The AI Playbook — part 5: Considerations to make prior immersing on an AI led digital transformation

Initial ponderations on whether your company is ready to make the leap into AI implementation 🚀

AI is the ultimate assistive tool that is taking across the world to the next level

In the previous AI Playbook episodes, we’ve taken comprehensive look at AI and it’s implementation. We started by taking a look at the main trends in artificial intelligence, followed by a look at a day in the life a futuristic view of how our daily lives will look like when more and more aspects of our daily routine will be powered by AI. We discussed all the industries that are being reshaped by AI and finally we introduced the Human + bot equation, a profound look at how AI is helping humans to become better at what they do.

🤖 + 👱🏻=💜

We’ve been making the case that business environments will become much more “intelligent”, due to the possibilities unlocked by the human +bot equation which will allow for the augmentation of workers’ capacities by forming a clean bond between machines and humans.

The work place will become more competitive, people will increase their production and will have more time to innovate, thus improving the users experiences’ across sectors.

Sooner or later, AI will have to be implemented in all companies that do not want to lose their competitive position in the market. In a report developed by Accenture, it is estimated that by 2035 those companies that incorporate AI into their business model will see their profits increased by 38%.

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly becoming a fundamental factor for production, it has the potential to introduce new sources of growth because of it’s ability to be highly customisable which will eventually transform work and boost the economy.

But how do you know if your company is ready for AI?

Assessing readiness: aspects to pay attention to when looking into Implementing AI in your company

Aspect 1:

To implement AI in your company you have to start by considering what are the actual applicabilitions of AI and then try to match this application with a business pain or an area your company is trying to improve.

Let’s take a look at the most common applications of AI. (Note: AI applicabilities are not limited to the options presented below, these are just a few of the most common ones)

1. Virtual Assistants:
   Businesses use chatbots for a variety of cases, such as customer service. Simply put, an artificial intelligence service can be used to answer simple questions, help users book services, get more information about a specific topic, buy a product, etc. Having a chatbot help expedite this types of tasks, allows for human agents to focus on more relevant problems. At the same time a chatbot allows the company to have a 24/7 service to attend to their customers needs.
2. Idea Generation:
   Data is the commodity that powers the digital economy these days. However, it is necessary to have the necessary resources to transform them into something of value. Ideally companies will have cognitive solutions in place that learn automatically from all the data they collect. What makes artificial intelligence systems so powerful is precisely the fact that they can learn. That allows them to adapt when market behaviour changes, as well as continuously improve performance as more data comes in.
3. Automation of manual processes:
   Artificial intelligence is rapidly automating routine and mechanical cognitive processes. Leaving more time for innovation. The use of intelligent algorithms, for example, can now automate the process of collecting data from various reports and perform an analysis to determine the profitability of a particular business path.
4. Analysis of unstructured data:
   It is estimated that 80% of the digital data is not structured. Organizing and tracking these data has the potential of leading to a better understanding of the users and making predictions based on tendencies.

Aspect 2:

Evaluate the competition

Keeping in eye out to what your competitors are doing is never a bad idea

If you’re looking to boost your perspective around how and when to implement AI. An innovation assessment of what your competitors are doing with AI its a good place to start. Benchmarking has traditionally been used as a tool for evaluation and diagnosis of innovation systems.

For a business to thrive it is essential that it takes measures to remain at the forefront and to remain competitive within the market. In this sense, benchmarking can allow for a company to identify areas of opportunity.

AI powered innovation has the potential of becoming exponential, so if you’re competitors are starting to analyse their big data with cognitive solutions, tending to their clients 24/7 with the help of chatbots, etc. Take this as a definite sign that its time to implement AI in your company.

Aspect 3:

Run a quantitative analysis of the costs and benefits of AI implementation.

Innovation is a force of change for any sector. BUT before jumping in the digitalisation wagon, take a simple yet vital final step. Run the numbers to help you understand how much your company can invest in renewing or updating some processes. Then compare it with the benefits of it, it’s very likely the benefits will by far exceed the costs, but it never hurts to check. Your accounting department will appreciate it!

So what’s next?

Now that you have taken this initial considerations, the next logical thing to do is to start taking action.

For this, at BotSupply we have designed a “Digital Transformation Readiness tool” that will help you evaluate how ready your business is to join the AI Revolution. This tool has been developed by following state of the art research around digital transformation and the impact of AI, and it will help you gain further inights in this ever so relevant theme.

See you next episode!👋