CEOs suffer from "FOMO" as much as the next person but allowing this to dictate your digital investments (or any investment, for that matter) is a sure recipe for pouring good money after bad.
These days, I don't speak to many CEOs who are focused on their crypto or blockchain strategy, or even, frankly, their future in the metaverse. All of today's debate centers around generative AI. Given the potential implications of AI and machine learning, broadly, such a focus is warranted.
However, blindly throwing money at it is not the solution. At Davos, I was struck by the lack of a discussion around concrete use cases for AI, even by the world's leading experts. There remains a great deal of uncertainty around how to best use the technologies. A C-suite survey that AlixPartners conducted last fall showed that 75% of executives say AI will be extremely important to their industry, but only 21% believe they are implementing it well.
While we are still in the relatively early days of generative AI innovation and adoption, it is evolving rapidly. In just a year, it has gone from a D or C performance on standardized tests to an A, and it applies logic and reasoning in ways its developers never expected. The technologies will, I believe, reshape the global economy and entire industries over the next five years. Sitting on your hands is not an option.
That said, you must still ensure as high an ROI from these investments as possible. The only way to do that is to focus on the business problem you are trying to solve, not the technology.
And ultimately, a focus that is limited solely on productivity and job cuts limits the vision of what AI can do. The tremendous potential for revenue generation is the most exciting area to explore, in my opinion.
Collectively, we must become better at telling the stories of how we can do that. For example, at AlixPartners, we have already helped drive hundreds of millions in incremental revenues for clients (at speed) through enhanced customer success, marketing, sales, and pricing efforts. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.
We are at the start of an exciting journey, and I, along with most CEOs I know, am optimistic about the impact of AI on business and society as a whole. But we must remain focused on the key drivers of value and the business use cases in order to ensure we are not squandering these investments.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.