Artificial Intelligence: Is it the Right Move for Your Business?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a transformative force in the business world, offering immense potential, but also posing significant challenges. As AI technology becomes increasingly accessible, organizations must carefully consider how they want to harness its power.

To do so, they must evaluate their unique needs and objectives, assessing whether AI can streamline operations, enhance customer experience, drive data forward, or improve employee satisfaction. Yet, at the same time, it’s crucial to be mindful of the potential dangers of AI technology, such as any ethical concerns it may pose, data security risks, inaccuracies, or algorithmic biases. Likewise, businesses must acknowledge that AI adoption is a significant organizational change that may require training programs, employee upskilling, new staff members, and the like.

As such, a thoughtful and strategic approach to AI adoption, including mitigating risks and measuring ROI, is essential for businesses to thrive in this era of technological advancement. So, if you’re looking at the endless possibilities of AI to see how it can fit in with your business, and what exactly the transition process could look like, we’ve got you covered.

What’s in this article?

• Executive summary
• Where could AI fit into your business?
• How to assess whether AI is the right move for your business
• Step-by-step guide to making the transition to AI-powered solutions
• Maximize the potential of AI with trained talent
• Artificial Intelligence for Real-Life Business Challenges

Executive summary

• There are countless AI technologies available that could provide value to your business, both for internal and external operations, such as RPA, AI-generated images, predictive analytics, and NLP.
• To identify whether adopting AI is the right move for your organization, you must carry out the appropriate assessments, looking at everything from your products and services to training and staff budgets.
• There are a number of steps businesses can take to make the transition to AI-powered solutions as seamless as possible, including conducting pilot projects, and upskilling your employees,
• Successful AI adoption heavily relies on having a trained and capable team. While employee upskilling is invaluable, some factors, such as significant skills gaps or scalability issues, may call for hiring new AI-trained experts.
• FDM provides businesses with trained consultants who have the expertise to support technical organizational projects and could be the missing puzzle piece on your journey to AI adoption.

Where could AI fit into your business?

There are many ways organizations can harness the power of AI within internal and external business processes, Here are a few examples of where AI could fit into your business:

• Robotic Process Automation (RPA): Implement RPA to automate repetitive and rule-based tasks, such as data entry, invoice processing, and order fulfillment, reducing human errors and increasing efficiency.

• AI-powered customer support: Use AI chatbots and virtual assistants to provide 24/7 customer support, answer common queries, and streamline customer interactions.

• AI video and image generation: If you use images and video within your internal presentations or marketing campaigns, there is huge potential for AI-generated images and videos.

• Predictive analytics: Leverage AI for data analysis to forecast sales trends, identify customer preferences, and optimize inventory management.

• AI-powered marketing: Employ AI for personalized marketing campaigns, such as helping with research, ideation, content optimisation, and customer segmentation

• AI in HR: Streamline the recruitment process with AI-driven applicant tracking systems, and use AI for employee engagement, retention, and performance assessments.

• AI for supply chain management: Optimize your supply chain by using AI to predict demand, manage inventory, and enhance logistics efficiency.

• Quality control and maintenance: Integrate AI for quality control in manufacturing and predictive maintenance for machinery to reduce downtime and prevent costly breakdowns.

• AI analytics for finance: Utilize AI in financial analysis, fraud detection, risk assessment, and portfolio management to make data-driven decisions.

• Natural Language Processing (NLP): Implement NLP for sentiment analysis of customer reviews, chatbots for website inquiries, and content curation.

• AI for product development: Apply AI to aid in product design and development by simulating various design options and predicting consumer demand.

• AI in healthcare: For healthcare businesses, AI can assist in diagnostic processes, drug discovery, and patient management.

• AI in e-commerce: Employ AI for recommendation engines, image recognition for visual search, and chatbots to enhance the online shopping experience.

Learn more about how to use AI to supercharge your digital transformation strategies and some of the top uses of AI in business.

How to assess whether AI is the right move for your business

Is your business ready to embrace AI with open arms? To find out, you must carry out the appropriate assessments of your current business model, internal processes, operating systems, products, and services. You should begin by identifying your specific objectives for using AI. Are you aiming to improve efficiency, enhance customer service, improve data analysis, or something else?

