Management

Businesses Must Think Strategically About AI’s Role in Their Digital Transformations

Artificial intelligence offers promise and peril. Either way, businesses must adapt.

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Ryan has been a magazine and newspaper editor for 21 years, with the last 15 covering a variety of bases for CDW’s family of tech magazines. As Editor in Chief, he works on developing editorial strategy and is always on the lookout for new writing talent and sharing great stories with the IT world. In his spare time, Ryan enjoys spending time with his family, biking and obsessively following Iowa Hawkeye sports and Cubs baseball.

If you’ve been following the news lately, you’ve surely heard talk of artificial intelligence entering the mainstream. Discussions are underway about the role AI will play in the lives of everyday people in the years to come, and some fundamental questions are being raised about the impact of the technology on jobs, human relationships, privacy and more. These are important matters for industry leaders and policymakers to consider.

In the meantime, IT professionals say that AI is already beginning to play an important — even transformative — role in their organizations. And while they do have some long-term concerns, particularly around security, the impact of AI on their operations so far has been quite positive.

DIG DEEPER: Find out how to avoid 4 common AI mistakes.

How Businesses Can Adapt with AI

Take FedEx, for example. The package delivery giant has deployed cloud-based analytics solutions that use machine learning to help it better understand patterns in its data. “Machine learning can help us predict whether a package is going offtrack and we need to intercede,” says Anthony Norris, FedEx Services’ senior vice president of IT for global platforms and customer solutions.“It’s a huge value proposition to our customers.”

Based in Seattle, Washington Federal Bank uses AI to communicate directly with customers and to provide real-time guidance to human agents on customers’ needs and even their emotional states.

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Of course, AI “can also be used for evil,” as Forcepoint CEO Manny Rivelo says. Rivelo notes that cybercriminals already are striving to make use of the technology.

And I agree that when it comes to AI, “organizations are going to have to adapt to it,” for better or worse. There’s no putting the genie back in the bottle.

That adaptation begins with strategic planning about how to best incorporate AI into your digital transformation. For that, I urge you to work with a trusted partner who can walk you through the complex questions and help you find the right path forward.

UP NEXT: Learn how to customize artificial intelligence to your business.

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