What are the 8 Essential AI-Driven Strategies for Business Growth?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a concept confined to science fiction; it’s transforming industries at an unprecedented speed. But with so much change, how can businesses effectively stay ahead of the curve and leverage its full potential?
In this article, Isar Meitis, an AI Implementation Expert and CEO of Multiplai.ai, with a background in tech startups and a former F-16 pilot, sheds light on the 7 essential strategies (with a bonus one!) required to navigate this AI-driven future. With a focus on prioritizing tasks, assessing risks, and maximizing value, he outlines a comprehensive approach to achieving success in the realm of AI. Inspired by his conversation on Kalicube Tuesdays podcast with Jason Barnard, CEO and founder of Kalicube, here’s a breakdown of their insightful discussion.
Continuous Education
Continuous education serves as the foundational step in embracing AI-driven strategies, a truth underscored by Isar Meitis. With experience in running tech companies and flying fighter jets, Meitis knows firsthand how fast things move in the AI world.
With dramatic upgrades occurring on a weekly basis, it’s overwhelming for businesses to keep up with such rapid changes. However, understanding what’s going on and how you can apply it to your business or how it may affect your strategy is absolutely crucial.
The question is: How do I keep myself and my team and my company continuously educated?
Meitis advocates for a proactive learning approach. He emphasizes that businesses must not only recognize these changes but also comprehend their strategic significance.
For better learning, Meitis suggests:
- Identifying and following thought leaders across various social media platforms.
- Curating a Google news feed dedicated to delivering significant AI updates.
- Engaging in structured learning through formal courses like his four-session program designed for business leaders.
Continuous education in the realm of AI holds both tactical benefits and strategic implications for businesses. What is the difference between the two?
Tactical versus Strategic
- Tactical implication: Refers to immediate actions or applications that can enhance efficiency in business operations.
A tactical move could be implementing a new software system to streamline processes, resulting in time and cost savings for the business. For example, investing in automation tools to expedite repetitive tasks like data entry or customer inquiries could lead to significant efficiency gains in the short term.
- Strategic implication, on the other hand: Involves a forward-looking perspective on the future landscape of a particular industry.
A strategic move could be repositioning a company’s focus to align with anticipated industry trends.
Establishing an AI Committee
The next vital step on the AI journey is the formation of an AI committee.
This committee is tasked with defining guidelines for AI usage, continuously educating team members, and testing potential AI use cases. By bringing together individuals from diverse departments, including finance, HR, sales, and marketing, the committee ensures a comprehensive and department-specific approach to AI implementation to make sure a company stays updated, both in knowledge and application.
Importantly, the AI committee acts as the leadership group for AI implementation, mitigating risks, and ensuring safe and informed decision-making throughout the organization.
AI Policies and Ethical Guidelines
With the formation of an AI committee comes the crucial responsibility of establishing AI policies and ethical guidelines within the organization.
The primary objective of the committee is twofold:
Firstly, to define clear guidelines about when we can and can’t use AI in our company. Knowing the dangers of using AI in the wrong way, the committee works to prevent unintentionally doing harmful things. These rules help encourage using AI responsibly and lower the chance of unexpected problems.
Secondly, the committee assumes the role of perpetual learners and testers. They are tasked with continuously educating themselves on emerging AI trends and testing various AI use cases. Whether exploring internally generated ideas or responding to suggestions from within the organization, the committee serves as a controlled testing ground for potential AI applications. By rigorously evaluating these use cases, the committee identifies those with tangible benefits and relevance to the organization, subsequently deploying them while ensuring the dissemination of knowledge to the wider team.
To lead the AI implementation, the business in a safe way. That’s the goal of the committee.
Assessment
Then you do a whole set of assessments or evaluations that are done led by the committee, but done by a lot of other people.
Strategic Assessment
Strategic assessment is essential when considering AI’s role in business. It’s about predicting how AI will affect customer needs and business strategies. And it could be positive, it could be negative. By doing this, companies can spot opportunities and risks early on.
“What’s the trajectory of where AI is going, where is it leading, and what might be the implications of the needs of my clients? Like you’re serving somebody with a product or a service, will their needs change? And with the way AI is moving right now, regardless of what you’re selling, unless you’re selling apples, it may likely be impacted with how they’re going to perceive the world and interact with things, because AI will change the way they do things. So strategic analysis is one. Look for opportunities, look for risks.”
Isar Meitis, CEO of Multiplai.ai
The goal is to see where AI is headed and how it will change customer expectations. By understanding these changes, businesses can adapt their strategies and products accordingly.
