BCLC

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been creating a lot of discussion and interest across organizations, media, and individuals. Have you heard of Chat GPT? There is enthusiasm around operations and business about how one can leverage this technology to get better, faster, and smarter. For employees, it raises concerns about their job, relevancy, and meaning.

AI can be both an exciting and terrifying journey as you head out into the new frontier. Trying to figure out where to start, what to do, and how to best leverage this new technology are just a few questions that go through leaders’ minds as they begin to think about this capability.

These are the questions that went through my mind when I considered AI. I knew we needed to expand our technology footprint, our employees needed support with the increase in customer demand, customers needed faster support, and our organization needed to continue to balance our fiscal responsibility and prudence. Throw in the challenges of hiring and retaining the talent you have a growing need for change.

Mustering the courage to start the adventure can be one of the most challenging steps. You need to take a leap of faith. These are the three key steps that helped in our journey and have brought us positive rewards for our employees, our customers, and the organization.

Understand your tech stack – a fancy way of saying understand what technology you have today. Doing this helps you immensely when you start your journey. This will help to shape what your future could and can look like. Some of your current technologies may support an AI function but many may not. Don’t fret, you have a starting point. Spend some time building what you want your future to look like and what your initial requirements should look like. Pick easy problems to solve and decide on the outcome you want. There is a wide array of tech today that you can rely on. Some great companies like to show you, their product. Start your journey, talk to suppliers of AI capabilities, and discuss what integration can look like. Look for companies that integrate well with multiple solutions and different providers. Two key pieces that have helped us when looking at the potential product.

 AI can be both an exciting and terrifying journey as you head out into the new frontier. Trying to figure out where to start, what to do, and how to best leverage this new technology are just a few questions that go through leaders’ minds as they begin to think about this capability. 

Versatility – can it adapt to multiple technologies? Can it integrate easily and does it adapt well to different needs? Does the initial product have the capability to unleash a larger menu of offerings? Even though you have a small set of what you want today, the good companies have healthy road maps and expanded capabilities you may want in the future.

Administrative Ease – is the product easy to understand, update and expand without requiring extensive people resources to do. This will be a big help down the road. This also allows you to adjust and update quicker to meet customer needs and demands.

Involve your team – AI may be scary for you as a leader, but it can be just as scary for your team. Many AI functions have a direct impact on your team. Involving them in the research, implementation, and evolution is key. Where we found the most success was through this process. The launch of a new AI platform dramatically changed one team’s role. Instead of dictating to them how this should be incorporated and change their roles; we provided space for them to understand how this could revolutionize dayto-day and the impact they can have. Together we reduced the need for extra staff and, with the application of the AI tool, saw an uptick in our Experience results.

Learn, adapt, and evolve – These are three key pieces to your ongoing success.

Learn – both you and your AI tool will be in a learning process. You will not get it right the first time. You will get on the path and find a whole host of eye-opening experiences. Parts of your new product will be able to deliver, but others may not. Do not get bogged down with it. Continue to learn from the experience and gain insights from your teams on their learning. Apply that to future builds and capabilities.

Adapt – AI technology is the way of the future. It will be part of how we all operate. When looking at extra work or functions ask how the new technology can handle it. Look for ways to expand it into low-value work so your team can spend time on high-value and highimpact work.

Evolve – Continue the path of having advanced technology as part of your ecosystem. The pressure on resources, the increased demands from customers, and the continued focus from organizations to gain efficiencies will always be present (much more today than in previous years). Having a team that can continue to evolve and adapt to these changing needs will set you apart.

Taking a risk is always uncomfortable and you will not get it right the first time. Start small and build, one block at a time.