AI is increasingly forming part of our daily lives. What was once a buzz word – especially used in pitches to potential investors or forming vague suggestions in the boardroom – is now more than an abstract concept – for want of a better word it truly is “a thing”.
It is estimated that over 40% of businesses worldwide are actively using AI in their operations, with another 42% exploring its adoption.
So having an AI strategy is more commonplace than not – and if you’re in any doubt what to include – you guessed it, ask your favourite conversational AI model!!
AI policy is also squarely on the agenda of regulators with white papers in issue and legislation on its way. And national governments are scrambling to be at the forefront of AI innovation – expecting that AI will be the next significant economic growth driver and a potential source of competitive advantage on the international stage (with appropriate guard rails, of course).
Commentators (and your author!) are excited by AI. It is increasing productivity, improving decision-making and advancing our learning (co-pilot always open on my PC, and I use it several times each day). AI is now a natural interaction rather than a novelty, as commonplace as opening your email or internet browser at the start of the day.
What Does AI Mean for Businesses?
2025 is likely to be the year when AI becomes seamlessly integrated into our home and work lives. A core piece of technology on our devices, think real-time meeting notes, support query bots like Amazon Q, email content improvements.
It will continue to improve just like the internet – it’s here, it’s amazing and it works.
In finance, the language of business, automated reconciliations in accounting software are already commonplace. Exception reports flag anomalies real-time, helping prevent errors. And forecasting is becoming increasingly accurate, taking large volumes of data and trends in variables and using these to make future performance predictions.
Businesses will be asking themselves a set of Questions about AI – no doubt coupled with a healthy dose of FOMO. Such questions might include:
- Will my support function provide a better service for my customers if we use AI?
- How can we use AI to save time on administrative tasks?
- Can LLM’s and AI help me produce better marketing content in larger volumes?
- Can we accelerate the development of our software platforms, with fewer bugs?
- And will AI help us streamline workflows and our core business processes?
And while yes there will be financial ROI, there will also be ROI in saving time, reducing repetitive tasks and freeing time to focus on quality tasks, impactful opportunities and (equally important) work-life balance.
Opportunities, Regulations and Costs
AI is high on the agenda for regulators and governments. The UK government is taking a “pro-innovation approach” in creating a regulatory framework to support innovation while ensuring a safe experience that achieves public trust.
And we will see more about AI in the media as regulation develops – we should expect regulators to require our businesses to be transparent over our use of AI – disclosing when it is being used, such as in handling customer support queries. And in using AI, businesses will need to avoid key risks such as disinformation, bias and copyright infringement.
Businesses should deploy an AI strategy, AI policy and track measures of success (hours saved etc.) managing core activities, forecasting and reporting – with regular reviews to keep pace with the latest tools to make our working lives more efficient.
And finally – to truly innovate – the businesses that deploy AI in combination with the best human intelligence will be the winners. Those that invest in new roles such as data scientists/AI specialists as well as training for existing staff, so their teams understand and deploy AI creatively to their advantage, finding ways to do what they do best, even better. With massive computing power supporting digital applications, the potential to disrupt and grow at scale is vast.
Feel free to comment and share how your business is benefitting from AI.
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