Executives in every industry are starting to consider how they can use AI to improve their businesses. In a recent Gartner, Inc. poll of executives, 45% reported that they are piloting mode with generative AI, and another 10% have put generative AI solutions into production. In March and April 2023, only 15% were piloting generative AI and 4% were in production.

Implementing AI can be both expensive and challenging if not done properly. In this post, we'll provide some quick lessons on how to safely and efficiently integrate AI within your business.

Let AI do what AI does best.

The vast potential of AI allows businesses to improve many areas of their operations. That said, there are some areas where you will get quicker results than others. Aside from customer service chatbots, text and document-heavy areas of your operation are ripe for improvement with AI. Below are some of the top use cases for generative AI in the enterprise world:

1. Streamlining Talent Acquisition: AI-powered recruitment tools can help HR departments filter through resumes, identify the most qualified candidates, and speed up the recruitment process.
2. Automate Customer Segmentation: The vector databases and semantic search underlying generative AI makes quick work of customer segmentation. By analyzing vast amounts of customer data to group customers based on common characteristics, you can enable more focused marketing efforts.
3. Improve Employee Onboarding: AI-enhanced training and HR documentation, means new employees have access to vast amounts of institutional knowledge on day one, rather than having to schedule time with more experienced team members.

The Benefits and Considerations of Business AI

As you identify the potential benefits of implementing AI in your business, it is essential to consider the implications. One of the significant considerations when implementing AI for business is data privacy and how it can be safeguarded. Many AI services aimed at the business market have sub-standard data privacy protection, or may harvest your data for model training. That is why DataRM built AVA on the Azure stack; your data stays inside your organization.

Once potential risks are managed, you can turn your attention to the benefits of AI. Here are some points worth considering:

1. Increased efficiency: AI can automate many manual processes, freeing up employees' time to work on more strategic tasks. This could come in the form of fully automating a process or simply summarizing documents to speed up review and analysis.

1. Better decision-making: AI models can analyze and mine vast amounts of data to provide insights that were not previously available, allowing for better decision-making. Rather than spending time thinking about how to ask questions of your data, you can move on to what you want to know.

1. Improved customer experiences: AI can surface data in real time to help your staff personalize interactions with customers, leading to better experiences and ultimately better retention rates.

How to Safely Implement AI

As you narrow in on deploying AI for your organization, there are some principles you will want to follow and points to remember if you are going to succeed. The first of these is to keep in mind that AI technology is very new, and it is changing by the day. The do-it-all AI you are dreaming of may not (quite) exist today, but beginning now will mean your organization is ready for it when it arrives.

Here are some best practices that C-Suite executives should follow when implementing AI for business:

1. Start small: Implement AI on a single process or inside a business unit to test it out before expanding. Selecting beta users who can test the product and give you actionable feedback is invaluable.

1. Invest in employee training: Ensure that employees understand how to input data and monitor AI systems.

1. Identify critical performance indicators: Simply saying AI will transform your business is not enough. You have to know what you want to change and be able to track your progress. Establishing performance criteria can help track AI successes and identify areas of improvement.

1. Emphasize data governance: It's crucial to have a robust data governance strategy in place to ensure data privacy and integrity. This is why DataRM's AVA uses your existing Azure AD roles and groups — you have already invested in data security for your organization. You shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel just for a new tool.

Plan to Succeed

Artificial Intelligence has the potential to transform businesses across every industry by improving efficiency, reducing costs and increasing productivity. A little careful planning and careful considerations of the challenges and opportunities ahead can set you up to make the most of the new era of AI for business.

By starting small, investing in employee training and data governance, and emphasizing performance indicators, companies can unlock the power of AI to improve their businesses. Developing a clear AI strategy and continuously monitoring the implementation will see productivity gains, strengthened customer experiences, and improved bottom-line results.

It also helps to have someone you trust to help show you the ropes. At DataRM, our long history deploying software at scale for enterprise informs our cutting-edge technology solutions. Whether it is deploying AVA in your enterprise or consulting with your leadership team about implementation, if you have questions, we can help.