Two ways to think about AI: advice for mid-market CEOs

Let’s get straight to the point: AI won’t put you out of business. But your competitors armed with AI might. So I asked our own experts, the CIOs and CTOs closest to the action. My question was simple: What’s one piece of advice about AI we’d give to a mid-market CEO? I got two answers. (That’s humans for you!) 

First, think in terms of your corporate culture.  

Remember the early days of email or Google? A cultural change was needed to adopt these new tools at every level of the organisation, and now we can’t work without them. It’s the same for AI.  

Since change starts from the top, the Board need to create a culture where your people use ChatGPT or Stable Diffusion to do their jobs better and faster.  

They won’t be enthusiastic about it unless leadership is as well.  

Drafting marketing copy, writing job descriptions, laypeople checking legal and accounting rules, creating images, cracking Excel problems, first cut of a product launch plan…your staff should be using AI tools for these tasks.  

So how can you facilitate this change in your company? 

Second, seize the opportunities to create competitive advantage.  

We’re helping CEOs see the possibility to quickly complete tasks that previously were unrealistically huge. Typically, this is scanning large volumes of electronic files or paper documents—thousands of contracts, emails, invoices, or CVs; translating documents or processing reports; or listening to thousands of phone calls. 

 How can you exploit this powerful new technology to create points of difference for your own business? Because your competitors are already thinking hard about this! Consider this question we like to ask CEOs: ‘Imagine if you had 100 interns…what would you do?’ 

While your mulling that over, see:

Demystifying AI: a guide for mid-market CEOs  

And if you’ve got questions about how best to shift your company culture, or where AI could help create value in your business, see below to get in touch.