Thrive, survive or something else.

Making the case for acceleration

Last week I had the privilege of presenting to New Zealand’s most influential leaders in the field of data and analytics at the Corinium Chief Data and Analytics Officer Conference in Auckland. This important group of leaders have such an incredibly critical role over the next few years. As AI increasingly shapes the future of our organisations, our institutions and our industries, this group of leaders need to choose to accelerate New Zealand's mainstream adoption of this technology or not. I took the opportunity to lay out the case for pace!

The AI hype is everywhere. It's easy to be skeptical.

Every conference from HR to infrastructure is smothered in a big dollop of AI flavoured sauce. Every vendor has almost overnight released AI enabled features with a unique set of machine learning algorithms that are guaranteed to increase customer engagement, to speed up your recruitment, and simplify your supply chain. They make it sound so easy, like it is an app that you just download, plug in and shaboom you got yourself some AI. With all this hype, it is not surprising that New Zealand organisations can quickly get a bit skeptical about it all. If we are not careful we can quickly dismiss AI, believing that 'everyone’s talking about it, nobody really knows how to do it.' It is a pretty easy story to tell ourselves but it is dangerous one. 

Having recently attend the O’Reilly AI Conference in San Francisco, it was clear people did know how to do it, they are doing it and they are applying it in all sorts of different innovative ways. What was also apparent is that we are already seeing the ‘AI haves’ and the ‘AI have nots’. Which means that this technology will be one of major drivers of economic inequality in the next few years.

The warning bell has been ringing

However research shows that the ability for many organisations to take advantage of AI is at opposite ends of spectrum when compared to their level of excitement. Fundamentally this is because many organisations have consistently under invested in all aspects of data, severely hindering their business agility. Those same organisations are now finding themselves facing the stark reality that they are behind the AI readiness curve.

The Institute of Directors started ringing this warning bell back in 2016. They were forecasting AI to have the largest impact on developed countries that depend on knowledge resources and productivity gains for growth. We fit into this bucket. The IOD were warning that we may see New Zealand fall behind other developed countries which are better positioned to realise productivity gains from this technology.

Then in March this year, CIO magazine claimed that Data Governance is now a top 5 priority for New Zealand Board Directors. Boards are starting to understand that data is both a blessing and a curse. The more data we have and the better we are able to use it, the more we are able to serve our customers through better, faster, cheaper products and services. However, the more data we hold, the more responsibility we have, and the more vulnerable we become to data breaches and potential for misuse.

And in our government institutions, even though there has been a long standing programme of work to deliver ‘Better Public Services’, New Zealand is still ranked 9th when compared to other OECD countries according to the Oxford Insights AI Readiness Index.

New Zealand businesses are at a crossroads

New Zealand organisations are at the same crossroads that Kodak and Blockbuster were at good few years ago. I am sure you have all heard the story. Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1975 but opted not to produce a digital camera for the mass market fearing cannibalization of their photographic film business, Blockbuster had the opportunity to invest in Netflix in 2000. For various reasons both companies choose not to shape their own future and as a consequence their businesses were shaped by others.

Is it too late? Should we admit defeat?

I know it's pretty easy to focus on the lethargy of the late majority but there are some front runners making fantastic progress including some inspiring examples of right here in New Zealand. There are showing us that is possible to not just experiment with this technology but to put into production, putting AI to work. And for me that is the bit that counts.

Role of Data and Analytics leaders

So what this all means is as Data & Analytics leaders we have a great deal of responsibility resting on our shoulders as both the evangelists as well as the portents of doom. Striking the right balance between these two roles can be a tightrope walk. Play the risk card too strongly by highlighting all the things that could go wrong could seriously injure the organisation. On the other hand, it we whip up our organisation into a frenzy naively celebrating the cure-all promises of artificial intelligence quickly followed by the depressing reality that AI is actually hard work, could lead to a loss of credibility. We can’t be too risk averse and we can’t build up expectations too much either. We have got to the message just right. The reward, we will increase our organisation’s chances of thriving in the 2020s. 

In 2017 Forrester told us that the Honeymoon For AI Is Over. They warned us not treat AI like a plug-in panacea. AI is just like all other new technologies, it still requires investment, still requires effort and still requires hard work. But that doesn’t mean progress has to be slow. 

In my next blog post I will share with you 5 accelerants to focus on that help you pick up the pace, advance your AI capabilities and supercharge your organisation.