Generative AI, when harnessed correctly, has the potential to revolutionize the way companies operate, innovate, and compete. But the question that arises is, how can entrepreneurial businesses effectively tap into AI’s potential?
The answer lies in setting up an AI (artificial intelligence) Center of Excellence inside your company that combines information technology with learning and development to serve the needs of business operations. And that Center of Excellence itself requires a two-pronged approach for what it means to be excellent at using AI: observing the application of generative AI in other companies and understanding its use within your own ranks.
Step 1: Learn from AI Pioneers
The first step in the journey towards effective use of generative AI is to look outward. Companies that have already integrated AI into their operations can serve as valuable case studies. These pioneers have navigated the challenges of implementation, and their successes and failures provide a roadmap for others to follow.
Step 2: Leverage Your Internal AI Expertise
The second prong of this approach involves looking inward to understand how your own employees already use generative AI. This can foster a culture of innovation and make the integration of AI a company-wide endeavor.
However, Step 2 is where I most often see problems in companies when I consult on integrating AI into their workflow. Initial evidence suggests that AI can significantly boost individual employee efficiency from 20% to 70% for many tasks, with the quality of output surpassing that of tasks completed without AI assistance. This is a testament to the transformative power of AI when used as a personal productivity tool, especially when operated by someone within their area of expertise.
Create Your AI Center of Excellence
Once your company has gathered this information, the next step is to establish a Center of Excellence for using Generative AI. My clients found the most success when this center was co-led by a team from IT, to handle the technical aspects of AI, and HR, to oversee learning and development.
A Center of Excellence will serve as the hub for AI-related activities within your company. It provides guidance, sets best practices, and ensures that all departments are aligned in their use of AI. This centralized approach ensures that AI is used effectively and ethically throughout the company. Moreover, the Center of Excellence can also serve as a platform for continuous learning and development, keeping the company up-to-date with the latest advancements in AI.
4 Key Principles for a Successful AI Integration
But what makes a Center of Excellence truly successful? There are several guiding principles that underpin its operation, each of which can be applied specifically to the integration of generative AI:
- A clear and compelling vision that aligns with your organization’s overarching goals. This vision provides the North Star for AI initiatives, ensuring they contribute meaningfully to your strategic objectives.
- Collaboration. The Center of Excellence must foster a culture of cross-functional cooperation, breaking down silos and facilitating knowledge exchange. This collaborative ethos is crucial for ensuring that AI initiatives are coherent, cohesive, and aligned across the organization.
- Continuous improvement. The AI landscape is in constant flux, with new developments emerging at a breakneck pace. Your Center of Excellence must, therefore, be agile, adapting its strategies and tactics in response to the evolving AI ecosystem.
- A culture of learning and development. AI literacy is not just for data scientists and IT professionals; it must permeate your entire organization. By democratizing AI knowledge, you empower all employees to contribute to and benefit from AI-driven initiatives.
The ultimate aim of adopting generative AI, and by extension establishing a Center of Excellence, is to enhance business operations. From automating mundane tasks to generating innovative content and forecasting market trends, the applications of generative AI are manifold. The Center of Excellence ensures these applications are not just technically viable but also strategically aligned and ethically sound.
In practice, this might involve leveraging AI to revamp customer service protocols, enhancing responsiveness and personalization. Or it could mean deploying AI to streamline supply chain operations, predicting bottlenecks and optimizing logistics. Whatever the use case, the Center of Excellence ensures that AI initiatives are executed with precision, integrity, and foresight.
The advent of generative AI heralds a new chapter in the annals of business. The opportunities are vast, but so are the challenges. Navigating this new frontier demands not just technological proficiency but strategic acumen, ethical consideration, and a commitment to continuous learning. When consulting for companies on effective strategies for adopting Generative AI, I always highlight that establishing a Center of Excellence is not just an operational necessity but a strategic imperative. The future is not just about adopting new technologies but about mastering them, weaving them into the very fabric of our business operations to create a more agile, innovative, and competitive economy.
Contributed to EO by Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, who was named “Office Whisperer” by The New York Times for helping leaders overcome frustrations with hybrid work and Generative AI. He serves as the CEO of the future-of-work consultancy Disaster Avoidance Experts. Dr. Gleb wrote seven best-selling books, the two most recent are Returning to the Office and Leading Hybrid and Remote Teams and ChatGPT for Thought Leaders and Content Creators: Unlocking the Potential of Generative AI for Innovative and Effective Content Creation. His expertise comes from over 20 years of consulting for Fortune 500 companies from Aflac to Xerox and over 15 years in academia as a behavioral scientist at UNC-Chapel Hill and Ohio State. A proud Ukrainian American, Dr. Gleb lives in Columbus, Ohio.
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