Getting started with artificial intelligence using the Value Pyramid
With artificial intelligence taking center stage, business leaders across all industries are discussing – and considering – the implications of automation and personalization. The excitement levels have risen as more executives begin to see the opportunities that AI can bring when differentiating their offerings, personalizing their services, designing their products, and optimizing their operations.
With this interest comes the biggest question: How do we implement AI in a natural way, both for our people and our customers?
A contextual understanding of AI and its relevance combined with a strong point of view and a good data science team (to execute on your vision) is only half of the battle. The biggest, ongoing obstacle that executives face is their ability to architect a process for applying data intelligence to their business and decision making. Executives require a strategic approach in order to invest in the right AI projects.
Spanning cost reduction, increased efficiency, enhanced insights and customer engagement, and (new) business automation, the AI Value Pyramid is a set of guidelines for executives looking to invest in AI, but unsure where to start. Executives from across various industries can use these guidelines to explore opportunities for infusing AI into their own organizations.
Reduce costs by identifying recurring activities that can be automated using Machine Learning.
This is the easiest way to infuse AI into your organization (and justify the investment). In almost every large business, there are processes that require a human mind to take in data and perform a very simple, mental calculation. These simple tasks require various levels of human judgment and are not suitable for automation using traditional, hard-coded rules. Methods in Machine Learning, however, thrive in this space. They consume data and approximate human reasoning to either greatly reduce the human intervention needed or eliminate it completely – thereby freeing up those human resources for more valuable activities.
Identify opportunities across your service journey that impact your business at scale.
In the second layer of the pyramid, try to be a little more adventurous with AI. Look for critical moments that can be optimized further through the application of Machine Learning. For instance, allow the Machine Learning approach to increase sales and reduce churn by categorizing consumers/users via richer, more refined segments – rather than your typical “Millennial Moms” persona and the like.
When your organization is ready to make a stronger commitment to data, you need to focus on acquiring the right data.
