Brownfield Generative AI: Making the Most of What you Already Have

In the rush to embrace the latest and greatest in tech, it is easy to overlook the value of what you already have. Steve Jobs said it best, "Innovation is not about saying yes to everything. It is about saying no to all but the most crucial features.” Take Tata Motors, for instance. This Mumbai-based giant scooped up Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) for $2.3 billion back in 2008. By snagging JLR’s UK-based design centers and manufacturing facilities, Tata Motors did not just get keys to a new kingdom—they tapped into a deep well of engineering smarts and heaps of valuable data. Just as Jobs suggested, Tata Motors showed that real innovation often means focusing on the right features—or in this case, the right existing assets—that drive the most value.?

The Perils of Starting from Scratch?

The journey to create new assets from scratch is undoubtedly ambitious but is no small feat. McKinsey paints a vivid picture of this reality in its report highlighting the significant overruns of a large IT project—45% over budget and 7% over time. That is a lot of extra dough for something that might not even perform better than your current setup.??

The Sleeping Giants: Existing Data and Existing Applications?

Think about it, businesses worldwide are sitting on a pile of enterprise data and applications, just waiting to be unleashed. Seagate's 'Rethink Data' report says that 68% of all this data is just sitting there, doing nothing! And with IDC predicting that we will hit 175 zettabytes of data by 2025, a lot of that will come from businesses. This just goes to show the sheer scale of what is already at our fingertips.??

Leveraging the Brownfield for Generative AI?

So why not turn your attention inward and give a chance to the current assets? By using AI to generate content, reports, or analyses on your data and breathing new life into your applications, you can create powerful solutions to take business to the next level.?Taking the Brownfield approach puts your business on the forefront of innovation, all without breaking the bank on new projects.?

Looking at some standout Brownfield applications, building on what you have already got can lead to incredible outcomes. Bank of America, for instance introduced Erica, a virtual assistant built on existing digital infrastructure, which handles more than 98% of client interactions. Netflix is another textbook case of Brownfield project done right. They did not toss out their old DVD rental playbook; they supercharged it. By enhancing, rather than replacing, their core service, they used the mountains of viewer data they already had and turned it into a recommendation engine that has become legendary. Notably, 80% of what people watch stems from these smart suggestions. It is a total game changer without having to start from square one. This shows how using generative AI to pump up what you have can work wonders for keeping customers happy and engaged.?

Generative AI is fascinating but often the technology side of it takes the center stage. As a result, it is easy to lose sight of the business value that already resides within organizations. The question therefore is why not unlock the potential of generative AI with the data and applications you already have? Your existing assets – that pile of data you have been sitting on, and those countless applications you have built – could be a goldmine waiting to be tapped.??

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