Given the seemingly infinite number of providers and solutions available to clients, it’s difficult to know what to look for when choosing the right partner for their business. There is no shortage of large, well-known consultancies in the strategy and technology space that will guarantee you results in exchange for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars. Many will no doubt offer bundled product suites with dramatic branding that tout a proprietary mix of technologies and a visionary way of thinking. Sounds familiar, right?
A quick Google search will yield plenty of consultant-written articles on the best way to approach a problem and the technology solution that solves it out-right. Let us take a different approach. I would argue, on balance, most consultancies can solve your problem to a relative degree of success. I may get a talking-to for saying that but, we’re all smart, we all have access to the same technology, we all use the same math and we all read the same reports from HBR and Forrester.
“So, why not just choose lowest cost or biggest brand? Either of those choices will satisfy my board in some way, all else being equal.” Be wary, here be dragons. I see an unequal distribution in terms of effectiveness against cost and productization. The providers on the extremes of this spectrum will likely have the poorest results, or at best results that amount to average or “good enough.” But that’s not what we’re going for, are we? The outliers will provide the most value, at least in the short to medium term of the AI revolution. These providers will think through the most pressing concerns in the landscape today and offer you solutions that address these concerns while satisfying your business’ unique needs, the permutations of which are not appropriately addressed with a one-size-fits-all tech stack.
Let’s explore what I consider to be the primary considerations when choosing a partner in the AI, technology, and measurement space that you may not have heard.
Naturally. I know, this seems easy, but stay with me. I don’t mean the initial price for the project. This might include strategy consulting, road-mapping, integrations, measurement, etc. The thinking parts aren’t as dangerous, despite many being outdated or duplicative, but if your chosen partner recommends implementing a technology suite, especially if they are incentivized to do so, don’t be surprised to see these costs rise over time. If you choose the black box, you and your business are now captive to whatever solution is put in place. If your partner has a bad year and wants to expand margins, you may be the one footing that bill in their next fiscal or when it comes time to renew. There might be a shiny new add-on or update that just MUST be implemented for your solution to work properly or maintain effectiveness. The initial outlay required, while significant, will likely be explained with a healthy projected return, increased efficiency, and bringing your business closer to best practice. The ongoing expense, however, will eat into that return and provide you with a harder conversation to have with the C-Suite and the Board.
Don’t just think about if the initial cost fits in your budget, think about how this solution may cost you down the road.
Your knowledge of the solution, or lack thereof, is of significant concern. After all, if you were a prudent, cost-conscious executive, wouldn’t you wonder, “Why not just hire the consultant that ran this project? Then we don’t have to pay consultants AND an SVP!” If you are uneducated when it comes to how your solution really works - its component parts, its dependencies, its advantages and flaws – you are at risk of being left behind.
A lack of detailed understanding of the technologies and processes involved also presents a challenge when you have to adapt. And trust me, you will have to. The AI Services space is changing so rapidly that any solution put in place today is at risk of being obsolete in five years, probably less. If someone tells you differently, run.
This points to another requisite skill for any leader in business today: AI Literacy. Tantamount to some sort of moral duty, upskilling yourself and your organization in artificial intelligence is of extreme importance. You don’t need a PHd (that’s what Blend is here for), but you do need to make sure you’re on top of emerging trends and how AI will shape your organization and your organization’s people. This responsibility is not to be taken lightly. Refusing to do so is a disservice to yourself and to those in your charge. I will steal from Scott Galloway and say AI will not take your job, but someone who knows about AI will. Dismissing AI literacy as unimportant for you and your people is the equivalent of leading your proverbial lambs to slaughter.
Be sure you are intimately involved in the design process of your solution, and everything is pressure tested against one question: Does the design of this solution best suit my business and ultimately help my customers?
Do you own the solution that’s being built for you? I mean really own it. You will be told that you do and that the solution is uniquely designed to fit businesses just like yours perfectly. Look past the consultant selling you something. The grouping of technologies they sold you with a fun brand name may be proprietary, but I can almost guarantee you the individual underlying technologies are not, and they are certainly not without risk. What if your measurement component doesn’t evolve fast enough when another privacy revolution happens? What if the GenAI engine slows down because the underlying provider went public and wants to post a good quarter? What if one of the technologies in your suite becomes a laggard, or worse, obsolete?
