Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer just a buzzword or an alien concept mentioned at tech conferences. It’s here to stay, and it’s transforming the way many businesses looking to stay ahead of the curve operate.
It’s no wonder that 73% of businesses use AI in some way — particularly generative AI (GenAI). However, many companies aren’t employing AI properly despite its massive potential to revolutionize their processes.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the key steps to a successful AI adoption strategy and how to overcome the common hurdles businesses face. By the end, you’ll have a clear road map on how to seamlessly integrate AI into your operations.
Understanding AI and Its Potential Impact
There are primarily two types of AI: consumer and enterprise AI. Businesses are primarily concerned with the latter. So what is enterprise AI? In a nutshell, it refers to the use of AI technologies to tackle business problems that traditionally required human involvement, such as making decisions, analyzing data, and interpreting language.
These capabilities make AI helpful across many industries, including financial services, healthcare, and supply chain operations. For instance, supply chain management professionals often use AI and IoT in the supply chain to optimize their inventory levels, forecast product demand, and automate orders.
The Need for an AI Adoption Strategy
AI can streamline multiple processes and enhance your organizational efficiency. However, it isn’t a panacea for all of your business’s challenges. That’s why you need an AI adoption strategy that aligns with your business’s objectives.
Bearing that in mind, here are some key questions to ask before adopting AI:
- What business challenges do I want to solve with AI?
- What business processes can I automate or streamline with AI?
- Do I have the required in-house personnel to leverage AI effectively?
- What are some of the legal and ethical considerations that integrating AI may pose to my business?
- What are the cost implications of integrating AI into my operations against its potential benefits?
Asking yourself these critical questions can help you harness the full potential of AI and avoid a scattershot approach that leads to unsatisfactory results.
Challenges in Implementing an AI Adoption Strategy
Despite its benefits, various barriers are hindering companies from successfully employing AI. According to a 2023 IBM global AI adoption survey, common challenges thwarting AI adoption include:
- Talent shortage: About 20% of businesses don’t have employees with the requisite skills to use AI tools effectively, and 16% can’t recruit new talent to address the skills gap.
- Data complexity: About a quarter of the businesses surveyed reported that too much data complexity prevents them from using AI effectively.
- High price: Two out of 10 companies reported that the high costs associated with implementing AI, including training employees, purchasing AI tools, and upgrading IT infrastructure, hinder its adoption.
Besides these challenges, resistance to change also stymies AI adoption. Employees may be unwilling to embrace AI — especially if they feel like it will add unnecessary complexity to or entirely displace their jobs.
How to Overcome These Challenges
Fortunately, you can overcome these AI adoption challenges. Here are some actionable strategies you can take:
- Understand what AI is and what it isn’t: First, it’s essential to help your team understand AI’s applications and limitations. Reassuring your team members that AI will augment, not replace, them can make them more receptive to the technology.
- Identify and analyze your business’s current problems: AI can solve multiple challenges, but you shouldn’t use it to solve every business challenge. Instead, consider your business’s goals and use AI to tackle your most pressing problems.
- Ensure leadership buy-in at every phase: Without the backing and goodwill of senior executives, your AI adoption efforts will likely fail. Brief your C-suite executives about AI’s benefits, risks, and costs to get them on board.
- Decide on in-house development vs. outsourcing: Consider whether you want to rely on your in-house team or hire an external company to implement your enterprise AI strategy. You may want to keep your operations in-house if your team has vast AI expertise. Alternatively, outsourcing may be more viable if your team lacks AI expertise and you want to reduce the costs associated with employee training and IT infrastructure upgrades.
The Future of AI Adoption
The future of AI in logistics and supply chains looks promising. As the technology continues to evolve and more companies integrate it into their operations, some future trends you should keep an eye on include:
- AI democratization: Expect AI to become more accessible to more people, including individuals without AI expertise or technical knowledge.
- No-code AI platforms: Look out for the rise of no-code platforms that enable businesses to create, deploy, and manage AI models without writing a single line of code.
- AI-driven decision-making: Expect more companies to use AI-driven insights to inform their decisions.
Moving Forward With a Successful AI Adoption Strategy
AI has the potential to streamline your supply chain operations. Whether you want to automate routine tasks, identify patterns, or predict future demand, AI has a variety of supply chain use cases. However, successful AI adoption isn’t just about employing new tools. You need to take a holistic approach that aligns with your business’s goals to reap the technology’s full benefits.
Surgere helps companies automate manual supply chain processes with 99.9% accuracy, eliminating the impact of costly human errors across the supply chain.
Want to discover how AI can provide remarkable cost savings for your business? Contact us today to learn more.
FAQs
What is an AI adoption strategy?
An artificial intelligence adoption strategy is a detailed plan that describes how a business can smoothly integrate AI into its operations.
How can I adopt artificial intelligence?
Adopting AI solutions requires a clear understanding of the problems you want to solve. Before integrating AI solutions into your operations, think critically about the challenges you want to tackle and whether they align with your business’s objectives.
What are the stages of adoption of AI?
While AI adoption may vary across organizations, the typical stages include planning, experimentation, stabilization, expansion, and leadership.
What is the biggest challenge hindering AI adoption?
A lack of talent with AI expertise and skills is the biggest obstacle hindering widespread AI adoption for many organizations.
