Artificial Intelligence and the Data-Driven Enterprise

Artificial intelligence (AI) has evolved from a buzzword to a tangible business tool over the past decade. The technology is helping businesses make better decisions, improve operational productivity and optimize internal processes. Business leaders who want to implement AI should start by identifying good places for it to work and then figure out the best way for it to fit in. They should also consider how changing organizational culture will play a role in AI implementation and adoption. Many business leaders don't fully understand what artificial intelligence is, or how it can help organizations improve their decision-making processes. However, as AI evolves and becomes more prominent in our daily lives, these leaders need to be aware of its capabilities and how they can use it take advantage of them

The idea of using AI to solve problems that have not been solved before is now becoming more popular and being used in more places.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a technology that aims to simulate human intelligence. It powers a range of products and services, including self-driving cars, medical diagnostics and consumer products such as Amazon’s Alexa device. AI can also be used to make better business decisions by providing insights into data that were previously unnoticeable or unnoticed at all.

Why is this important? A study by McKinsey found that 45% of executives believe AI changes their company's competitive advantage within the next three years. This means companies will need to re-evaluate their operations if they want to remain competitive in an increasingly digital economy where consumers have more choice than ever before when buying from brands they trust; companies need fast decision-making processes if they hope for success in this new marketplace landscape where speed matters most.

See Related: Looking For IT Leaders With Entreprenurial Courage, Have You Seen Them?

Unfortunately for most companies this will require some intestinal fortitude in running off those laggard leaders who only see expenditures in their department instead of the tangible and intangible benefits that AI provides in unlocking efficiencies that otherwise would have remained unknown.

Target Application Identification

Business leaders who want to implement AI should start by identifying good places for it to work and then figure out the best way for it to fit in.

As with any new technology, there are pitfalls to avoid. It's important that business leaders think about the best places for AI to work, as well as what kind of role it will play in their organization.

AI is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Each business process has unique needs, so it's critical that organizations identify which processes are most ripe for automation and determine how AI can benefit them. It's also essential to understand the limitations of artificial intelligence; even though these technologies can perform certain tasks better than humans, they're still not magic bullets or replacements for human labor. Business leaders should always keep in mind that AI is just another tool in their toolbox—one that significantly enhances the worker's decision-making capabilities instead of replacing them.

See Related: Are Developers An Extension Of Your Business Or Just A Robotic Disposable Resource?

As always it starts with making sure you have a strong technical leader that is capable of being able to liaise with the business in a manner that can break down the complex capabilities of AI at the same time translate business requirements into solutions that only developers and data scientist can understand.

Preparing the Organizational Landscape

The culture of an organization can be a challenge to change, but it's also the key to success in any major initiative. Culture is how people act, think, feel and communicate with each other. It's the way they make decisions, behave and treat one another.

Because AI is expected to have such a significant impact on organizational decision-making processes in the near future (if not already), it's important that business leaders understand how changing their culture will play a role in AI implementation and adoption. Once again moving to an artificial intelligence enhanced data-driven organization will require more intestinal fortitude as many employees will play the role of pessimistic saboteur and will need some crucial conversations to remain relevant in the organization. This intestinal fortitude will need the immediate backing from CIO and more importantly from HR departments as they will be cautious of terminations or resignations given the litigation nation we currently live in.

Probable Pushback

Many business leaders don't fully understand what artificial intelligence is, or how it can help organizations improve their decision-making processes. As such, they may be hesitant to adopt this technology in their own companies. To clear up some common misconceptions about AI and its potential impact on business operations, let's take a look at several ways that you can use this technology to improve your organization's decision making:

  • Automation: AI has the ability to automate mundane tasks (such robotic process automation (RPA)) that would otherwise require a human touch. This includes everything from completing repetitive data entry tasks and generating reports from large amounts of information gathered from different sources (such as customer surveys), to finding patterns in large volumes of data that might otherwise go unnoticed by human employees. When used properly, automation can save both time and money—not just for individual businesses but also for entire industries as well.

  • Forecasting: AI has the ability to transition from the traditional historical based forecasting techniques and into forecasting models that take into account real-time economic indicators providing the organization the ability to respond and/or ramp up for likely events faster than ever before.

  • Prediction: AI has the ability to predict outcomes to great accuracies that have subtle but significant benefits to an organization. Imagine having insight as to the probability that a customer will pay their invoice on time, or probability that a supplier will deliver the desired goods on time given time of year, financial health, or other environmental/economic indicators?

However, as AI evolves and becomes more prominent in our daily lives, these leaders need to be aware of its capabilities and how they can use it to grow their business.

As an organization’s data continues to grow at an exponential rate, leaders must find ways to make sense of that information in order to make informed decisions. The challenge has always been how to analyze the data and gain insights from it quickly enough so that you don’t fall behind on your competition or miss opportunities that arise in the market.

AI is a new way for businesses to gain insights from data and take actions based on that information. It is considered by some experts as a tool that can help organizations improve their decision-making processes while increasing productivity levels through automation. For example, if you want someone on your team who has extensive experience working with enterprise resource planning software like Microsoft Dynamics 365, then you could ask them what types of tasks would benefit from artificial intelligence (AI) automation tools such as Natural Language Processing (NLP).

The benefits of AI are numerous: it's easier than ever to collect and analyze large amounts of data thanks to advancements in technology; algorithms can be trained on vast amounts of information, thus becoming more accurate over time; there's less human error because machines don't have an emotional response like humans do so they're able to make more objective assessments; algorithms are capable of producing results faster than humans would be able to do manually; companies will save money because automation reduces costs associated with human labor hours spent on manual tasks or repetitive tasks done repeatedly every day.

Conclusion

Whether you’re a business owner or an executive, AI can help you make better decisions and improve operational productivity. It’s also an opportunity for businesses to evolve their culture as they become more data driven. The key is to take time to understand what this technology can do for your organization before jumping in headfirst or listening to all the nefarious consulting services who are promoting AI as if it was the doomsday scenarios of Y2K.

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