Partners, Platforms and Purpose
Taking the Next Steps with Artificial Intelligence
“It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently”. Fyodor Dostoyevsky
How we interact in the digital world is continually evolving through increasing customer demands, the new capabilities offered by the major technology platforms and new hardware products. The real challenge is identifying where best to focus our efforts and how best to utilise the computing power and on demand services that are now available.
To paraphrase Yuval Noah Harari, what we thought was a luxury yesterday will become a necessity today and our obligation tomorrow — instantaneous voice activated responses and transactions, 24/7 availability, ubiquitous connectivity on every device through numerous interfaces.
Selecting a Partner
It always surprises me when professional services teams start their pitches with “We know financial services” and then proceed to a use case for ABC Insurance. If your partners start their pitches with this, send them packing, unless you are ABC Insurance. Our business is one type of many in financial services, and very little to do with insurance. Sometimes having no knowledge of our business type is an advantage, come at it with new ideas, and not within the constraints of an assumed model.
Make sure your partner proclaims their willingness to understand your business before any proclamations of knowing your business.
Selecting a Platform
More important than comparing various platforms is your own business maturity and internal execution capabilities.
The differences between platforms are irrelevant when internal capabilities don’t exist to realize the core value or to actually implement. You might as well select an Access database if your business is unprepared to invest the time, resources and long term effort required to realise the value.
Purpose Not Passion
“ Above all, not too much zeal” Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord
It’s great to be passionate about all the latest technology trends, all the fantastical stories. A sense of direction and purpose is more likely to achieve outcomes, to enable you to invest at the right time.
Small scale implementations, zero cost proof of concepts, iterative approaches. Nothing with the word transformation or programme in it until you have tested your ideas. Don’t even reference artificial intelligence for fear of the false expectations you will set. Ensure failure is an option within an iterative approach as it could be more rewarding than being an excellent sheep.
Navigating your Technology World
“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook”. William James
Before getting carried away with the application of any new technology my team generally ask some basic questions:
- Can the technology solution demonstrate an obvious return on investment?
- Is our business sufficiently mature to implement, manage and ensure the continued evolution of the solution once we decide to invest?
- Is the technology enthusiasm tempered with the realities of implementation?
The wrong place to start is with the colourful media stories and the sharks, charlatans and dreamers trying to sell us something. Investing time in learning and understanding, can reap many rewards as a first step.
Final Words
Don’t get trapped in the bureaucratic quick sand. In the hour it takes to attend the weekly meeting you’d probably have a proof of concept up and running. Encourage your teams to try at least, to be unafraid of making mistakes.
Everyone has access to the technology platforms and the on demand services. It’s the ability to implement, your imagination and most importantly your people that will make the real difference.
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This is the last article in a series of 6.
Thanks to Lucy Adelaide for accepting the job on Upwork and all the creative and original illustrations which made this a lot more interesting. Also thanks to Umair for subtitling the videos via Fiverr.
The views expressed in this article are those of mine alone. This is part 6 of a 6 part series exploring practical business applications of artificial intelligence.
