Along with other fundamental changes, the Covid-19 crisis has changed the way of conducting business. But the big question is if these innovations will be sustained and built upon after the crisis.
During the difficult times, business leaders may have some questions, including how they can incorporate pandemic-powered innovations to augment and strengthen their core business model, how their companies can tackle internal resistance and build a future-ready business around artificial intelligence (AI), etc.
Here’s how leaders can build an AI-infused organisation.
Understand Digital Transformation
Earlier, McDonald’s had a sign which said ‘5 million burgers sold’ or ‘1 million burgers sold’. Tracking the burgers, you produce and sell is an authentic industrial era to keep scoring. Digital companies, in contrast, do not keep score that way, but they want to know who is eating the burger. They can solve more of the customers’ problems by learning more about the customers’ buying their burgers.
Most companies opened channels on the internet during the pandemic to sell to customers. Many falsely equated this change to a digital strategy. You can follow another way to ensure how your customers can access your product. You can change your strategy. Instead of being interested in knowing who’s really eating, you can focus on ensuring you are selling the same burger through another channel.
To have sustained innovations, you need to shift from selling products to solving customer problems. For instance, insurance companies with multiple product offerings like life, auto, or property may have a fragmented customer view. Even when the same customer purchases several products from the company, the individual departments do not have sufficient insights into these choices.
It is vital to link divisions, centralise the data, and get an integrated view of the customer to understand who is buying the products and the reason for it. You can reinvent or boost your business by leveraging AI at the core of your operating model.
Challenges in Building an AI-Powered Organisation
Today, people know AI’s potential; however, many leaders squander the opportunity because of certain challenges. Some lack clarity on how AI can optimise their existing business. A few fails to tackle the cultural resistance that inhibits each AI-driven initiative. And some leaders don’t leverage the innovative power of advanced analytics to create future business.
Leaders need to balance the past, present, and future simultaneously to build successful organisations. They must manage the present by keeping their core business running at optimal efficiency and effectiveness. They must continuously review historical practices to prune non-constructive behaviour and selectively forget the past. They need to create the future through constant experimentation to innovate and pivot the business to balance the flow.