Here are a few questions to ask yourself to assess your business’ need and readiness for AI, and where you’ll benefit most:

• Are there any manual processes that could be enhanced through AI-powered solutions?

• Could your products or services benefit from AI integrations for improved customer experience?

• Does your business carry out tedious, repetitive tasks that could be replaced by AI to improve employee satisfaction?

• Could cost-heavy, manpower-intensive tasks be streamlined using AI technologies?

• Is there a skills gap within your current workforce?

• Are there any pain points or bottlenecks within your business processes that AI could solve?

• How is AI being used within your industry? If so, which best practices can be applied to your own business?

• Do you have enough high-quality data to AI to inform AI solutions? If so, is this data accessible?

• Does your organization have enough budget to cover the initial costs of AI implementation, as well as the ongoing maintenance, AI training for existing employees, and potentially additional staff members?

Step-by-step guide to making the transition to AI-powered solutions

Transitioning to AI solutions is an ongoing process that requires adaptability, continuous improvement, and a commitment to addressing both employee and customer needs. Here are 8 steps your business can take to help make the transition to AI-powered solutions as seamless as possible:

1. Define your objectives and conduct needs assessments
2. Start with pilot projects
3. Be transparent with staff
4. Employee training and upskilling
5. Data integration
6. Feedback from internal and external stakeholders
7. Track and measure key performance indicators (KPIs)
8. Celebrate successes

1. Define your objectives and conduct needs assessments

The first step involves all that has been discussed above in How to assess whether your business is ready for AI. Make sure to cover all bases, such as what you want to get out of AI, whether you have enough data, the right resources, and budgets.

2. Start with pilot projects

Begin with small-scale pilot projects to test the AI solutions. This minimizes risks and allows for fine-tuning before full-scale implementation. For example, if your pilot project fails, you’ll have kept financial or reputational losses to a minimum. You’ll also have plenty of learnings to take from this initial project if you choose to relaunch another similar project in the future.

3. Be transparent with staff

You should also ensure that your AI solutions are transparent and explainable as this is critical for building trust with employees. This is particularly important as approximately 69% of employees fear that AI will take over their roles when, in fact, AI is a powerful tool that can be used to enhance their daily work lives and make their jobs easier. In turn, this actually improves employee satisfaction!

4. Employee training and upskilling

To harness AI’s disruptive potential and address employee concerns around job safety, the focus should be on upskilling rather than layoffs. To do this, provide your employees with the necessary training to understand and use AI solutions effectively. This should include:

• Implementing training programs to educate employees about AI, its relevance to your business, and its benefits.
• Fostering a culture of learning and innovation by hosting workshops and seminars with AI experts. You could even send selected employees to AI conferences to bring back valuable insights for the rest of the team.
• Collaborate with educational institutions to offer AI courses and certifications to your workforce, enhancing their professional skills.
• Developing a repository of AI learning resources, including books, tutorials, and online courses.

If your employees are not on board, it’s unlikely that your AI aspirations will take flight, and upskilling plays a key role in this!

5. Data integration

Ensure your AI solutions can seamlessly integrate with your existing data infrastructure and systems. Data quality and accessibility are key factors in AI success.

Getting your data in check is crucial to pave the way for successful AI integrations, so preparations may need to be made. Start by organizing and centralizing your data from various sources into a unified repository. Ensure data quality by cleaning and standardizing it, addressing duplicates, and resolving inconsistencies. It’s al;so important to implement data governance practices to establish ownership, access controls, and data security!

6. Feedback from internal and external stakeholders

Involve customers in the process by seeking feedback on AI-powered services or products. Implement user-centered design principles to make AI solutions user-friendly and customer-oriented.

Moreover, establish continuous monitoring of AI systems to identify and resolve issues in real-time. Collect feedback from employees and customers to make ongoing improvements. Employees especially will often have valuable insights into the practical implications of AI in daily operations.

7. Track and measure key performance indicators (KPIs)

Set clear KPIs to measure the performance of your AI solutions. Regularly track and analyze these metrics to ensure they align with your business objectives. This way, you can improve upon or shut down any AI operations that are not meeting objectives, and invest more resources into the AI projects that are seeing results and hitting KPIs.

8. Celebrate successes

Celebrate milestones and successes achieved through AI implementation. This should include recognizing and rewarding employees who contribute to the success of AI projects as this will act as incentive for others to follow suit.

