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Nine Essentials For Enabling An AI-Ready Culture And Business

Microsoft AI

New research from Forbes Insights shows that executives agree artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing society, industries and their own companies. But even amid such widespread recognition of AI’s potential, not all businesses are advancing as rapidly as others.

In fact, of the 387 companies surveyed, only 19—just 5%—describe their existing AI capabilities as industry-leading. By focusing on the differences between this group and the sample at large, the research helps plot a road map for guiding the cultural and change management efforts of others. To create a more AI-ready culture and business, consider the following:

  1. Appoint an AI champion: An AI champion is an executive who understands both the needs of the business units and the potential capabilities of AI, ultimately becoming a catalyst for cooperation and change across the enterprise. To be effective, this executive must be visibly supported and empowered by the CEO and other key business leaders. Only then will they carry enough gravitas to inspire confidence, break down functional fiefdoms and silos and encourage experimentation and adoption. Over a third of businesses who self-describe their AI capabilities as industry-leading or above average say they have taken this step versus only 23% of respondents overall.
  1. Going forward, focus on a diverse set of knowledge workers: It remains early days for AI deployment, and the research shows that initially, the vast majority of the most active users of AI and associated technologies reside in IT. But going forward, the survey shows the gap is closing, with tremendous advances in operations, marketing, logistics, supply chain—just about any business function where decision makers and knowledge workers dwell.
  1. Introduce AI-focused training and continuous learning: AI carries enormous potential for equipping knowledge workers with the information they need to be more productive. But in order to take advantage of AI, workers need vastly greater familiarity with the technology. Today and tomorrow’s AI-infused workplace requires higher-level skills, so training and continuous learning are an essential precursor and ongoing enabler. Note that while 40% of companies overall say their pursuit of AI includes such training, the figure is notably higher, 52%, among those with industry-leading installations.
  1. Recruit AI-ready talent: Nearly half of leading executives (48%) say recruitment is essential to their progress in AI, a figure falling to 37% among the sample at large. Since AI is going to play a significant role in business processes going forward, it makes good sense to look for talent with knowledge in areas such as data science or business intelligence in addition to core business or IT skills. In general, companies need to stop treating AI as the exclusive domain of an IT function and instead seek to embed such capabilities within broader business units.
  1. Engage with technology consultants or providers: Larger organizations devoted to the advancement of AI have scale advantages over others. Not only can these companies afford to employ a wide range of skilled technicians and advisors, but they are also in a position to obtain insight into practical applications across many industries and individual businesses. So, it should come as no surprise that over half of leaders (54%) say they are already working closely with their providers and advisors to gain better perspectives on how AI can be harnessed to achieve their business objectives. The figure falls to 39% among the broader sample.
  1. Engage with external partners, suppliers, and customers: AI leaders are also significantly more likely than the overall sample to collaborate more closely with external groups. For example, 52% are actively engaging with partners and suppliers regarding AI initiatives—a means of gaining understanding as to what data might be available or desirable as well as the means to its attainment. By comparison, this is a step being taken by only 35% of companies at large. Similarly, 52% of leaders are engaging more deeply with customers as opposed to only 39% of the overall sample. Additionally, 32% are entering into AI-themed partnerships with universities (versus 25% of others). And, in what could be viewed as the most “full contact” form of outside engagement with external groups, 30% of industry leaders say they are using M&A to acquire the needed talent or technologies to pursue their AI initiatives (versus only 20% of the overall sample).
  1. Incentivize individuals to speed progress: Forty-five percent of leaders are currently recognizing leaders and teams who are making strides in AI, something only 30% of companies among the broader sample are doing. Forty-one percent of industry leaders are also creating rewards/bonuses or other incentive structures for those demonstrating leadership in AI, versus 30% of others.
  1. Incentivize groups or the entire company: Companies might even consider launching a “moonshot” initiative, challenging their organizations to come up with a bold, aggressive AI vision and then fully supporting and funding efforts to reach the target. Here, over a third of industry leaders have used this approach as opposed to only 21% of the overall sample.
  1. Focus on business needs: In what is likely the ultimate step for advancing AI throughout any organization, consider the views of Tarak Ray, VP of IT at Cadence Design Systems: “What we are seeing is that AI/ML works best when we work from the standpoint of business needs. So, define business challenges, then consider the ways AI/ML can be applied. If you approach this [purely] from a technology perspective, not from a business perspective, you may miss opportunity.”