Readying business for the age of AI

AI across industries

There is no shortage of AI use cases across sectors. Retailers are tailoring shopping experiences to individual preferences by leveraging customer behavior data and advanced machine learning models. Traditional AI models can deliver personalized offerings. However, with generative AI, these personalized offerings are elevated by incorporating tailored communication that considers the customer’s persona, behavior, and past interactions. In insurance, by leveraging generative AI, companies can identify subrogation recovery opportunities that a manual handler might overlook, enhancing efficiency and maximizing recovery potential. Banking and financial services institutions are leveraging AI to bolster customer due diligence and enhance anti-money laundering efforts by leveraging AI-driven credit risk management practices. AI technologies are enhancing diagnostic accuracy through sophisticated image recognition in radiology, allowing for earlier and more precise detection of diseases while predictive analytics enable personalized treatment plans.

The core of successful AI implementation lies in understanding its business value, building a robust data foundation, aligning with the strategic goals of the organization, and infusing skilled expertise across every level of an enterprise.

• “I think we should also be asking ourselves, if we do succeed, what are we going to stop doing? Because when we empower colleagues through AI, we are giving them new capabilities [and] faster, quicker, leaner ways of doing things. So we need to be true to even thinking about the org design. Oftentimes, an AI program doesn’t work, not because the technology doesn’t work, but the downstream business processes or the organizational structures are still kept as before.”  —Shan Lodh, director of data platforms, Shawbrook Bank

Whether automating routine tasks, enhancing customer experiences, or providing deeper insights through data analysis, it’s essential to define what AI can do for an enterprise in specific terms. AI’s popularity and broad promises are not good enough reasons to jump headfirst into enterprise-wide adoption. 

“AI projects should come from a value-led position rather than being led by technology,” says Sidgreaves. “The key is to always ensure you know what value you’re bringing to the business or to the customer with the AI. And actually always ask yourself the question, do we even need AI to solve that problem?”

Having a good technology partner is crucial to ensure that value is realized. Gautam Singh, head of data, analytics, and AI at WNS, says, “At WNS Analytics, we keep clients’ organizational goals at the center. We have focused and strengthened around core productized services that go deep in generating value for our clients.” Singh explains their approach, “We do this by leveraging our unique AI and human interaction approach to develop custom services and deliver differentiated outcomes.”

The foundation of any advanced technology adoption is data and AI is no exception. Singh explains, “Advanced technologies like AI and generative AI may not always be the right choice, and hence we work with our clients to understand the need, to develop the right solution for each situation.” With increasingly large and complex data volumes, effectively managing and modernizing data infrastructure is essential to provide the basis for AI tools. 

This means breaking down silos and maximizing AI’s impact involves regular communication and collaboration across departments from marketing teams working with data scientists to understand customer behavior patterns to IT teams ensuring their infrastructure supports AI initiatives. 

• “I would emphasize the growing customer’s expectations in terms of what they expect our businesses to offer them and to provide us a quality and speed of service. At Animal Friends, we see the generative AI potential to be the biggest with sophisticated chatbots and voice bots that can serve our customers 24/7 and deliver the right level of service, and being cost effective for our customers. — Bogdan Szostek, chief data officer, Animal Friends

Investing in domain experts with insight into the regulations, operations, and industry practices is just as necessary in the success of deploying AI systems as the right data foundations and strategy. Continuous training and upskilling are essential to keep pace with evolving AI technologies.

Ensuring AI trust and transparency

Creating trust in generative AI implementation requires the same mechanisms employed for all emerging technologies: accountability, security, and ethical standards. Being transparent about how AI systems are used, the data they rely on, and the decision-making processes they employ can go a long way in forging trust among stakeholders. In fact, The Future of Enterprise Data & AI report cites 55% of organizations identify “building trust in AI systems among stakeholders” as the biggest challenge when scaling AI initiatives.