Benefiting from AI through Organisational Innovation

Most companies after years of investing in Artificial Intelligence (AI), tend to fail in benefiting from the technology. The reason being that most of them invest in just an aspect of the business processes. AI as a subset of a broader, more critical category of technologies that also includes machine learning, deep learning, cognitive analytics, robotics process automation (RPA), and bots, just to name a few. "Collectively, these and other tools constitute machine intelligence: algorithmic capabilities that can augment employee performance, automate increasingly complex workloads, and develop 'cognitive agents' that simulate both human thinking and engagement------------Report, 2017.

For firms to benefit massively from AI, they must engage in some organizational innovations in other to break this barrier. 

 There should be a shift from siloed work to interdisciplinary collaboration ---------Fountaine, McCarthy, Saleh, & Tamim, 2019. It is well known from blockchain that, for it to be successful, it needs to consist of interdisciplinary and diverse people from different part of the world working together. The development and maintenance of blockchain are open, distributed, and shared. A team of volunteers around the world maintains the core software. And just like e-mail, bitcoin first caught on with an enthusiastic but relatively small community--------Lakhani, Marco; Iansiti Karim R., 2017. Same applies to AI, for companies to be able to benefit from it, they need to breakdown all organizational and cultural barriers that are preventing the success of AI—allowing its diverse workers to work together to address bigger institutional priorities. Also, not just the development team should be involved in the process but also the end-users should participate, this makes them feel part of the developing stage. In the end, it is very easy for end-users when using the product. 

Companies should move from experienced-based, leader-driven decision making to data-driven decision making at the front line ------Fountaine, McCarthy, Saleh, & Tamim, 2019. Most experienced employees tend to feel like they mostly know better from experience than to trust any algorithm since they have gained experience by learning from the job. Change becomes a big blow for them. Every department on the hierarchy needs to oblige and believe in this new technology for them to benefit from AI; including the experienced employees. They need to forego the traditional method of working and replace complicated manual way for events with AI technology. Gone were the days that company planners relied on stickers, pins, etc. as well as trusting their guts and relying on their working experience to plan events, but all these traditional methods can be replaced now which in return will hugely benefit companies. From managing global supply chains to optimising delivery routes, artificial intelligence(AI) is helping companies of all sizes and in all industries to improve productivity and the bottom line at every stage of the business lifecycle. From sourcing material to sales and accounting to customer service. AI is allowing companies to design, produce and deliver products and service better than ever before (Marr, 2019).

Companies should move from rigid and risk-averse to agile, experimental and adaptable-----Fountaine, McCarthy, Saleh, & Tamim, 2019. Companies need to forego the hard way of working and be more flexible in other to benefit from AI. Traditional managers need to divert from their approach and loosen their rules to make employees more initiative and use their ingenuity to find their way out a problem with the help of AI. This can be successful by encouraging teamwork rather than entertaining competition. Also, by experimenting ideas will give employees the idea on which best method will help a particular procedure while eliminating or reducing waste(failures). It is a challenge for any business, to sense opportunities or threats, prioritize potential responses and act efficiently and effectively.

Various approaches such as cloud computing, business-IT alignment, enterprise architectures or context modelling promise to provide solutions. Artificial intelligence can contribute in several ways to increasing the agility of organizations ------Hinelmann & Th?nssen, 2011. For this change to be successful, leaders need to maintain an open and welcoming presence, trust employee's judgement, recruiting non-highly talented employees and making employees take on more initiatives.

References

Report, D. (2017). The Kinetic Enterprise. Tech Trends.

Fountaine, McCarthy, T., Saleh, B., & Tamim. (2019). Building the AI-Powered Organization. Harvard Business Review, 62-73.

Lakhani, Marco; Iansiti Karim R. (2017). The truth about blockchain. Harvard Business Review.

Marr, B. (2019). What is the importance of AI. Retrieved from https://bernardmarr.com/default.asp?contentID=1829

Hinelmann, K., & Th?nssen, B. (2011). AI for Business Agility. Retrieved from AAAI Press: https://aaai.org/Press/Reports/Symposia/Spring/ss-11-03.php