AI as a Competitive Advantage—In Any Organization with Tom Davenport

“In general, it is quite useful to start out with a separate group of data scientists. And now the most successful companies don’t just focus on data science, they focus on developing and implementing data products and monitoring them over time. It also makes sense to start to migrate aspects of that out into the organization. And have it at least be matrixed so that people are embedded into the business, maybe reporting as a dotted line back to some central structure to develop new skills and so on. I’ve seen that evolution over time with analytics, and I think we’ll start to see it with AI as well. Start with a fully centralized group and make it as pervasive as possible throughout the org.”?

Tom Davenport is the President's Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College. He is also a Visiting Professor at Oxford's Said Business School, a Fellow of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, and a Senior Advisor to Deloitte's AI practice. He is a widely published author and speaker on the topics of AI, analytics, information and knowledge management, reengineering, enterprise systems, and electronic business. Tom has written, co-authored, or edited 23 books, including the first books on business analytics, enterprise AI, business process reengineering, knowledge management, attention management, and enterprise systems. He recently published Working with AI and Advanced Introduction to AI in Healthcare. And just published All in on AI: How smart companies win big with artificial intelligence.

He has written over 300 articles for such publications as Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, the Financial Times, and many other publications, and has been a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Information Week, and CIO. He has been named one of the world's top 25 consultants by Consulting magazine, one of the 100 most influential people in the IT industry by Ziff-Davis magazines, and one of the top 50 business school professors by Fortune magazine.?

He joined me on the Outthinkers podcast to share his insights on how to harness AI in any organization to give you competitive advantage.

Listen to the full episode here.

Tom's Top Insights:

1. Many organizations are not harnessing the full strategic capabilities of AI: When implemented strategically, AI can enable entirely new business models, new ways of making money, and new capabilities to offer customers. However, Tom's studies of organizations revealed that many AI implementations are not strategic. Deloitte surveys suggest that AI use cases are primarily oriented towards improving processes rather than transforming businesses.
2. An AI strategy can fuel your organization in three ways: There are three strategic ways in which AI can be used in organizations: (1) developing new business models, which has been leveraged by many digital natives and platform businesses, (2) operational improvement, which can transform the way organizations go to market, and (3) using AI to change customer behavior, such as insurance companies have done with helping customers improve health or driving skills.
3. Organizations need committed senior management and CEO to successfully compete on AI capabilities: This requires investing in resources along with promoting and paying people who support an AI-first strategy. AI-fueled organizations also need a strong technology infrastructure and extensive training programs. Tom's DELTA framework has proven relevant for analytics and can also be applied to AI. The DELTA model includes focusing on Data, Enterprise orientation, Leadership, Targets, and Analysts.

Listen to the full interview.

More Resources:

• Visit Tom's personal website.
• Connect on LinkedIn.
• Follow on Twitter.