You may say that risk exists if you were to choose that tech on its own as well, which is true, but you have more control in that scenario. Your agreement may have out-clauses based on vendor performance or the freedom to rachet up or down as you see fit. You want to be the one moving pieces on your chess board, you don’t want someone else to do it for you.
In short, there’s lots of landmines here. Tread carefully and ensure the solution you implement is wholly YOURS, not theirs.
Businesses and the humans that comprise them are biased and not immune to incentive. These incentives usually face inward; sales, utilization rates, margin... the list goes on. Take the example of a consultancy that just invested a small fortune in creating a new “proprietary” product suite with branding, partnership agreements, training, resource allocation, etc. Even the consultants will tell you they’ll need a return and it is more than likely that that return will come from your pocket.
You’ll be guided along a path to maximum usage of their solution, whether or not all of that juice is worth the squeeze for your business. Perhaps a new technology comes to market that dwarfs any existing player or just happens to do what current major players do at a lower cost. Well, it would make sense to consider altering your solution or subbing in this new technology.
In so many words, you’ll be told you don’t need that new thing, which indeed you may not. However, having the freedom to consider it is the very essence of crafting a solution that best fits your business.
Any consultancy worth your time and money should provide thoughtful direction on how a solution in this space will work within your current operating model and how it will adapt for a future model that is yet to be determined. This is connected to what we explored in the Transparency section of this piece, however, the concept of future operational fit is more robust and deserves its own section, perhaps even an entire blog post. I will do my best to summarize.
AI will change how the world works, we just don’t know exactly how it will change yet. The effects of AI will therefore change how organizations operate and structure themselves over time. It is tempting to think “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” when it comes to operational design, but I would caution you to thoroughly consider the possibilities and make sure the partner you choose is doing the same.
There are several areas you and your chosen partner should think through as it pertains to whatever solution you’re building. First is talent. Do you have the right people in the building with the right skillsets to effectively operate and maintain your solution or is there at least a plan in place for your organization to get there? A solution without the right people to optimize and build on it is of little use in an ever-changing world.
Secondly, your solution should consider how it will affect current workflows. Will your AI completely automate a group of tasks being performed or is it more of an augmentation? Does that augmentation fit within current process or is there training required, process rebuilds, evangelization, etc.? This leads to the theme of flexibility. The more you can adopt flexibility both in AI solutions and in your company or department culture itself, the better you will be positioned for the future.
Lastly, but just as importantly, consider ethics. It is rare that an evolution as impactful as AI comes along in the business world that causes us to really think about its potential impact on others. We are already seeing bad actors scamming companies out of millions with AI deep fakes and the like so there is evidence that AI can cause harm. Any company you align yourself with should be holding their solutions to the highest ethical standards.
This is not just a moral dilemma, there are distinct business implications. As of last year, the U.S. has passed 23 laws related to artificial intelligence1. There will be more and, despite our best guesses, there isn’t a clear and certain understanding of what future laws will restrict. Your solution should take this murkiness into account and be able to adapt to legislative environments across geographies.
Fitting a solution into current operating models is the relatively easy lift and one that joins nicely with a productized solution to solve business problems. Looking to the future is the harder task since those operating models are still to be determined and require serious thought. Working with consultancies that are actually doing the hard work of considering AI’s impact on the future of work will give you an advantage as the world evolves.
In summary, beware of any solution that uses the word “proprietary” combined with a fancy brand name. Groups of technology and partnership agreements are not novel approaches to your problem. They are packaged, mass-produced widgets designed to make them easy to sell, as opposed to a truly bespoke solution, thoughtfully designed to support your business and malleable enough to respond to change. Truly understand the solution being implemented and ensure you own it outright. Limit bias as best as possible and always hold yourself and your work to the highest ethical standards. Do not become beholden to a solution that may help your business now but hamstrings your ability to evolve to an ever-changing marketplace in the future.
