WHEN IT COMES TO AI, SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE

Adopting artificial intelligence for your organization can be an intriguing prospect – especially when you start forecasting all the many benefits doing so will afford. But as exciting as it may be, it’s imperative that you not get ahead of yourself. By moving too quickly – that is, before you fully understand the implications of AI – you could easily end up with a costly mess on your hands. Instead, you should focus on gaining knowledge of and becoming familiar with AI. This will ultimately enable you to develop and implement a thoughtful strategy that will deliver consistent, sustainable value.

So, where is a good place to begin? Which projects should you apply your attention, efforts, and investments toward? This initial phase will take some time and careful planning, but the payoff for being prudent will be well worth it in the long run. Start by brainstorming a handful of projects. Then, for each of these projects, spend some time doing your due diligence, both business and technical, to map out the potential impacts. This practice will help you identify the most lucrative areas to which you should commit your resources.

If you are feeling pressure from the “powers that be” to generate proof of concept more quickly than taking the above approach will allow, specify a few workflows and projects into which AI and intelligent automation can be rapidly integrated. Specifically, dedicate a portion of your resources to smaller initiatives that have the potential to make a substantial impact. By automating this “low hanging fruit,” you can generate some quick wins and provide quantifiable evidence of value. Once you’ve satiated the interested stakeholders, you can then turn your attention back to the larger-scale, longer-term projects.

The goal with AI should be to develop and establish a solid foundation upon which to build and grow over time. By starting smaller and working steadily toward the bigger picture down the road, you’ll lay the groundwork and gain the momentum you need to harness the power of artificial intelligence and use it to propel your organization ahead of the competition.