Today, companies of all shapes and sizes are embarking on a journey for artificial intelligence. While a few have made a rapid start, most are still trying to figure out where, when, and how to use AI. As with most new technologies, it’s important to understand the fundamental underpinning for artificial intelligence. What is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science focused on creating systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence such as learning, reasoning, perception, understanding language, and executing autonomous actions. Unlike even the powerful and recent technological advances, AI has the ability to not just automate or enhance human tasks, but actually replace them, though not all AI does so.
Understanding this, many organizations and individuals within these organizations find themselves unprepared to incorporate AI within their day-to-day functions. They may struggle with even where to start. In this article we discuss Key Success Factors (KSF) for adopting artificial intelligence. These factors include:
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- Identifying the problem to be solved (with AI) – clearly defining the problem with ordinary language, within reasonable boundaries and within the span of control of the AI project leaders
- Strategic and organizational impacts – relating the problem to be solved to the broader organization in terms of which departments, which individuals, and which processes may be affected
- Data requirements and technical factors – understanding what data, data sources provide the inputs for AI to perform
- Implementation approach – who are the stakeholders, the timeline, the investments, and outcomes to be achieved.
Let’s dig into these KSF’s.
Like any solution, AI requires defining a problem to be solved. This might mean streamlining an inefficient business process, reversing declining profitability, or accelerating revenue growth by identifying customers who pose a churn risk. The goal must be defined and clear or your AI initiative may lose focus, sprout intriguing but unhelpful tentacles, or just wander until the finish line becomes nebulous.
ACTION: Define the problem and how your AI will fix it.
Understanding strategic or organizational impacts are as important as any other aspect of AI adoption. AI projects can affect people and process across many departments. Without the support of departmental or even executive leadership, these projects could go sideways, creating frustration and wasting time and money. In mapping out the problem to be solved it is also important to understand the collateral impacts on other business processes what other organizations or individuals may be impacted, and to what degree they may be impacted. That might mean role change or even role elimination. With this in mind it’s important to ensure that leadership is involved in any sort of AI project
ACTION: Identify the strategic impact and who in the organization is impacted
The third element of adopting AI relates to data and your technology ecosystem. As with any other IT related project, the adage “garbage in garbage out” applies. So, when thinking about what process AI can improve, it’s important to understand what data AI will be using to improve that process and where that data will come from. You might need sales or customer data such as purchase history or support calls. You might need marketing or prospect data like web visit, event attendance or email response data. If the data needed is unavailable, incomplete, or poorly structured, then the likely output from AI will be incorrect or insufficient to solve the problem.
ACTION: Identify key data sources and ensure proper data hygiene before starting
The final KSF for AI adoption is a solid implementation plan. Any implementation plan should consider the above factors – problem/outcome, strategy/organization, and data/technology – to identify participants, prerequisites, and dependencies crucial to success. Project participants must have a modest level of understanding of AI to contribute. Data must be reasonably clean and available to enable the solution. And, a clear understanding of strategic impacts will ensure that any dependencies are identified before launch.
ACTION: Document a thorough implementation plan with tasks, roles, and milestones
It is important to keep perspective as you embark in your AI adoption journey. With any new technology, a big part of the puzzle is experiencing some degree of failure but having the gumption to continue forward. By following these KSF’s, you will improve your ability to avoid unnecessary setbacks but also make adjustments and continue on toward your goal – problem solved.
