By Neil Bowden, AI Business Development Executive at Dell Technologies in Ireland
With the rise of Generative AI, organisations across both the public and private sector in Northern Ireland today are considering its impact on their domain.
Across a range of sectors, there are expectations that AI, and especially GenAI, can increase productivity, enhance customer and citizen experience, and accelerate innovation.
Across industry Generative AI is enhancing existing AI solutions or creating entirely new operating models. In the financial industry, for example, AI has long been used in areas such as market forecasting and fraud detection, Generative AI is now enhancing these use cases by opening up new data sources and allowing non-technical users access. While in healthcare, AI is enhancing patient experiences acting as an assistant to caregivers and helping scientists develop new treatments.
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When surveyed, seven in 10 business and IT decision-makers believe they are well-positioned competitively and have a solid strategy in place to harness the power of AI. However, 56 per cent admit uncertainty about what the next three to five years will bring to their industry, and 49 per cent are struggling to keep pace with the disruption.
This is leading to the appointment of a senior executive to have oversight of AI initiatives; in many cases a Chief AI officer (CAIO) is appointed to manage the transition to an AI led organisation.
The United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently issued a government-wide policy asking all federal agencies to name a Chief AI Officer, and according to FedScoop, as many as two-thirds of U.S. federal agencies have done so.
According to the recent findings from Dell research, almost 20 per cent of organisations surveyed globally identified a central team or individual to set AI strategy, and a separate report found that the number of ‘head’ of AI jobs has tripled over the last five years.
AI can drive innovation in business and enhance access for citizens to government services, but whether in private or public institutions organisational objectives must align with AI strategies for successful outcomes, and this is where the role of the CAIO is paramount.
For AI leaders looking to embrace the technology, there are some key considerations.
Understand your organisations overall AI strategy.
Without exactly knowing the outcome, it is hard to align the people, process and technology to achieve it. Understanding the overall AI strategy and not just some discrete use cases will lead to smarter investments.
Having the big picture of the overarching strategy for AI organisations can align with the right governance and security frameworks,
The good news is that nine in 10 IT and business leaders think Irish organisations can use GenAI responsibly, according to Dell Technologies Innovation Catalysts Study.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to adopting AI
While some there are some standard patterns to follow when implementing AI within an organization there is no on size fits all. What works for one organization may not work for other, and not every use case will require the same level of investment.
As per Dell’s latest study majority of the respondents said investing in modern, scalable data infrastructure was the number one area of improvement for business with 66 per cent saying they prefer an on-prem – right where the data is or hybrid model to address the challenges, they foresee with implementing GenAI. There is also a wide spectrum of models emerging from industry-specific large language models (LLMs) to purpose-built smaller models that can run efficiently at the edge.
Approach AI with a holistic focus, beyond just the technology itself
AI is not just technical. Leaders across organisations from business, from IT and beyond need to come together to realise the transformative potential of AI.
Organisations should consider uses for AI across all their business units, from HR, Finance, legal, communications, and beyond.
The IT teams should, of course, be involved from the inception to develop a deep understanding of the problem being addressed and the AI technology.
Dell’s recent study showed that GenAI holds transformative and significant potential to deliver value in improving a company’s IT security posture (48 per cent), enhance customer experience (47 per cent) and unlock productivity gains for organisations (42 per cent).
Leaders across Northern Ireland should communicate the why behind their AI strategy to employees, customers, and partners and build a consensus with all stakeholders about how this will enable everyone to work in better and different ways.
Approach AI Openly
Open standards have driven the growth internet and with AI the situation is the same. Building AI solutions requires multiple parts, committing to open standards will drive innovation and enable greater flexibility and security in an organisations AI ecosystem.
Open models, technologies and scientific papers have driven all of the AI innovations today and many of the AI first adopters, Dell included. Access to open models ensures a robust ecosystem and fuels a global “innovation engine” in to the future.
To understand the strategy and bring all of the elements together, Irish businesses should consider appointing a senior AI executive, a Chief AI officer. By embracing a new face to the C-Suite, orgnisations can actively adopt and leverage AI to unlock new growth opportunities and drive Northern Ireland’s digital economy forward and position it as an AI leader.
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