Over the past year, artificial intelligence (AI) has proved its worth as a long-term investment for businesses. It brings a range of perfectly wrapped presents to the table, making a significant impact on productivity, efficiency, and automation across business functions. With almost 40% of companies worldwide already using AI in some form, it’s undeniable that it has the capability to revolutionise business operations.
For example, Santa’s workshop would benefit from AI adoption in automation of its supply chain orders, faster and more accurate analysis of wish list data, and tracking of items that have made it into his sleigh.
To ensure he makes the most of AI’s benefits, Santa will have brought it on board with ethical guidelines and responsible practices in mind. But have you? Whether you’ve already adopted and want to make sure you’re using AI responsibly, or you’re yet to adopt and are looking to integrate ethical standards into your plan – time’s running out to get onto Santa’s nice list before Christmas.
Getting into the good books with responsible adoption
Adopting AI responsibly isn’t just about avoiding risks, it’s also a way of setting the stage for sustainable growth, efficiency, and innovation. If you jump on the AI bandwagon without building a solid foundation and outlining a clear strategy, a myriad of risks can await your business. Data breaches, ethical challenges, and financial losses are all risks businesses face if they ignore the importance of responsible adoption.
The most effective way of adopting AI to mitigate these risks is a responsible one, and it’s not as easy as plugging in your Christmas lights. Smart and strategic choices are the key to protecting business data and aligning AI initiatives with business goals.
Santa’s top tips for adopting responsibly
Like writing a Christmas shopping list, AI adoption can be too daunting to start for lots of businesses. With so much information out there, where are you meant to start?
The key is pushing fear to the side and making any type of start, even if it’s small. Those who start now and invest in AI will stay ahead of the curve. But like Rudolph and his crew, the AI gap is real, and businesses who don’t get on board now will be left behind. So, what do you need to consider to adopt AI responsibly?
- Make sure your data shines like a bauble
Squeaky clean data is crucial to getting reliable insights from AI. Getting AI ready means prepping business operations for AI systems to easily slot in, so business data needs to be accurate, void of bias, and ready for action.
The same way you wouldn’t send Santa a disorganised wish list, you wouldn’t give AI messy data. Making sure data is up to date, without errors or duplicates, is critical to ensuring your AI delivers real value. This comes hand-in-hand with assessing your internal resources, and making sure your infrastructure can handle the scale and power of AI demands. More flexible Cloud platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure can help business scale AI cost-effectively.
- Embrace elf-level organisation
Training is a key part of onboarding AI. Do you think Santa’s elves are expected to wrap presents without being trained first? Preparation for AI use is essential to allowing your employees to understand its benefits and using it effectively.
As it affects every team in the business, not just the IT department, the entire workforce needs to be prepped for AI adoption. Whilst this can seem like a costly task, investing in your people is how AI will create valuable results. Change management is a key component to preparing workforces for the changes you need to adopt AI. Fostering a culture of readiness and continuous compliance is key to ensuring it becomes an asset.
Knowing your business objectives and making sure your AI strategy aligns with and contributes to them is key to maximising its capabilities. Whether improving customer experiences, automating repetitive tasks, or personalising services is your business goal, use AI to drive that strategy.
Prioritising AI applications that solve real problems as well as boosting productivity is key to boosting business growth. Do you need help with recommending products to your customers to increase sales? This is a tangible problem AI can solve for you. Like following a gingerbread recipe, baking a strategic AI plan will produce the best goods.
Santa’s secret weapon – Responsible AI
Long-term success is the outcome of adopting AI through responsible practices and with ethical guidelines in mind. High-quality data aligned business goals, and a prepped workforce are the key to thriving rather than falling behind.
If Santa’s already on board, why aren’t you? After all, it’s how he gets his presents from the North Pole to under your tree.
Get onto the nice list this Christmas – start small, think big, and stay responsible.
Kyle Hill is chief technology officer at ANS, a digital transformation provider and Microsoft’s UK Services Partner of the Year 2024. Headquartered in Manchester, it offers public and private cloud, security, business applications, low code, and data services to thousands of customers, from enterprise to SMB and public sector organisations.