Given the seemingly infinite number of providers and solutions available to clients, it’s difficult to know what to look for when choosing the right partner for their business. There is no shortage of large, well-known consultancies in the strategy and technology space that will guarantee you results in exchange for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars. Many will no doubt offer bundled product suites with dramatic branding that tout a proprietary mix of technologies and a visionary way of thinking. Sounds familiar, right?
A quick Google search will yield plenty of consultant-written articles on the best way to approach a problem and the technology solution that solves it out-right. Let us take a different approach. I would argue, on balance, most consultancies can solve your problem to a relative degree of success. I may get a talking-to for saying that but, we’re all smart, we all have access to the same technology, we all use the same math and we all read the same reports from HBR and Forrester.
“So, why not just choose lowest cost or biggest brand? Either of those choices will satisfy my board in some way, all else being equal.” Be wary, here be dragons. I see an unequal distribution in terms of effectiveness against cost and productization. The providers on the extremes of this spectrum will likely have the poorest results, or at best results that amount to average or “good enough.” But that’s not what we’re going for, are we? The outliers will provide the most value, at least in the short to medium term of the AI revolution. These providers will think through the most pressing concerns in the landscape today and offer you solutions that address these concerns while satisfying your business’ unique needs, the permutations of which are not appropriately addressed with a one-size-fits-all tech stack.
Let’s explore what I consider to be the primary considerations when choosing a partner in the AI, technology, and measurement space that you may not have heard.
Naturally. I know, this seems easy, but stay with me. I don’t mean the initial price for the project. This might include strategy consulting, road-mapping, integrations, measurement, etc. The thinking parts aren’t as dangerous, despite many being outdated or duplicative, but if your chosen partner recommends implementing a technology suite, especially if they are incentivized to do so, don’t be surprised to see these costs rise over time. If you choose the black box, you and your business are now captive to whatever solution is put in place. If your partner has a bad year and wants to expand margins, you may be the one footing that bill in their next fiscal or when it comes time to renew. There might be a shiny new add-on or update that just MUST be implemented for your solution to work properly or maintain effectiveness. The initial outlay required, while significant, will likely be explained with a healthy projected return, increased efficiency, and bringing your business closer to best practice. The ongoing expense, however, will eat into that return and provide you with a harder conversation to have with the C-Suite and the Board.
Don’t just think about if the initial cost fits in your budget, think about how this solution may cost you down the road.
Your knowledge of the solution, or lack thereof, is of significant concern. After all, if you were a prudent, cost-conscious executive, wouldn’t you wonder, “Why not just hire the consultant that ran this project? Then we don’t have to pay consultants AND an SVP!” If you are uneducated when it comes to how your solution really works - its component parts, its dependencies, its advantages and flaws – you are at risk of being left behind.
A lack of detailed understanding of the technologies and processes involved also presents a challenge when you have to adapt. And trust me, you will have to. The AI Services space is changing so rapidly that any solution put in place today is at risk of being obsolete in five years, probably less. If someone tells you differently, run.
This points to another requisite skill for any leader in business today: AI Literacy. Tantamount to some sort of moral duty, upskilling yourself and your organization in artificial intelligence is of extreme importance. You don’t need a PHd (that’s what Blend is here for), but you do need to make sure you’re on top of emerging trends and how AI will shape your organization and your organization’s people. This responsibility is not to be taken lightly. Refusing to do so is a disservice to yourself and to those in your charge. I will steal from Scott Galloway and say AI will not take your job, but someone who knows about AI will. Dismissing AI literacy as unimportant for you and your people is the equivalent of leading your proverbial lambs to slaughter.
Be sure you are intimately involved in the design process of your solution, and everything is pressure tested against one question: Does the design of this solution best suit my business and ultimately help my customers?
Do you own the solution that’s being built for you? I mean really own it. You will be told that you do and that the solution is uniquely designed to fit businesses just like yours perfectly. Look past the consultant selling you something. The grouping of technologies they sold you with a fun brand name may be proprietary, but I can almost guarantee you the individual underlying technologies are not, and they are certainly not without risk. What if your measurement component doesn’t evolve fast enough when another privacy revolution happens? What if the GenAI engine slows down because the underlying provider went public and wants to post a good quarter? What if one of the technologies in your suite becomes a laggard, or worse, obsolete?
