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Plan ahead
Avoid diving head-first into the AI journey.
It’s important to first outline goals for
achievement and plan to take small, but
steady, steps to reach that destination. The
pace of the technology’s advancement
means that what might be a ‘oh, that’s
a cool idea’ today will be a commercial
reality by tomorrow. It’s good to consider
short-term achievements, but crucial to also
understand how this will roll into a game-
changing, market-leading piece of kit in
the near future. Put the right structures in
place to accommodate this scale from the
beginning – such as team training, upskilling,
and change management processes.
Connect the dots
In order to create a significant, total AI
opportunity, businesses should consider
how AI is implemented into all business
areas and functions. Businesses are made
up of multiple connected parts, so it’s
important to understand and acknowledge
how AI can be used across the entire
enterprise; not only in terms of top-line
growth, but also in terms of establishing
new, positive links between teams and
different business areas. This will drive a
real, positive change across the business.
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FEATURE: AI
THE AIM IS TO ENSURE THAT THE
BENEFITS OF AI CAN BE ATTRIBUTED
TO THE BUSINESS IN AN EFFECTIVE
AND TRANSPARENT WAY.
Focus on tangible outcomes
Once a business has undertaken the necessary
research and development to understand
what their AI strategy entails, the next
step is to actually implement that strategy
framework. It’s important to remember that
introducing AI isn’t like getting a new CRM
or ERP system, or even a shiny new data
warehouse. It needs to be deployed with the
intention of delivering real business change.
The aim is to ensure that the benefits of
AI can be attributed to the business in an
effective and transparent way. To achieve
this, it’s important to brainstorm and rank
ideas based on the value that they offer and
how difficult they are to deploy successfully.
Utilise data from all areas of business
Businesses gather data all the time, and the
more AI solutions have to work with, the
better the results. No matter the business
system or where it’s stored, retailers have
masses of customer, transactional and
supply chain data at their disposal. In
order to get the most out of this data, it’s
important to engage and empower people
within all teams, to get everyone on board
with your plans for becoming an AI-driven
business. This even includes some teams that
aren’t initially considered as being potential
AI beneficiaries. Simply put, aim to collect as
much data as possible – and there’s no need
to worry if it’s a little messy; AI can handle it.
When it comes to successfully implementing
AI in retail, businesses should ensure
that they plan ahead, focus on tangible
outcomes, and consider the value of AI
across the entire business. Ultimately, data is
the building block to a successful AI strategy,
and there’s masses of data out there just
waiting to be used. n
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