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SME LEADERS HAVE HOPEFULLY ALREADY DISCOVERED THAT AI WILL ONLY BE AS USEFUL AS THE DATA, SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES BENEATH IT. customer issue or revenue leak are you trying to improve solely and right now? Then narrow in on that as the issue to research, gather internal feedback on and scope out the estimated costs and risks to the business around. Really focusing in on the problem should allow you to progress through a set of logical steps to a better-fitted solution out of many possible routes or products.

Fix the foundations before scaling AI

SME leaders have hopefully already discovered that AI will only be as useful as the data, systems and processes beneath it. If they are relying on a situation with disconnected tools, patchy CRM records and unclear handovers, then they know anything layered on top will likely only offer limited value.

All those problems will remain and stymie a perfect solution.

It’ s not glamorous, but leaders should‘ paint by numbers’ and start off by auditing the existing systems, their pros, cons and trade-offs, before adding any new software.

A basic readiness checklist can consist of: clean the data; ensure clear ownership; integrate the tools; agree the use cases; set employee guidance and define what a better customer experience should look like.

Measure value beyond time saved

Time saved is useful, but it is not the same as business impact. In fact, there are many velocity metrics touted that aren’ t the most useful to use to really gain a deeper understanding of what’ s really being delivered. What you want is to pair appropriate velocity( how fast the process

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