Selecting a GenAI Partner: Key Considerations for CIOs
As a modern CIO, GenAI is probably on your mind all the time. To put that thought into action, you need a partner. Here’s how to choose one.
Generative AI is one of those technologies that is accessible and easy to use. So, anyone—marketing, finance, sales, or operations teams—can open up ChatGPT and start using it for their needs. In fact, 34% of organizations that Gartner surveyed do precisely this, embedding GenAI into editing apps like Microsoft CoPilot or Adobe Firefly.
However, this dramatically limits the technology's potential. Imagine using GenAI as a replacement for Google when you can use it as a contextual, intelligent, and collaborative sidekick.
Imagine doing the generic things when you can create a differentiated experience with GenAI!
To deliver maximum value, you need GenAI to know the right things—i.e., have the right data about your organization. For instance, if it has access to your payroll data, Gen AI can dynamically generate payslips. If it has sales data, it can build trend reports and make forecasts. If GenAI understands your business model, it can create personalized proposals.
Essentially, good organizational data = powerful Gen AI.?
And who owns good organizational data? The Chief Information Officer (CIO) or Chief Data Officer (CDO)!
CIOs are uniquely positioned to lead GenAI initiatives. In fact, it is the CIO’s prerogative to ensure GenAI's success. In this blog post, we explore one of the most important things you need to achieve that: An effective GenAI partner!
Choosing the right GenAI partner
Generative AI is a technology that opens up endless possibilities. As a CIO, your job is to rein in the excitement and deliver what matters, lest you end up like the 49% of leaders who find “estimating and demonstrating AI value” as their biggest barrier to implementation.
For successful implementation, you need a robust GenAI partner. Here’s what to look for while choosing one.
1. Business understanding
To demonstrate ROI on GenAI investments, they must be aimed at business goals. If you’re implementing an internal chatbot, you need to measure employee experience. If you’re using GenAI to automate processes, you must benchmark performance, speed, and efficiency.
A good GenAI partner needs to understand your business non-negotiably. They must be willing to invest in learning about your industry, market, customers, competition, and the rest of the landscape.
To gauge if your GenAI partner has business understanding, speak to them about their:
2. Technological philosophy
You see, most organizations that pitch to CIOs have the capabilities to implement GenAI. What they often lack is the philosophy that shapes strategy.?
A good GenAI partner has a belief system and values that align with your own. For instance, if you take ethical AI seriously, you need a partner who can work to your standards.
While evaluating, explore their take on:
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3. Adaptability
GenAI is an evolving technology. Between November 2022, when ChatGPT first launched, and today, there has been exponential growth in both capabilities and usage, which is sure to continue.
A good GenAI partner needs to evolve at the speed of the tech, without being distracted by the next shiny object. So, speak to them about their:
Most importantly, check how they would maintain a collaborative relationship with you to support your needs.
4. Innovation and research focus
Tech companies—including most startups—focus more on the markets than pure research and development. This can’t apply to GenAI. While the possibilities are extraordinary, the potential for harm is also endless.
Environmental impact: The computer power needed for GenAI is dramatically increasing its carbon footprint. The World Economic Forum estimates that by 2050, e-waste will reach 120 million metric tons.?
Fair use of data: Everyone from the New York Times to Scarlett Johansson is suing ChatGPT over the use of their work. The standards for what and how data is used to train models are still evolving.
Privacy: Even mistakenly using personally identifiable data (PII) to train a model can have seriously harmful privacy implications.
Ensure that your GenAI partner is constantly innovating and researching across various areas. Ask if they are:
5. Ongoing model training
One of GenAI’s biggest advantages is its ability to learn from new data and user behavior constantly. So, a good GenAI partner will build systems to train your models sustainably.
While evaluating partners, ask:
There is a lot to worry about when it comes to implementing GenAI within an enterprise. So much so that less than one-fourth of organizations go beyond off-the-shelf products: Only 25% use prompt engineering, 21% fine-tune, and 19% even use standalone products like Tune Chat, ChatGPT or Gemini.
You can avoid many of these worries by choosing a partner who takes care of all this for you. At TuneAI, we do precisely that. As cloud natives and passionate technologists, we bring the best in thought and action towards GenAI initiatives.
Don’t take our word for it. Ask us all of the above questions and more. Speak to our experts today.