Artificial intelligence is the most widely discussed technological development at the moment, with everyone having an opinion about it, from members of the general public. While many are keen on the developments and changes it could bring, hailing it as one of the most important discoveries in the entire human history, others are more skeptical, citing its depletion of natural resources, as it consumes massive quantities of water and electricity, as well as its potential use case as a disinformation tool or to create deepfakes that are a moral and ethical issue.
Most agree that clearer regulations must be established when it comes to artificial intelligence to ensure that the technology is used for good instead of with malicious intent. However, when it comes to the corporate world, business owners have already understood that there’s no way to avoid it. Many are looking to integrate AI into their procedures in order to remain competitive, or at least as a means of guaranteeing the long-term security of their businesses, as AI will definitely be used to develop stronger malware and more sophisticated phishing attempts that are increasingly challenging to identify.
Recognizing that AI is no longer some sort of futuristic concept is very important, as all businesses, from the smallest to the largest, need to come up with robust strategies when it comes to the technology.
Cybersecurity
All businesses have an online presence nowadays. Most consumers shop online, as the digital stores provide them with access to a wider range of products than brick-and-mortar locations. While digitalization has made many business processes easier and more efficient, it has also opened the door for hackers and cybercriminals seeking to exploit system and network vulnerabilities to extract sensitive data and use it for their own purposes.
Safeguarding data integrity against these attacks can be achieved through strong passwords, continuous software upgrades, training the team to keep up with the latest cybersecurity demands, and ensuring your files are private at all times. Look for online storage solutions that offer perfect end-to-end encryption so that no unauthorized party gets to see them. AI-based systems can be used to identify suspicious activity faster and quarantine the systems that are believed to be under attack. It can also create daily or even hourly reports for cybersecurity staff.
It can be equipped with the means to rank individual threats as well, to determine which ones are more dangerous and should be prioritized when running an investigation.
Understand the objectives
The first step to coming up with an AI strategy is understanding how it can help you achieve your corporate goals. Establishing what you want to achieve over both the short and the long term is very important, as it provides you with the opportunity to come up with a comprehensive and complex plan. Run a thorough assessment beforehand to determine your company’s capabilities, as well as its readiness to adopt and integrate the technology. You must be prepared for what AI adoption entails, namely the ability to integrate software, analytics, and data platforms across several different departments.
Whether the digital infrastructure is strong enough to guarantee seamlessness and data standardization, as well as the potential to develop agile procedures and promote innovation, should all be included in your analysis. Since the use cases are so broad, you can seek to fill in many different gaps with AI’s help, as well as generate even more innovation than initially planned.
Develop the skills
As AI continues to evolve, there will also be a growing need for experts who can operate the technology. Given the elevated level of complexity, the odds of failure are quite high if you don’t have a skilled team by your side. Data science and engineering, as well as machine learning, are the areas where skills gaps are most likely to exist in your business. Covering these areas can help tremendously, and you need to decide whether to upskill your employees through specific training or if it would be a better idea to recruit new talent altogether.
Even if your data management and IT teams are very strong at the moment, artificial intelligence still requires more specific expertise. The initiatives taking place in different departments shouldn’t operate in isolation either, as there needs to be consistent collaboration in order to yield any results. And while coming up with the right strategies is certainly a very good place to start, you’ll see that you won’t achieve much in the absence of a team that has the necessary knowledge. If everything else is in order in your company but you’re still struggling, it’d be worth it to look into the areas where your employees might be dealing with gaps in their expertise.
The short and the long-term
It is clear that AI is here to stay, so it’s important to understand what you should expect as a business owner. As the landscape changes so fast, having predictions that are 100% accurate is pretty much impossible. However, there are a few features and characteristics that most believe will influence the ways in which they carry out business tasks. In the short term, you must determine what outcomes you truly want to see from AI and what the best ways to achieve them are. The impact on the workforce must be anticipated as well, so that teams are prepared and able to work efficiently even after the introduction of a new technology.
Make sure your resources go to the most promising projects, those that have practical value and which could actually help improve your company. Over the long term, you can expect the spending to shift from people to tech, which will require significant investments; however, the per-employee spending will likely be quite elevated as well, as the workers themselves will be highly skilled. IT will maintain data, tech, and the cyber foundations of organizations and institutions, and the technology itself will fundamentally transform workforces, changing the value of skills and leading to the creation of elite teams.
If you’re a business owner, getting ready for the shifts AI will bring is of paramount importance. Determine what your business needs and if the technology can help you achieve that goal. That’s the first step.
