Steering Your Strategy Towards AI Integration Through 3 Methods
Steering Your Strategy Towards AI Integration Through 3 Methods
It's almost impossible to discuss corporate strategy or future market trends without acknowledging the role of AI and GenAI in revolutionizing businesses and workspaces.
Influential leaders recognize the technology's potential to fuel exceptional business growth. And the statistics bear witness—McKinsey's most recent research estimates that generative AI could contribute between $2.6 trillion and $4.4 trillion annually across the 63 uses analyzed.
As a result, numerous organizations are integrating AI into their strategic objectives, viewing it as vital for driving key priorities, strategic decisions, and operational and customer impact.
As AI's potential continues to grow, it's essential to determine how prominently it should feature in an organization's three to five year business strategy. What key factors should leaders consider when merging AI into the company's long-term strategic plans?
Assess AI Capabilities
Before positioning AI as a primary strategic investment in the strategic plan, leaders need to conduct a thorough review or evaluation of their organization's AI proficiency.
Gallup's research shows that many workers who use AI at least once a year report that their employers have not provided any AI training at work. Only 6% of employees feel very adept with AI in their roles, while about one-sixth of employees (16%) are at least somewhat comfortable with AI. Conversely, about a third of employees (32%) reveal they are very uncomfortable with AI in their roles.
AI is intricate and extensive, making its integration more challenging than replacing outdated systems with new technology. Leaders must delve deeper to uncover hindrances and opportunities. This could involve bringing in external AI experts for discussions on its advantages and drawbacks, organizing workshops where team members can explore various case studies, or establishing internal forums centered on different aspects of AI technology and adoption barriers. These insights can contribute to a compelling value proposition for the organization's AI strategy, which should be reflected in the strategic plans. Here are some questions leaders might contemplate:
- What is the current degree of AI adoption, and how does it align with our core values or objectives?
- How dependable and comprehensive is the data used for AI applications? Where are we experiencing gaps in data accessibility, reliability, and accuracy?
- What challenges impede AI adoption?
- Do we have the necessary skill set to propel AI adoption?
- Will our organizational culture support the transformation that AI might induce? What significant obstacles or resistance to new technology might we encounter?
Such evaluations can help pinpoint what needs to be done to ready for AI adoption and reflect that in strategic plans, including initial gains, progress made, and long-term objectives. Conducting a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis has long been a fundamental part of strategic planning. The same detailed and objective evaluation must be applied to AI investments before including them in the strategic plan.
Link AI to Your Purpose
A robust strategic plan should seamlessly connect prospective investments to the organization's purpose and mission. For example, if customer focus is crucial to the mission, any investment in new technology should directly advance customer outcomes.
Demonstrating AI's anticipated impact on the organization's mission and vision necessitates quantifying clear outcomes and ROI. Here are some suggestions for what could feature in the strategy plan to showcase potential impact:
- Personalizing customer interactions with AI can boost customer lifetime value.
- Implementing automation can reduce operational costs or boost quality while adhering to compliance standards.
- Data-driven decision-making can significantly decrease risk or minimize financial damage.
Leaders must also ensure that employees who use AI, or will use AI, comprehend how it can assist them in better executing their roles and contributing to the company's mission. According to a Slack survey, nearly half (48%) of desk workers would feel uncomfortable admitting to their managers that they used AI, fearing it might be perceived as cheating or a sign of incompetence.
Therefore, simply promoting AI as the next big thing in the strategic plan might elicit skepticism. Instead, include personal stories and use cases in the strategic plan to build confidence. These tales should portray how AI applications have empowered employees or teams to achieve superior results and how they are aligned with the organization's mission or purpose.
A Flexible Strategy Path
A strategy plan should not just list intended AI initiatives but also provide a clear path for implementation. Given that AI is still in a state of flux, it's crucial not to create an implementation plan in isolation from continually changing business challenges, market dynamics, or technological advancements.
In this context, an AI strategy plan should be adaptive— grounded in major strategic intentions while also adaptable enough to accommodate unforeseen events or black swan occurrences that necessitate re-evaluation and modifications.
Creating a rigid timeline for AI is not feasible. Instead, outline key milestones for the next 3-5 years of AI adoption to offer clarity for leaders and managers. These milestones should include both short-term and long-term objectives.
For short-term milestones, prioritize immediate or rapid-fire wins and pilot projects that the organization can trial and learn from. building specific, time-bound roadmaps for these short-term strategies can be beneficial. But for long-term milestones, present a broader, more comprehensive vision with adaptive, flexible timelines that require regular review and adjustment in response to market, business, and technological shifts.
Crucially, along with a roadmap for AI implementation, include the investments the organization is making in change management and the cultural and behavioral modifications required to support the AI strategy.
Simply mentioning AI in strategic plans isn't enough. To truly realize the value of AI investments, leaders must invest in effective internal communication, promotion, and change management. Adding superficial AI buzzwords to your strategy plan will not suffice.
AI necessitates a multi-year, multi-pronged approach, not just a line item in your budget or strategy plan.
Based on the text, here are two sentences that contain the given words:
The strategic planning process in many organizations now includes integrating AI into their three to five year business strategy, recognizing its potential to drive key priorities and impact operational and customer outcomes.
Leaders contemplating the role of AI in their strategic plans should consider the current degree of AI adoption in their organization, evaluating the necessary skill set, cultural alignment, and potential challenges towards AI adoption for a successful implementation.