The Future Ready Digital & AI Digest Vol. 2 No. 7

Welcome to the latest version of our Future Ready Digest, which keeps you up-to-date with the latest research and thinking on building future ready organisations. Please subscribe (free) to receive notifications of future Digests.

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In this edition:

The latest on AI; transformation; organisation, people and culture; the customer experience; sales and marketing - AI trust and culture shift; knowledge workers bringing their own AI to work; few organisations have mature AI processes; banks not ready for AI; internal knowledge management systems critical to enterprise AI success; a dystopian future one click at a time; boot stamping on a human face; AI and drug development; a useful AI explainer; does your organisation have the energy to transform?; systems thinking critical to digital transformation success; the benefits of flat organisations; build a thriving workforce and data based culture; neo people and the neo family; B2B thought leadership; AI and brand reputation; throwing your customers under a bus; the end of search.

The latest updates on AI……..

Via HBR. "If you’re a leader who wants to shift your workforce toward using AI, you need to do more than manage the implementation of new technologies. You need to initiate a profound cultural shift. At the heart of this cultural shift is trust." Trust may indeed be pivotal in transitioning to AI, but how do we achieve trust when we are facing a rage epidemic (see later).

According to Microsoft's annual Work Trend Index, AI usage has nearly doubled in the past six months, reaching 75% of knowledge workers. However, many of those using AI (about 78%) are adopting AI tools on their own, in a trend described in the report as ‘Bring Your Own AI,’ or BYOAI - reminiscent of the ‘Bring Your Own Device’ trend that rattled corporate IT departments in the early heyday of smartphone adoption, and the grassroots adoption of collaboration tools that spurred corporate decision-makers to sign up for corporate Slack and Microsoft Teams subscriptions."

Still a long way to go despite the hype. "There is a misconception, especially with generative AI (GenAI), that organisations do not need to worry about clean data since they start with pre-trained models that have already been trained using a lot of data. For the most valuable use cases, however, you need some sort of data source going into these models. Having your data AI-ready enables organisations to generate good business outcomes with AI." How can clean data impact AI outcomes?

Focuses on financial services but probably true in most large organisations. "Before diving headlong into the AI revolution, financial institutions need to take a true accounting of whether their data infrastructure is actually fit for the fight. Banking and insurance leaders look at ChatGPT or Gemini or Claude, and they see what Microsoft or Google or Amazon are doing with these technologies. And then they think that's what they have to do: 'We've got all this information. We have all these documents. Let's just turn them into our own AI!' But that's not how it works in real life. The problem isn't that they don't understand what's at stake or know what they want to do. The problem is they have vague or unrealistic expectations of what can be done, by whom and how. Hype tends to encourage executives (and their boards and their shareholders) to shoot too far, too soon and too high. If organizations actually benchmark and ground where AI plays in reality, and where their processes and IT systems can and cannot accommodate the flow and management of their data in support of such technology, harsh truths emerge. AI prowess is not beyond reach, but it can't be attained by aspiration alone."

Internal knowledge management systems are critical to the success of enterprise AI via CMS Wire. "Organizations everywhere are understandably thrilled about AI and the potential it has to transform business functions and improve efficiency, productivity and customer service. But not all AI is created equal. AI models are trained off large language models (LLMs), which ideally will be large bodies of text that are accurate and up-to-date. They also require a knowledge management system that is trained on organizations’ CX data as well as general internet data. If knowledge management isn’t founded in this CX data, then even the greatest LLM will have limited impact."

If only! "How can companies provide consistent, quality customer service (CX) that creates loyal customers? It starts by combining positive employee experiences with seamless, personalized customer journeys to create unified experiences — all while leveraging generative AI to enhance them." But it is very unlikely to work out that way. The main motivation for using AI for customer service will be to reduce costs. This will be at the expense of both the customer and employee experience, in my humble opinion.

Are we building an artificial intelligence-powered dystopia, one click at a time? A hard hitting Ted talk from techno-sociologist Zeynep Tufekci. "It is not AI we should be afraid of. It’s the people who control AI."

In the novel 1984, George Orwell memorably described his fascist dystopia as 'a boot stamping on a human face — forever.' With the new iPad Pro ad, Apple has created a similar metaphor for AI-skeptics — a hydraulic press, crushing the spirit of human creativity."

