According to a Accenture study 98 per cent of executives worldwide agreed that AI foundation models will play an important role in their corporate strategy over the next 3 to 5 years. Working with systems supported by generative AI within the company offers numerous individual benefits in everyday office life. For example, it can be used to take meeting minutes, create presentations, draft job advertisements and generate product photos.
Use of AI in SMEs
Employees are testing out AI tools out of curiosity and for fun in order to simplify their workflows. The various tools are fascinating and deliver helpful results. Small successes, for example when creating LinkedIn posts, bring great joy. This leads to further areas of application in the office being tested and implemented with the help of AI. However, the initial enthusiasm often quickly wanes: the often fun applications such as creating images give rise to initial concerns about the quality of the results. The images are not created as expected. Although AI-generated texts serve as a basis, they cannot be published without post-editing. In addition, there are data protection concerns: what happens to the confidential company data that employees enter into AI tools?
The emerging reticence towards generative AI and its future use follows a typical development that companies go through: after the initial euphoria comes the phase of disillusionment. The expected added value for the company is called into question, and a large question mark hangs over company-wide scaling.
Essential building blocks for a successful AI rollout
Through a structured introduction of AI tools in the company and professional training, existing concerns can be cleared away. A trained workforce is optimally prepared to use AI tools in a targeted manner. Productivity across the entire company is then increased and valuable working time saved in order to have more time for value-adding activities. In addition, trained specialists are able to independently identify and implement further application possibilities for AI in their respective specialist areas.
To scale AI applications in everyday office work, four essential building blocks are necessary:
AI objectives, governance and sponsoring
The use of AI must be declared as a strategic direction by top management. It is important to define clear roles and responsibilities regarding the use of AI, and to establish and document rules for data security and transparency at the interface between humans and AI.
Use cases from everyday work
In workshops together with the subject matter experts, suitable AI use cases and realistically prioritised implementation horizons are developed. From these results, it can be determined which tools should be used within the company and across departmental boundaries.
Empowerment and continuous professional development
An investment in the organisation's capabilities and further development in the field of AI through appropriate training is essential for success. In addition, the establishment of an AI community and the positioning of AI as a strategic focus topic within the executive board contribute to success.
Technical setup
Even though many currently available AI tools are out-of-the-box solutions that are easy to use, a certain amount of technical setup is required for company-wide use of the selected tools. Depending on the selection of tools, the appropriate licensing must also be arranged.
If these four building blocks are in place and aligned, AI applications can be scaled in any company and enable a company-wide increase in productivity. Data protection and cybersecurity are guaranteed by clearly regulated governance to ensure that no sensitive data is leaked. In addition, staff are trained and able to independently identify further use cases and implement them in their respective departments. There is therefore nothing standing in the way of the company-wide introduction of generative AI.
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