HR Skills Analysis
Identifying and addressing skill gaps within your organization is crucial in the Age of AI. Meitis warns that most companies currently lack the necessary AI expertise, presenting a vital decision: hire new talent or reskill existing employees?
Reskilling is increasingly crucial as major software tools integrate AI capabilities. Employees must grasp AI concepts, risks, and benefits to remain competitive. With tools like Microsoft Office and Google G Suite now offering AI features, reskilling ensures employees can leverage these tools effectively.
However, for more advanced AI endeavors, hiring external expertise may be necessary. Developing proprietary AI capabilities or building AI-driven software products requires specialized skills not typically found within HR or sales departments.
Low-Hanging Fruits
The final step of assessment involves analyzing and identifying low-hanging fruits—quick wins that can be achieved through AI in day-to-day operations.
AI’s proficiency in handling repetitive tasks and data analysis makes it an invaluable tool for businesses. Whether it’s meta-tagging, analyzing competitor data, or automating routine operations, AI can significantly enhance efficiency and productivity.
However, it’s crucial to evaluate the level of human input needed for each task. While some tasks may require minimal human involvement, others may necessitate human judgment and oversight to mitigate risks.
Moreover, Meitis highlights the importance of prioritizing tasks based on their potential value to the business. Whether it’s increasing revenue, saving time, or gaining a competitive edge, organizations must focufocus on tasks that offer the greatest benefits.
Develop a Plan (With KPI)
Developing a well-defined plan is crucial when integrating AI into business processes. This plan not only outlines the overarching goals but also establishes Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that serve as vital signposts along the way.
One crucial aspect highlighted by Meitis is the need to break down the journey into manageable steps. It’s not enough to set a lofty goal of achieving a certain percentage of savings; rather, it’s essential to define the specific actions required to reach that goal. These actions may include establishing an AI committee, conducting departmental analyses, evaluating potential solutions, and implementing necessary changes.
By defining these steps and setting corresponding KPIs, organizations can ensure they are on the right track towards achieving their AI integration goals. These KPIs serve as checkpoints, enabling businesses to monitor progress and make course corrections as needed.
Encourage AI Usage
Isar Meitis underscores the importance of creating an environment where employees feel empowered to utilize AI effectively.
Encouraging usage comes with a caveat: it must align with defined guidelines to mitigate potential risks. By establishing clear boundaries and protocols, organizations can ensure responsible AI usage while still reaping its benefits.
One key strategy is to actively share AI wins and insights during meetings. Leaders should openly discuss their experiences and successes with AI implementation, setting a precedent for others to follow. Regularly featuring AI-related topics in departmental calls or meetings reinforces the message that AI adoption is not only supported but encouraged.
Prompt Library
Establishing a prompt library is a strategic move towards enhancing AI utilization within an organization. This library acts as a centralized repository of successful prompts utilized across diverse AI applications, allowing employees to access proven prompts for various tasks. Such accessibility ensures consistency and efficiency in AI implementation organization-wide.
The concept behind a prompt library is simple yet powerful. Instead of creating new prompts from scratch, employees can tap into existing ones that have proven effective. This approach minimizes redundant efforts and promotes collaboration by sharing knowledge and best practices.
Human Relationships (Bonus)
The significance of human relationships is the bonus point here. You might question its relevance to AI, but as AI becomes more accessible and effective, performance gaps between individuals are narrowing. While AI can enhance productivity and efficiency, it’s the quality of human connections that will truly distinguish businesses.
Meitis suggests that those who invest in cultivating client relationships, participating in industry events, hosting virtual gatherings, and engaging on social media will gain a significant advantage.
Meaningful human connections will become the cornerstone of success in an AI-driven world.
How Does Branded Search Help With Business Growth?
Isar Meitis, CEO of Multiplai.ai“Search is going to change dramatically. Nobody knows how, by the way. I’m not sure Google knows how, but it’s going to change dramatically because even today with the snippet we have on top, a lot of people are going to that, which means nobody clicks or there’s a lot less clicks. And if you kind of run the trajectory, nobody will click, nobody will want search, people will want answer. And if there’s an answer, nobody’s going to your website. If nobody’s going to your website, why do you have 67 blog posts or 670 blog posts? And so the importance of branded search becomes very critical, because if somebody will search for you because they have seen you somewhere, you win.
It doesn’t matter what the AI says, if somebody will look for your brand, they will find you. If somebody looks for an answer related to your brand, the chances they will find you, even if you do a lot of SEO work, is significantly lower.”
