting passion across multiple functions and departments can lead to surprising and successful results—one way to operationalize innovation is by setting up tiers of innovation teams. At the foundational level, employees in functional areas such as accounting and marketing meet regularly to discuss the new tools they’ve discovered and brainstorm ideas for applying AI to their work. Including a few people from outside the functional area in these sessions is a good idea to inject a fresh perspective.
The best way to encourage technology adoption is for all levels of organizational leaders to embrace and encourage the use of the new technology. With AI, it's important to stress that adopting new technology will augment skills, do away with rote and unpleasant tasks, and equip everyone with the skills they need to thrive. Beyond just encouraging the use of AI, organizations must support the education and uses of AI specific to the organization.
Organizations would do well to appoint a dedicated person or team to evaluate and review the use of AI within an organization to ensure that it is connected, secure, and appropriately used for business cases. This can help organizations avoid significant pitfalls in AI implementations, such as model siloes, inaccurate output from foundational models, and how AI operationally connects to the organization.
That way, you can ensure that AI’s benefits are felt across the entire organization while giving you insight into the requirements and gaps for each function that can be addressed.
Let’s face it: People resist change because of fear and uncertainty. The best way to encourage technology adoption is for all organizational leaders to embrace and promote the use of the new technology. With AI, it's important to stress that adopting new technology will augment skills, do away with rote and unpleasant tasks, and equip everyone with the skills they need to thrive.
Beyond just encouraging the use of AI, it is crucial that organizations support the education and uses of AI specific to the organization.
It’s critical not to pretend that disruption won’t occur or that some jobs may need to be eliminated. Stress that the company is committed to skills development and handling workforce reductions with generosity and compassion. Trust is the most important asset the leadership of any company possesses.
As you continue your AI journey and acclimate to the organizational and cultural shifts that come with it, keeping a “fail-forward” attitude is crucial. There are no bad ideas; all proposals deserve consideration, and failure is a learning process rather than a setback.
What’s next? First, organizations need to assess their data readiness, as AI relies on data for training while simultaneously being capable of solving data problems within the company. Assessing the organization's data state is critical in developing an AI plan, and many executives will find many data issues to resolve, from how data gets siloed over time to dealing with ownership issues. It’s best to start early and engage with the right people to ensure the proper infrastructure and foundations are in place.
Sparking a business passion for AI and implementing it for success can be complicated, but belief is critical to overcoming these challenges. If you believe AI will make your organization more competitive, resilient, and innovative - and if you repeatedly communicate that commitment to your people – you’re on your way to reaping the bounty AI promises to deliver.
Need answers to all your significant challenges with AI? Check out our free eBook below, “Sparking Business Passion for AI”:
Have questions about AI? Wondering how to operationalize AI successfully or solve complex problems with AI? Reach out to us! We’re happy to help. Talk to us here.
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