From Phenomena to Impact: Foresight, Innovation, and Strategy in the Modern AI Era
In today’s rapidly evolving world, organizations face a myriad of challenges and opportunities. The latest developments between key AI players are a good example of the impact of various changes in a very fast rhythm. What happens after the biggest hype, will Open Source LLMs reach the level of known players, what will be the biggest breakthroughs in 2024 and what kind of social changes they will bring? We all have our own limited time to assess the impact of these changes.
The same applies to us here at The Social Insurance Institution of Finland. Based on a large number of discussions with significant different industry players and from our own point of view foresight, innovation, and strategy have become more intertwined than ever, forming a dynamic trio that not only fuels innovation but also provides essential insights for decision-making and societal impact. In this age of technological advancements and AI-driven hype, understanding the value and responsible integration of these elements is paramount.
The Changing Landscape of Innovation
Traditionally, innovation was viewed as the process of creating groundbreaking solutions or products. However, in the contemporary landscape, we see that it transcends product development. Today, we see that innovation is also about creating a fact-based foundation for future decision-making and strategy formulation. This shift is crucial, especially in an era dominated by AI, where the stakes are higher, and the consequences of uninformed decisions can be profound.
The Role of Foresight
Foresight acts as a guiding light in this process. It helps identify subtle signals and emerging trends that might otherwise go unnoticed. By creating a comprehensive overview of the central phenomena shaping our world and society, foresight empowers organizations to stay ahead of the curve. AI is a good example of this. Foresight creates a proactive approach that enables us to understand what’s on the horizon.
Innovation as a Bridge
Innovation activities one task in our organization is to bridge the gap between foresight and strategy. Innovation function takes the insights gained from foresight and helps translate them into tangible actions. Our innovation team helps to break down complex phenomena, identify problems worth solving, and help to formulate hypotheses with other stakeholders. These hypotheses are then tested through experiments, fostering a deeper understanding of customer needs and ecosystem dynamics.
Aligning Phenomena with Mission and Impact
When selecting phenomena for innovation activities, it’s important that organization carefully consider their mission and the impact they aspire to achieve. The mission of an organization is its guiding star, reflecting its core values and long-term objectives.
Innovations should not be pursued in isolation; rather, they should be driven by a deeper purpose. The choice of phenomena should resonate with the organization’s need to understand that particular phenomena and that means that doesn’t always come from the current strategy. It may not be a chosen direction yet, but it may eventually change the direction of the organization.
Navigating the revolution of AI as a phenomenon
Artificial Intelligence is undoubtedly transformative, but its true potential lies in the ability to harness it effectively, in the right contexts, and in a way that can be trusted. To do this, we must understand the fundamentals of AI and place them within the context of our lives and organizations. While AI can be applied across various domains, the key question is not where we can use it but where it brings tangible value and how we ensure responsible use.
One effective way to demystify AI and its potential is by creating Proofs of Concepts. Although Proofs Of Concepts are sometimes criticized, we see that PoCs serve as practical experiments that allow organization to understand that the most important thing is not the technology itself but its impact on people’s behavior patterns and business processes. It also increases the ability to bring new capabilities into production and use in everyday life.
Understanding these changes is key to maximizing AI’s benefits. By focusing on understanding people’s behavior patterns and the societal implications of AI, organizations can navigate the AI hype more effectively, ensuring that their AI initiatives align with their broader goals and mission, and contribute positively to the world they operate in. AI can revolutionize how customers interact with products and services, leading to significant shifts in user behavior. At least that is our experience at this moment of time.
We have experimented on or created AI solutions in these contexts:
- Voice as a interface (bots, speech recognition, speech to text, text to speech, speech analytics etc)
- Demand forecasting
- Resource planning
- Process optimization
- Identifying customer needs
- Classifying incoming message
- Predictive models
- Different GPT -implementions
In addition to these AI projects, we are also building a general-purpose, shared, and secure verfiable data network in a public-private cooperative called Findynet to maximize the trust needed in the future.
Measuring Impact in the Long Run
Understanding and measuring the impact of innovation can be a challenging endeavor. Impact, especially in the context of innovation, may manifest over a longer time frame or extend beyond the immediate scope of the organization, or at least that’s what has been common point of view. We also believe that impact should be evaluated throughout the journey and done systematically throughout the different phases, not only afterwards although it is still very important.
It can be multifaceted, encompassing societal, environmental, and economic dimensions. For many organizations, verifying impact is a journey in itself. It requires a commitment to ongoing evaluation and learning, with a willingness to adapt and refine strategies based on evolving insights.
Even though innovation activities are strongly aimed at productivity gains, it is important to understand what are those real problems that need to be solved in business and society because solving those will create the biggest impact in the end.
