Enterprise AI Strategy – What Executives need to know

About every 5 years, a new technology paradigm is introduced and it changes everything.  It was true of Antibiotics, Airline Travel, the Internet, Mobility, Cloud Computing and most recently Machine Learning and AI.  Executives that are passionate about using technology to accelerate their productivity, growth and market positioning need to formalize a comprehensive AI Strategy and commit and communicate it widely throughout the organization.  We define AI Strategy as:

The ability to drive productivity and innovation throughout the Enterprise through a combination of data analytics, advanced ML technology, process redesign and experimentation.

The newly formed Enterprise AI Strategy needs to be designed to solve real-world problems at scale.  In order to create a successful Enterprise AI Strategy, it is first necessary to assess the skills and capabilities of your existing organization.  This includes an assessment of existing executive leadership to determine if a suitable AI Champion exists inside the organization or if someone needs to be brought in from the outside.  Once the Champion and team have been assembled, it is necessary to collaboratively create an AI Business Case that details the various opportunities for revenue generation in the core business, but also addresses opportunities in key functional areas such as Finance, IT, Legal and Marketing.

In the short run, the future of AI is really about enhancing human cognitive ability and increasing productivity.  Human intelligence comes in multiple forms.  It is both logical and emotional and includes capabilities such as pattern recognition and the ability to form and evolve complex models over time.

Building an Enterprise AI Strategy involves analysis of the organization’s core competencies and an understanding of how a newly combined human / AI capability can impact the business.  Because current AI capabilities are somewhat narrow in scope, opportunities should be brainstormed at the use case level and then prioritized.

If your organization is seeking to create a comprehensive AI Opportunity Assessment and Strategy, HBSC Strategic Services can help.  Please contact us at 800-970-7995 or email us at client-development@hbsconsult.com.