"According to executives working at the intersection of AI and health care, the field is on a trajectory that will see medicines completely generated by AI in the near future; according to some, within a few years at most it will become a norm in drug discovery."

Useful gateway to the McKinsey Explainer series on AI. "We’re in the midst of a revolution. Just as steam power, mechanized engines, and coal supply chains transformed the world in the 18th century, AI technology is currently changing the face of work, our economies, and society as we know it. We don’t know exactly what the future will look like. But we do know that these seven technologies will play a big role."

The latest on transformation…….

HBR on the growing problem of change fatique and burnout. "In conversations with senior leaders, a common theme emerges: Their teams are feeling exhausted. Companies are contending with relentless pressures on multiple fronts, such as shifting consumer preferences, technological advancements, environmental concerns, economic policies, and geopolitical shifts. Navigating this upheaval necessitates change, which inevitably disrupts established routines. Many organizations struggle to cope, eventually succumbing to fatigue and, in severe cases, burnout." How does change fatigue impact organizational performance? What are the consequences of burnout in the workplace? How do technological advancements contribute to change fatigue?

"Digital transformation fails when it simply automates manual or partially automated processes. Digital transformation succeeds when business processes are redesigned to benefit from digital technology. Redesigning processes is best performed using the systems thinking method, a holistic approach that reveals problems, bottlenecks and inefficiencies."

The latest on OPC - Organisation, People and Culture.......

According to the Gallop Global Emotions Report, anger around the world has been rising since 2016, with 23% of us being angry at some point during the day. "Rare is the driver who doesn’t maintain some kind of commentary, internal or external, on the incompetence and arrogance of other drivers. To take control of a vehicle is to place yourself in a position of decision-making, not just about routes or gear changes, but often about the moral character of everyone else on the road."

How does remote work affect knowledge sharing and team collaboration? Via HBS…."Leaders have fretted since COVID-19 lockdowns that collaboration and innovation might suffer when teammates interact less. New research points to an emerging concern four years on, as organizations settle into remote, hybrid, and in-person configurations: Potentially fewer opportunities for vital knowledge sharing outside one’s core department, especially colleagues with different views."

The potential benefits of flat organisational structures are well-known. I guess the most important question to ask is why the vast majority of our organisations remain hierarchical and bureaucratic?

McKinsey on the changing nature of the workplace. "To build a thriving workplace, leaders must reimagine work, the workplace, and the worker. That means shifting away from viewing employees as cogs who hit their deliverables then turn back into real human beings after the day is done. Employees are now more like elite artists or athletes who are inspired to produce at the highest levels but need adequate time to recharge and recover. The outcome is exceptional; the path to getting there is unique."

According to a recent Sloan Review paper, "the graveyard of data science initiatives is filled with solutions that are advanced, accurate, and well-meaning yet unused. The three main factors leading to failure are: 1. Most initiatives are run as technology projects. 2. Users resist changes to ways of working. 3. It’s difficult to demonstrate analytics ROI.

The latest on the customer experience, sales and marketing…….

What impact will 'neo people' have on customer relationships? How can products and services become part of the 'neo family' concept? A must-read for marketers via LSE. Does the concept of ‘neo people’ and the ‘neo family’ mean that we need to go beyond customer satisfaction or even customer delight? Do our products and services need to become ‘neo people’ in our customers’ lives, part of their ‘neo family’ which also includes the pet as a child and an AI assistant?

Thought leadership may indeed set brands apart, but as far as I can see, we are in danger of drowning in a sea of content mediocracy. Who is delivering real thought leading content?

Could the use of AI jeopardize a company’s brand reputation?

Throwing your customers under a bus or creating new opportunities?

Reimagining search. “Google shows you, like, 10 blue links — like, 13 ads and then 10 blue links — and that’s, like, one way to find information. But the thing that’s exciting to me is not that we can go build a better copy of Google Search, but that maybe there’s just a much better way to help people find, act on, and synthesize information.” Not so much thinking out of the box, more throwing out the box.

Hope you find the above links useful.

Thank you and take care.

Dr Jim Hamill