Software

How to Get Started with AI: A Guide for Beginners

For business leaders and IT decision-makers, it can be a challenge to get started implementing artificial intelligence and identifying how to leverage the tech. Here’s what you need to know.

Bob Keaveney

Bob is the managing editor of BizTech magazine.

Is your businesses looking to do more with artificial intelligence, or even to just get started? In an interview with BizTech, Sanjay Sood, senior vice president and CTO at CDW, outlined three key priorities for organizations at the beginning of their AI journey:

WATCH: Learn Sanjay Sood’s recommendations on how to implement AI in your business.

Assess what you’re already doing and define your business needs. Whether they know it or not, most businesses are already using AI in various ways because it’s baked into the technology solutions they use every day. “Most modern companies will have some type of AI, because AI is a broad discipline,” Sood says. To move forward, organizations should assess the needs of the business and make some judgments about how AI might help. “Take an inventory of what you have, because there’s a lot of opportunity on the shelf,” he says.
Prioritize modest use cases for AI. It’s not necessary (and probably unwise) for organizations to try to reinvent entire business processes with AI right away. “Not everything requires hardcore machine learning,” Sood says. “It’s really about how to take some complex problems, break then down into small bites, and then figure out the right ways and the right technology to automate it.”

It’s really about how to take some complex problems, break then down into small bites, and then figure out the right ways and the right technology to automate it.”

Sanjay Sood Senior Vice President and CTO, CDW

Find easy wins. With all of the AI tools now readily available online, it’s not hard for businesses to experiment with simple projects using the technology and to encourage employees to do the same. “Something that’s super easy is to train employees to use generative AI to assist with basic brainstorming,” Sood suggests. “This is about not starting with a blank sheet of paper, and using these algorithms to give you some thought starters.”

Modern networking infrastructure is already using AI to improve resiliency and reduce downtime. Stay up on this trend to make sure your business is set for success.

UP NEXT: Find out how artificial intelligence can improve your organization.

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