Your organization has decided to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) in your business. How do you know if you have the necessary foundations in place in order to be successful on this journey? Here are three key questions to begin assessing your organization’s readiness for AI.
- What are the top 2-3 business problems you plan to solve using AI? Many organizations get swept up in flashy news about advances in AI or articles describing how companies need to be utilizing AI to stay competitive. While this can be helpful for creating momentum and urgency, it is critical that organizations ensure they have identified clear business problems that AI can help solve. It can be helpful to probe on whether other solutions have been evaluated and ruled out. Often, less sophisticated solutions are “good enough” and it should be clear that AI is the appropriate solution to be used for the specific problem identified.
- What are the current levels of buy in and support? This is an important question both regarding allocated budget and resources, as well as broader organizational support. Are there influential executives at the most senior levels who are sponsoring and will provide ongoing support and advocacy for your AI initiatives? Do you have end-users frustrated with the status quo and hungering for change?
- A great starting point is if your organization has successfully implemented new innovations or large-scale changes in the past. This often signals a culture that is open to new ways of working and learning new things. If your organization has stumbled through prior attempts at modernization and change, you likely have a few more steps to maximizing the chances of success. It can be helpful to review reasons why prior initiatives failed and incorporate learnings into your plans. If your organization feels like change initiatives are just a passing fad or “flavor of the month” then a strong campaign to engage users and show early wins and impact will be crucial to success.
We can help ensure your initiatives are set up for success. Whether you are looking to identify and prioritize your initiatial use cases, proactively engage senior leaders and gain support for budget and resources, or design a change management plan that will effectively engage colleagues, we’re here to help.