Ready or not, the business world is entering the era of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). GenAI is becoming mainstream as consumers increasingly use it in their personal and professional lives.
According to a recent KPMG survey, 58% of consumers say GenAI is currently having a significant impact on their professional life, and 77% believe it will have a significant impact on their professional life within two years. I am.
This technology will spark the next wave of business transformation and innovation, disrupting entire industries. For organizations to thrive in this new environment, visionary leadership will be essential because this is not a technology issue, but a business model, people, and strategy issue.
While anticipating and exceeding compound volatility (a combination of short-term risks to today's growth and structural changes in the economy), business leaders must also consider how GenAI will impact their business over the next three to five years. You need to anticipate what will be given and act quickly and boldly to achieve your goals. A strategy is underway to take your organization into the future.
Here are some steps business leaders can take today.
Understand the impact across your business with GenAI
A comprehensive understanding of how GenAI will impact different areas of an organization is essential for all senior leaders across the business, not just CTOs and CIOs. Enhance customer interactions and experiences through AI-powered personalization and recommendation systems in the front office. Middle offices, including operations and decision-making processes, can benefit from GenAI's ability to analyze large datasets and provide valuable insights. GenAI also helps streamline processes, automate repetitive tasks, and improve back-office efficiency.
A vision and strategy for all three areas is important, as is a clear timeline for action and impact in these areas. AI should actively contribute to how all stakeholders feel about the organization. For example, when using a company's AI-powered systems, customers need to see greater value rather than obstacles.
As a starting point, leaders should use GenAI regularly to get a feel for this dynamic. I've challenged the leaders who report to me to have an AI-first mindset and leverage technology in their day-to-day work to help us find and identify new opportunities.
Power your trusted AI framework and migrate quickly with guardrails
When faced with uncertainty, it's natural to want to slow down. However, GenAI capabilities are rapidly evolving, with companies across industries jumping on board to gain a competitive advantage.
Organizations currently have processes and relationships in place that need to be reviewed, expanded, and strengthened to move with speed and responsibility as they adopt GenAI. We encourage our clients to think of this roadmap as a highway with guardrails, rather than a gravel road with speed bumps.
A robust framework for the ethical development and use of GenAI is a necessary foundation for responsible and trustworthy use of the technology within organizations. Ensuring the accuracy and integrity of the large datasets used in GenAI systems is also important, and third-party certification or auditing can help in this area.
Thinking deeply about promoting behavioral change among employees
Meaningful progress depends on how quickly employees can take advantage of these capabilities. Initial use cases may drive adoption of GenAI among certain types of workers while simultaneously disabling other types of workers. Enable your employees to embrace and use her GenAI, along with the necessary training and upskilling resources. By promoting a culture of continuous learning, employees feel encouraged to explore and experiment with her GenAI.
Communicate the vision, value, and potential of GenAI and highlight how GenAI can improve productivity, decision-making, and creativity. Involve your employees in the process of integrating GenAI into their workflows and encourage them to share their expertise and insights to foster collaboration and sharing of best practices.
Essentially, this is a change management process. When leaders set a clear vision and strategy, it creates confidence in employees. As GenAI continues to evolve and new applications are discovered, resetting your strategy will become an essential aspect of effective change management.
In the era of GenAI, visionary leadership in action is essential. Making decisions requires diverse thinking and perspectives to arrive at the best outcome. Through their guidance and investment, leaders can harness the transformative power of GenAI to drive innovation, improve customer experience, and increase competitiveness. The choice to maintain the status quo while an organization or industry is disrupted is risky.
