Answer these 7 questions to maintain your AI edge

Staying current and competitive with AI will not only require an eye on the horizon for future trends, you’ll also need a vision that extends beyond the initial stages. You’ll need to build a long-term strategy around your AI goals to drive growth and efficiency through your innovation projects. 

When you’re thinking about a strategy that works for the long term, answer these seven questions: 

#1. Do you have a clear vision for what you hope to achieve using AI? 

Define your long-term aims and align them with your overall business strategy. You’ll want to look at what’s going on in your wider industry, what your competition is doing and what your customer expectations are, and use that knowledge as context for your goals. 

#2. Do you have a group responsible for identifying AI opportunities in your company?

 Having already run some AI initiatives, you’ll have an idea of which areas create value for your business, but with AI developments coming thick and fast you’ll want to ensure you have one eye on the horizon so you can seize opportunities for strategic, high-value applications. Make space in your strategy for “test and learn” projects so that you can stay on top of the latest AI trends. 

#3. Do you have future-proof AI skills in strategic places across your organization?

Embracing AI for the long term requires having great talent and may mean expanding your team to include data scientists, AI specialists, business analysts and project managers. 

#4. Do you have confidence in the infrastructure you have in place for your data management and storage?

 You’ll have already begun putting together a storage and management solution, but for long-term success you’ll need to consider your data privacy and security policies alongside how you collect and store data. Similarly, you’ll need to make sure the IT infrastructure you have in place is robust enough to support the levels of AI deployment you’re considering – whether that’s on-site or cloud-based servers.

#5. Have you considered how to promote ethical and responsible AI in your organization? 

As you continue with your AI strategy for the longer term, it will be even more important to build trust with your stakeholders. It would be a good idea to have a code of conduct in place to consider the ethical implications within the different uses of AI across your business. 

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#6. Are your project management office and development teams set up for agile working?

Once you’ve run your pilot projects and had some quick wins, you need to think about scalability. The easiest way to expand the AI capabilities across your business while also adapting to shifting customer needs is by adopting agile methodologies. Agile working can help you to navigate change and uncertainty, working quicker and scaling more efficiently as a result. 

#7. How are you measuring success?

I cannot overstate the importance of measurement. Using a framework like OKRs (objectives & key results), or by setting more traditional KPIs (key performance indicators), you’ll have a clearer idea of what’s working and where ROI can be found. Regular monitoring and evaluation will keep you on track for the long term. 

Maintaining a competitive edge is always a challenge, but using AI to its fullest and staying on track with it for the long term could be the best strategic approach for consistently staying ahead of the curve. As generative AI evolves, you’ll be able to deliver even more personalized, seamless customer experiences, speeding up customer service with high-quality chatbots and lowering the cost of your marketing campaigns with AI-generated imagery, content and ads. 

You’ll access intel that will enable you to make smarter and more informed decisions, turning the data you collect from every area of your business into actionable insights and data-driven outcomes. AI is a prediction machine and the more you train it on your data the more accurate those predictions will be. Imagine what the impact of seeing the future could have on your business. Predicting market trends and customer behavior could enable you to optimize every part of your operations. You’ll have the ability to respond faster to changes in the market and in customer preferences. Pivoting depending on economic circumstances, as well as uncovering new revenue streams and opportunities, will help to safeguard your business from a turbulent marketplace and cast you as a market leader.