Maximize the potential of AI with trained talent

AI adoption within organizations is a transformative endeavor with the potential to revolutionize business operations and decision-making. However, the success of this adoption heavily relies on having a trained and capable team in place. Without the right staff, unlocking the full potential of AI becomes a significant challenge. Learn more about the fastest-growing AI roles.

We’ve discussed the importance of employee upskilling to ensure everyone is on-board with new processes and have the skills to use AI technologies, however, at what point should you consider hiring new staff to help with the transition?

At FDM, we understand that every business is different and digital maturity among teams will vary, which means there is no one right answer to this question. However, here are some of the factors to consider to help you decide:

• Skills gap analysis: Begin by conducting a thorough skills gap analysis. Assess the existing skills within your workforce and identify the specific AI-related expertise that is lacking. If the skills gap is substantial and cannot be filled through training and upskilling alone, it may be time to consider hiring new staff.

• Complexity of AI projects: Evaluate the complexity of the AI projects you intend to undertake. Highly complex AI initiatives, such as cutting-edge research or advanced deep learning projects, may require specialized skills that are best acquired through new hires. For instance, certain AI roles, such as AI researchers, deep learning engineers, and data scientists, require specialized knowledge and experience.

• Timeliness and business goals: Consider your business goals and the urgency of AI implementation. If you have aggressive timelines and specific targets to meet, hiring experts with the required skills can expedite the transition and ensure you stay competitive in a rapidly evolving AI landscape.

• Innovation and competitive edge: Evaluate the importance of innovation and maintaining a competitive edge in your industry. New talent can inject fresh ideas and perspectives that may be crucial for staying ahead in AI-driven markets.

• Scalability: Consider the scalability of your AI projects. If your AI initiatives are expected to grow significantly in the future, it may make sense to bring in new staff with expertise in scaling AI solutions.

• Change management and culture: Assess your organization’s readiness for change. New hires can introduce AI-related expertise and help shape a culture that embraces AI technologies, which will then trickle down to existing employees. In fact, often, a hybrid approach works best by combining upskilling and hiring as needed.

Artificial Intelligence for Real-Life Business Challenges

Earlier this year, FDM hosted an Industry Insight event at our Toronto office in collaboration with Microsoft. Through panel discussions, fireside chats and interactive Q&A sessions we uncovered some interesting perspectives into the most critical issues concerning AI at this nascent stage of its integration into business.

We were joined by:

• Magdy Karam, Chief Learning Officer, Microsoft Canada
• Asmita Usturge, Senior Data Scientist & Azure Cloud AI Lead, Microsoft Canada
• Laurie McKenzie, Associate VP and Executive Product Group Owner of TD Public Cloud Platform
• Cameron Kenalty, Sr. product Marketing Lead, Data & AI Azure Business Group at Microsoft Canada
• Eugene Wen, Vice President for Group Advanced Analytics of Manulife Financial

Our panelists discussed how machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision can enhance your business’s processes, decision-making, and customer experiences.

They all spoke about leveraging AI to reduce errors and increase efficiency. From AI-driven PowerPoint design suggestions to accelerating medical diagnoses and fraud detection in healthcare and finance – the potential for AI is endless.

However, despite these significant capabilities, the panel were most interested in how AI-powered automation can relieve human beings of mundane, repetitive tasks so they can instead focus on more strategic and creative projects.

Among the other issues around AI adoption another common concern was around safe AI use. How can organizations address challenges around data quality, privacy, ethics, and other potential hurdles?

The panel emphasized the importance of coming together as a society to make a collective effort to ensure the responsible and ethical use of AI. They mentioned using responsible AI principles, building responsible AI dashboards to monitor those principles and also building the evaluation framework to make sure that AI is being used ethically.

The event also discussed the advantage of partnerships with AI tech providers for successful AI integration and provided an overview of Microsoft’s AI tools, resources, and how they can assist businesses on their digital transformation journey.

Could your organization benefit from accessing trained AI expertise that blends seamlessly within your existing teams? We provide businesses with trained consultants who have the expertise to support technical organizational projects through curated technical training programs. Tap into our diverse talent pools and benefit from tailored services that meet your unique business challenges and suit your working methodologies!

For more information, check out the FDM Consultant services or get in touch to find the right individual for the role.