A joint survey from BCG and MIT’s Sloan Management Review found that leaders in most industries believe AI technology will have a significant impact during the next five years but is AI right for your organization? Amara’s law states that “we tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.” Leaders face the twin challenge of deciding if an investment in AI can create value in the near term while figuring out how to adapt their organizations for a world in which AI is everywhere. If you are considering AI for our organization, you may want to ask yourself the following questions:
- What business problem am I trying to solve?
- Will AI help increase revenue, decrease cost, or mitigate risk?
- Why do I need AI to solve this problem?
The prospect of AI is an intriguing one, but you need to focus on the outcomes delivered and not the technology used to achieve them. Will you gain a margin of improvement that makes the cost of AI worthwhile? Figure out a test to evaluate the size of the margin. Run it on paper and again in a proof-of-concept project. Make sure AI earns its premium.