Just got back from an AI conference this week involving many different industries and technologists and business leaders from all areas.
One common issue was - where do I start?
The purpose of this post is to expand on this topic of AI and implementing it in your business.
AI is making its way across every corner of the business world, from the enterprise to the small business owner.
You may be asking these questions in your management meetings:
How can we transform the organization in 2023 and beyond?
If we want to test out the idea of AI, what steps should we take?
What problems do you want to solve? What team members will be involved? How's your data situation? And more…so, let’s dive in..
Identify Your Potential Problems for AI
First, there’s something important every decision-maker must know – even for large firms that have AI and Data Science and research teams, AI is not a sure thing.
It’s important to note that consistency matters.
Solving real-world business problems is what matters. Applying AI to these business problems and staying consistent with the effort is what will move the needle.
I always write about AI being a journey. There isn’t a point A and point B. This is a total application to your business problems and processes going forward, even if some fail.
You learn from those projects and move forward.
The most important aspect is a clear understanding of your problem to be solved.
Start small. Talk with your team about processes where automation will help save time, money, help customer interactions, or improve internal day-to-day work.
I’ve written a few pieces on where firms are applying AI now.
The other benefit here is starting small allows your team to focus on this one thing, increasing the chances for initial success.
Everyone rowing in the same direction. As Tom Taulli says in his great book “Implementing AI Systems”:
“Basically, you do not want to be running science experiments!”
Really Take A Deep Look Inside
The next important point is, once your team has identified some good problems to tackle, it still doesn’t mean you have to launch into an AI project.
Take a look at your existing applications in the organization to see if there are any AI functions built in. There are many on the market and one of your vendors may already be able to help.
But let’s assume you’re doing this on your own – what’s the best first step?
Take a deep dive across your business to see where a digital transformation makes the most sense. This is where the leadership team comes in.
Hopefully a nice mix of folks from different backgrounds, both technical and non-technical as well. This will provide for the best cross-section of opinions.
Ideation and critical thinking are the main goals here.
Start with a narrow, specific focus and create a list.
There are many items to consider here when selecting a problem – data, team and who will work on it, existing systems and beyond.
Moving Forward
We’ll dive into many of these factors in the next few articles, beginning with:
Internal Team vs. 3rd-Party Solution? We’ll focus on this debate next, and as always, shoot me questions or comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.