In today’s world, AI is the greatest adventure we’re embarking on.
It’s everywhere, shaping our personal and professional lives. If you’ve noticed, life has become a bit easier since it entered it.
This magic is what we call augmented reality. AI seamlessly integrated into our lives by creating a layer of information, suggesting insights that make our lives easier. Whether it’s video streaming suggestions or optimizing travel routes, AI has made itself the narrator of our lives.
But when it comes to organizations, our day-to-day tasks became a bit more complex.
Sure, it’s taken over tasks we disliked, but it also brought significant changes and more work.
The promise of having more time for things we enjoy within our job often falls short of vendor marketing messages.
What’s missing?
An AI strategy.
Organizations need a holistic approach to integrating this technology into their work environment.
Currently, most organizations view AI as a productivity or efficiency tool—a solution for specific departmental needs.
Teams identify their pain points, search for technology solutions, and implement them locally without considering the broader organizational perspective.
Why do we need a different approach?
Because AI requires a comprehensive understanding of its impact and transformational potential on our work environment, not just from an IT standpoint, but from the organization as a whole.
AI strategy’s key points to consider:
Data: Success with AI depends on data. This is one of the most important keys for success, but it is also the most costly investment, requiring maintenance, security, governance, and ethical considerations like data privacy and regulations.
Decision Making: AI influences our actions and decisions, so we must ensure a balance between data-driven insights and human judgment.
Internal Communication: AI needs a voice within the organization, necessitating a review of internal communication channels to accommodate it.
Training: Both AI and human employees require ongoing training supporting human-non-human collaboration and success.
Management: AI is the track record of the company from tracking activities, recording calls, and going through data. Remember that AI lacks awareness and understanding of the bigger picture, so any data-driven insight regarding human employees should contain aspects of management that must remain intact.
Human Talent: Safeguard human traits like creativity and flexible thinking, which are essential for successful collaboration with AI.
When considering this list, it’s important to recognize that even if you plan to continue using AI for departmental purposes without significant changes, maximizing the return on your AI investment requires broader organizational policies, process changes, and data considerations. These are initiatives that no single department can undertake alone.
These points are the most common across various businesses, but each organization will have unique considerations tailored to its specific needs, products, and market segments. An AI strategy is foundational for leveraging AI effectively.
My Thoughts on AI Strategy
It’s time to stop looking at AI as just another system or tool like we used to view any technology before its introduction. It’s time to understand what AI truly is. AI is a technology that mimics human cognitive abilities and produces AI thinking. In simpler terms, it generates thoughts in its own right.
When we adopt a technology that mimics human aspects, we’re introducing something significantly more impactful and transformative. This kind of thinking requires a strategic plan for how the organization views and prepares for its integration.
From my perspective, the bottom line is this: When we know our organization is undergoing a major change, we prepare a plan and ensure that the organization is well-prepared for the change. We laid all the groundwork needed to ensure its success. AI represents a major change, and organizations need to be well-prepared if they wish to have the best chance of success and achieve their goals.
