Stop Tinkering with AI

It’s time to go all in.

by

Thomas H. Davenport

and

Nitin Mittal

by

Thomas H. Davenport

and

Nitin Mittal

From the Magazine (January–February 2023) · Long read

Carolyn Doucette

Summary.

AI initiatives at many organizations are too small and too tentative. They never get to the only step that can add economic value—being deployed on a large scale. Testing the waters may deliver valuable insights, but it probably won’t be enough to achieve true transformation. A pilot program or experiment can take you only so far.

The authors have identified 30 companies that have gone all in on AI—and achieved success—as well as 10 actions those companies took to become successful AI adopters: (1) Know what you want to accomplish. (2) Work with an ecosystem of partners. (3) Master analytics. (4) Create a modular, flexible IT architecture. (5) Integrate AI into existing workflows. (6) Build solutions across the organization. (7) Create an AI governance and leadership structure. (8) Develop and staff centers of excellence. (9) Invest continually. (10) Always seek new sources of data.

In other words, you need to be aggressive enough with AI that the technology eventually transforms every aspect of your business.

Idea in Brief

The Problem

Many companies are simply experimenting with AI and don’t plan or budget for full deployment of AI systems.

The Cause

This typically occurs because the projects aren’t accorded sufficient resources, scope, and time.

The Solution

The most aggressive adoption, combined with the best integration with strategy and operations, will ultimately provide the greatest business value.

If you ask someone to name a company that’s putting artificial intelligence at the center of its business, you’ll probably hear a predictable list of technology powerhouses: Alphabet (Google), Meta (Facebook), Amazon, Microsoft, Tencent, and Alibaba. But at legacy organizations in other industries many leaders feel that it’s beyond the capabilities of their companies to transform themselves using AI. Because this technology is relatively new, however, no company was powered by AI a decade ago, so all those that have been successful had to accomplish the same fundamental tasks: They put people in charge of creating the AI; they rounded up the required data, talent, and monetary investments; and they moved as aggressively as possible to build capabilities.

A version of this article appeared in the January–February 2023 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Thomas H. Davenport is the President’s Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College, a visiting scholar at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, and a senior adviser to Deloitte’s AI practice. He is a coauthor of All-in on AI: How Smart Companies Win Big with Artificial Intelligence (Harvard Business Review Press, 2023).
NM

Nitin Mittal is a principal at Deloitte Consulting, the leader of its analytics and cognitive offering, and a coleader of Deloitte’s AI strategic growth offering. He is a coauthor of All-in on AI: How Smart Companies Win Big with Artificial Intelligence (Harvard Business Review Press, 2023).

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