You may say that risk exists if you were to choose that tech on its own as well, which is true, but you have more control in that scenario. Your agreement may have out-clauses based on vendor performance or the freedom to rachet up or down as you see fit. You want to be the one moving pieces on your chess board, you don’t want someone else to do it for you.
In short, there’s lots of landmines here. Tread carefully and ensure the solution you implement is wholly YOURS, not theirs.
Businesses and the humans that comprise them are biased and not immune to incentive. These incentives usually face inward; sales, utilization rates, margin... the list goes on. Take the example of a consultancy that just invested a small fortune in creating a new “proprietary” product suite with branding, partnership agreements, training, resource allocation, etc. Even the consultants will tell you they’ll need a return and it is more than likely that that return will come from your pocket.
You’ll be guided along a path to maximum usage of their solution, whether or not all of that juice is worth the squeeze for your business. Perhaps a new technology comes to market that dwarfs any existing player or just happens to do what current major players do at a lower cost. Well, it would make sense to consider altering your solution or subbing in this new technology.
In so many words, you’ll be told you don’t need that new thing, which indeed you may not. However, having the freedom to consider it is the very essence of crafting a solution that best fits your business.
Any consultancy worth your time and money should provide thoughtful direction on how a solution in this space will work within your current operating model and how it will adapt for a future model that is yet to be determined. This is connected to what we explored in the Transparency section of this piece, however, the concept of future operational fit is more robust and deserves its own section, perhaps even an entire blog post. I will do my best to summarize.
AI will change how the world works, we just don’t know exactly how it will change yet. The effects of AI will therefore change how organizations operate and structure themselves over time. It is tempting to think “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” when it comes to operational design, but I would caution you to thoroughly consider the possibilities and make sure the partner you choose is doing the same.
There are several areas you and your chosen partner should think through as it pertains to whatever solution you’re building. First is talent. Do you have the right people in the building with the right skillsets to effectively operate and maintain your solution or is there at least a plan in place for your organization to get there? A solution without the right people to optimize and build on it is of little use in an ever-changing world.
Secondly, your solution should consider how it will affect current workflows. Will your AI completely automate a group of tasks being performed or is it more of an augmentation? Does that augmentation fit within current process or is there training required, process rebuilds, evangelization, etc.? This leads to the theme of flexibility. The more you can adopt flexibility both in AI solutions and in your company or department culture itself, the better you will be positioned for the future.
Lastly, but just as importantly, consider ethics. It is rare that an evolution as impactful as AI comes along in the business world that causes us to really think about its potential impact on others. We are already seeing bad actors scamming companies out of millions with AI deep fakes and the like so there is evidence that AI can cause harm. Any company you align yourself with should be holding their solutions to the highest ethical standards.
This is not just a moral dilemma, there are distinct business implications. As of last year, the U.S. has passed 23 laws related to artificial intelligence1. There will be more and, despite our best guesses, there isn’t a clear and certain understanding of what future laws will restrict. Your solution should take this murkiness into account and be able to adapt to legislative environments across geographies.
Fitting a solution into current operating models is the relatively easy lift and one that joins nicely with a productized solution to solve business problems. Looking to the future is the harder task since those operating models are still to be determined and require serious thought. Working with consultancies that are actually doing the hard work of considering AI’s impact on the future of work will give you an advantage as the world evolves.
In summary, beware of any solution that uses the word “proprietary” combined with a fancy brand name. Groups of technology and partnership agreements are not novel approaches to your problem. They are packaged, mass-produced widgets designed to make them easy to sell, as opposed to a truly bespoke solution, thoughtfully designed to support your business and malleable enough to respond to change. Truly understand the solution being implemented and ensure you own it outright. Limit bias as best as possible and always hold yourself and your work to the highest ethical standards. Do not become beholden to a solution that may help your business now but hamstrings your ability to evolve to an ever-changing marketplace in the future.
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