Adoption of Artificial Intelligence
Isa Alghatam
Manager - Business Consulting @ EY | Financial Services Risk Management
Leading organizations is a fundamental component of managerial research and discourse. In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has significantly revolutionized modern society in virtually all aspects. The reality of an aging population at workplaces, coupled with increased entrepreneurial rivalry, underlines the need for creative strategies to achieve a sustained competitive edge. AI has been widely hailed as one of the most promising solutions to organizational management challenges. In the near future, many organizations are expected to utilize AI to increase productivity and augment service quality. Therefore, with sound leadership and implementation, AI can be vital in enhancing organizational competitiveness in the current highly aggressive global environment. AI comes in various technologies that contemporary organizations can utilize to make informed decisions through effective management of thought, statistical, and visual data.
Machine learning (ML) is one of the popular AI technologies that organizations can adopt to boost their competitive edge. ML is a data analysis technique that improves the performance of the analytical model building. The technology is a branch of AI founded on the premise that machines can learn and, in the process, foster adaptive behavior. The adoption of ML in organizations can produce more reliable, repeatable decisions and outcomes, especially when subjected to previous computations. Hence, to benefit optimally from this technology, leaders must allow machines to learn and make appropriate decisions. When implemented appropriately, ML can enable companies to tap into their data analytics to gain a competitive advantage in areas such as market prediction, electrical demand, and employee selection. Notably, managers can use the technology to undertake advanced math and statistics computations on various market dynamics, thus allowing an entity to select the most appropriate strategy. For this reason, corporations can exploit the strengths of ML to boost the efficacy of their business operations.
Modern firms can also use computer vision (CV) to outsmart their rivals and achieve greater competitiveness. CV is a branch of AI that enables computers to decipher and comprehend the visual world by utilizing digital images from cameras and videos. The technology aims at automating classification tasks that human visual systems typically perform. CV could become a valuable tool in gaining a competitive advantage by unlocking new intelligence and driving business potential at the organizational level. Notably, CV techniques allow firms to gather and analyze intelligence about the most vital aspects of their business, especially personnel, products, and assets, to create organizational value. However, this adoption should meticulously consider the best management practices to ensure effectiveness. The board and senior management must increase their understanding of CV to identify the most efficient strategies to mitigate potential ethical implications. Thus, despite its potential to enhance corporate performance, CV requires a high degree of managerial efficacy to minimize ethical breaches and violations.?
Additionally, organizations can enhance corporate competitiveness through AI by adopting Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Chatbot systems. NLP is one of the most efficient technologies for addressing the hurdles associated with unstructured data. The technology can be integrated with advanced technologies such as chatbots to facilitate dialogues between computers and consumers. This integration can facilitate advanced and effective human-computer interaction to facilitate the swift analysis of unstructured data. The effective analysis of data generates meaningful outcomes that can enable organizations to make more informed decisions to improve their operational efficiency. Improvements in this regard could be realized in the most critical areas for corporate competitive advantage. For example, NLP can be used in complex business processes like predictions and decision-making in stock-market trading. Overall, firms can leverage the capabilities of NLP by integrating it with other AI solutions to enhance competitiveness through practical data analysis.
Adopting AI technologies such as speech recognition can augment a firm’s competitive advantage through improved customer services. Businesses can use speech recognition capabilities to offer customers a platform for self-service, thereby enriching their experiences and reducing operational overheads. The adoption of speech recognition boosts an entity’s competitiveness edge by minimizing the costs associated with customer care services. Notably, the technology can remove human agents in most customer care departments while enhancing clienteles’ experience by eliminating the burden of queuing for long hours. Therefore, speech recognition can enable organizations to gain a competitive advantage by promoting cost-effective customer care.
Several companies have leveraged the strengths of AI solutions to gain a competitive edge in the global market. Amazon. Inc. is one of the leading companies whose success is partly attributed to the rapid utilization of a broad range of AI solutions in its stores. The corporation’s Amazon Go, a new type of store devoid of checkout, uses the most advanced technology to serve customers. The chain utilizes deep learning algorithms, CV, and sensor fusion to automate the purchasing, checking, and paying systems. The adoption of these technologies has encouraged many customers to become loyal to Amazon. Amazon Go provides customers with a shopping experience that they have never witnessed before. Overall, the Amazon case highlights the usefulness of AI in achieving market growth and boosting an organization’s competitiveness.
FC Barcelona provides another example of organizations that have taken advantage of AI solutions to gain a competitive edge in the significantly crowded market. Like in many other sporting activities, success in football largely depends on field competitiveness. Cognizant of this fact, FC Barcelona tapped into AI opportunities by implementing technologies such as CV and ML to gather data and understand players’ performance potential. This innovation hub entails models that reveal the activities of players during a match when they do not have possession of the ball to understand their contributions to the team. The adoption of these technologies underlines the importance of AI in enabling sporting companies to become highly productive by understanding viable strategies of improving players’ individual input.
Overall, AI has growingly become a critical component in enhancing corporate competitiveness. As companies continue to trade in a highly unpredictable and volatile global business environment, organizational leaders are faced with the daunting task of exploring viable strategies to ensure sustained competitive advantage. AI intelligence solutions such as ML, NLP, CV, and speech recognition allow firms to enhance their productivity through effective data management. Companies can utilize these technologies to collect, analyze, and interpret visual, thought, and statistical data to make sound business decisions.