hen CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria stood up at ServiceNow’s Knowledge 2024 conference and declared that “this might be the most revolutionary moment in human history”, he was only partly talking about AI.
Nevertheless, as a new generation of technology is used to augment human intelligence across a backdrop of economic shocks and
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Talking point
The conversation around AI is changing
Nielsen predicts gen AI could increase the average worker’s productivity by 66 per cent, and three quarters of the executives recently polled by McKinsey believe it will lead to significant or disruptive change for their industries in the future.
With the current pace of change and seemingly endless possibilities, leaders can be forgiven for feeling overwhelmed by AI or apprehensive about falling behind. For many large businesses, change takes time, but it is possible to cut through the noise and start putting AI to work for your organisation, whatever its size.
Much has been said about how machines are going to change the world of work for ever. But how are employers reaping the benefits of artificial intelligence? It’s time to walk the walk
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turbulent geopolitics, it’s the No 1 topic for millions of business leaders around the world.
Spending on AI in EMEA alone is expected to grow by 61 per cent year on year in 2024, according to research by Lenovo. Over half (57 per cent) of businesses have already invested in generative AI specifically, with a further 40 per cent planning to invest in the coming year.
Happy days
AI can help workers leave behind more mundane tasks
CIOs are effectively the safety nets around the excitement
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So, I’ve been thinking about AI
LET’S TALK STRATEGY
There’s been a clear shift in the conversation around AI in 2024, says Damian Stirrett, ServiceNow group vice-president and general manager of UK and Ireland. “We’ve moved from ‘why AI’ to ‘how AI can help with business priorities’.
“Everyone’s searching for the killer use case. There are also questions around how to get AI ready in terms of infrastructure, data security and compliance, as well as what to address first.”
AI is not a silver bullet and should not be introduced for its own sake despite the pressure many are feeling, advises Simon Morris, ServiceNow’s vice-president of solution consulting. Leaders should think about the capabilities that would best serve their individual business according to its objectives, bottlenecks and capacity for change.
“There’s so much excitement and momentum around AI and its use cases that business leaders are saying to technology leaders: ‘Come on, what are we doing? What’s our strategy?’” he says. “CIOs are effectively the safety nets around the excitement, by thinking about how to respond in a way that’s aligned with strategy, governance and the cost benefits the business is trying to achieve.”
Depending on an organisation’s data practices, there may be some work required to improve the data behind a system before AI can be layered on top. This provides a good opportunity to do an audit of governance and data privacy measures, Stirrett says.
AI frees up time to do more valuable things for customers rather than repetitive work
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“There is nervousness among the C-suite about responsible AI and data privacy. That’s all down to really good governance. Who’s allowed what? Where does data sit? How does it flow? You need to be AI ready from a security and compliance perspective, and have those guardrails in place.”
Change management is another aspect leaders need to consider, particularly while there is still apprehension around what AI will mean for jobs. Factor in the time and money required to reskill employees and emphasise the benefits, Morris says. “Luckily, a lot of these categories of AI products make people’s lives easier. Employees want to feel their work matters and to leave behind the more mundane and repetitive tasks.”
Action stations
ServiceNow’s Simon Morris (above) notes an increased excitement and momentum around AI
Starting your company’s AI journey with modest changes will also help. There’s a temptation to go big straight away, Morris says, particularly with gen AI. “A lot of business leaders think about gen AI as a cognitive brain that can understand the entire business landscape and make strategy decisions better than our people can. Those projects are inherently risky.
“However, with something like embedded AI, for example, you can get to value really quickly because it focuses on making the existing workflows and journeys much more cognitive.”
ONE SMALL STEP…
Round table
AI provides a great opportunity for much-needed data audits
A study commissioned by Microsoft found business leaders are seeing $3.50 return for every $1 invested in AI, with return on investment (ROI) being realised an average of 14 months from deployment.
At ServiceNow, gen AI solutions so far have largely focused on content creation, content summarisation and intent detection. The company’s intelligent chatbot Now Assist has increased employee self-service by 14 per cent, and customer self-service by 10 per cent as people can get the answers they need without any human involvement. Developers are also seeing a 5 per cent gain in weekly productivity hours thanks to Now Assist’s text-to-workflow tools.
“We’re using it extensively for productivity gains but also to understand our customers better,” Morris adds. “We’re using AI to predict risk in our business and to anticipate trends, as well as make productivity improvements and free up time to do more valuable things for customers rather than low value, repetitive work.”
Once companies are comfortable with the improvements AI has made around productivity, leaders will be able to proactively explore what the technology could mean for expanding business models. “I’m starting to see customers not just wanting to improve a process but to actually reimagine it, to co-innovate a new revenue stream or even go to market,” Stirrett says.
Sometimes what’s required is a leap of faith, he adds. Otherwise, there is a risk that businesses can get caught in a proof-of-concept loop, where new technologies are not given the chance to scale. “Just don’t drown in the intellectual possibilities or technical complexities of AI. Know the tech, understand how it can help your business and the teams you work with, and go for the most impactful things. You need to be both fast and nimble.”
Morris adds that success with AI comes down to a company’s ability to transform. “Experimentation and the ability to iterate is what will separate the winners from the losers. Although the technology is novel and unknown to a certain extent, the fundamentals are as old as business itself. Have good goals, understand what you’re trying to achieve, and execute hard. If you do that, you’re well on your way.”
Group work
Learn how AI can help different teams within a business, says ServiceNow’s Damian Stirrett (left)
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from ‘why AI?’ to ‘how AI can help’
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