All eyes are on the value AI can provide to enterprises. Whether it's simplifying the lives of developers, more accurately forecasting business decisions, or empowering teams to do more with less, AI has already become deeply integrated into businesses. However, it's still early to evaluate its impact using traditional methods. Here's how engineering and IT leaders can make educated decisions despite the ambiguity.
1. Does my current team have the technical ability to implement this?
Even the most advanced technology won't deliver its full potential if it isn't implemented and maintained properly. Leaders must ask:
Can my existing team do this? Can we train them to do an AI implementation in a timely manner?
Or will we need to hire additional staff?
None of the answers to the above questions spell disaster for implementing AI, they do help create a clearer picture of what's possible for your specific team. Given how quickly AI is evolving, upskilling or reskilling is likely required for most organizations. Whether through training or hiring, implementation needs to be feasible.
2. Am I willing to implement this at its current stage?
AI is full of promises — some near-term, some further off. When evaluating AI vendors, it's important to recognize that the technology's current capabilities may continue to evolve rapidly. If the current proof of concept meets most of your needs, great!
Decision makers should evaluate whether the AI tool provider they're entertaining is open to working closely to iterate the tool. Most AI tools are not yet mature enough for all potential use cases to be available already.
3. So you want to move forward. How do you justify the investment?
Think of the ROI of AI as falling into two categories: business benefits and financial benefits.
Most AI tools today offer value in terms of business benefits, such as improved customer experience, enhanced employee productivity, and faster rollouts of new features or products. Businesses using AI can differentiate better from competitors as more innovative in their products and service offerings.
The other category is financial benefits, which, in addition to the above, will undoubtedly catch the attention of the C-suite and board of directors. These include factors like improved top-line growth or improving margins. Quantifying solid financial benefits from AI tools is starting to make its way, especially for domain-specific AI applications like IT operations, medical or retail. This is an area where a partnership with the AI tool vendor and decision-maker can greatly improve the quality of ROI calculation to account for key use cases.
It's rarely one person's responsibility to ask and answer all these questions. These considerations should involve the broader team and be viewed holistically. Some tools that are still in their infancy may be worth the risk if they check many of the other boxes. A more significant monetary investment could be the right choice if the technology addresses a critical need for your team that otherwise couldn't be met. Ask these questions, and reevaluate often.