It is equally important to accept that there are risks and challenges to successful AI adoption and given the massive upswing in awareness around AI in Google trends, individuals will be experimenting with AI in their day-to-day activities and this needs to be managed, monitored, and encouraged.
There is so much to explore with AI, too much for one blog, so I’m going to be writing a series of blogs about the areas where AI is a vital consideration for immediate adoption, and anyone of which could form the basis of an AI strategy.
The Competitive Landscape and AI
But first, we must set the scene: high levels of competition is nothing new for modern business leaders, but in today’s landscape where the battle for mind and wallet share is so fierce any edge must be considered. At a recent thought leadership event hosted by Computacenter for Chief Technology Officers, the overwhelming sentiment was excitement around the opportunities AI can bring coupled with the need to act swiftly, tempered by pragmatic considerations around ethics, governance, and tangible outcomes.
Generative AI has the potential to be as disruptive as the emergence of the world wide web on business processes, capabilities, products, and services. In the later 1990s and early 2000s we saw several firmly established household brand businesses fail to spot the opportunity the web opened and subsequently ceased trading. These brands are not alone, with the benefit of history we can look back and specifically pinpoint brands who did not move with the times. They stayed static and subsequently because of this, ceased trading, and in their places disruptive new businesses were born that are still around now as they’ve managed to be adaptable to the varying marketing conditions and to move with the times.
I’m wondering if we all remember from our own experience of going out on a Friday night to collect our take-away and to pick up a film to rent for the evening? This now feels like a lifetime ago, as whilst our need for the take-away and the new film to watch on a Friday evening hasn’t changed, the way we consume products and at the speed of delivery has changed. Life has moved on so much and failure to adapt to change, usually means failure to move forward.
Similar patterns can be seen through all disruptive events in history, offering improvements in efficiency (Lean manufacturing, automation, robotics etc.) or new products and services rewarding the early adopters who rapidly out competed and gained market share and, in some cases, created whole new markets to dominate.
The Pace of Change
Every day AI is pushing new boundaries in terms of capabilities, ideas, and challenges. As I write this AI has just been declared the Collins word of the year for 2023, the UK is hosting the first global summit on AI safety and Microsoft Copilot for M365 has been released. All of that inside of a single 24-48 hr period.
AI is going to push competition to the extreme and given the nature of its capability be continuously improving the need to be part of the AI journey has never been more important. You simply cannot afford to do nothing while your competition reaps the benefits AI will bring.
Of course, AI adoption is going to have challenges as well as give organisations routes to great benefits and like any new and disruptive trend being informed will be your best way to mitigate those risks whilst reaping the rewards.
So, to help you on your adoption journey we will be exploring many topics over the coming weeks around AI and Generative AI, including:
- AI Safety and Ethics
- AI to improve customer service and experience.
- AI for operational efficiency and cost management
- Data-driven decision making and AI readiness.
- AI in R&D driving Innovation and new opportunities
- AI Risk management and shadow AI Adoption.
For further reading, click to read Paul Bray’s recent Copilot blog
