How To Help The CEO (And Yourself And Your Team) Figure This Stuff Out

Recently we read a fine blog post on AI by Vladimir Lukic entitled CEOs + Data: A Match Made for AI. He notes the following challenges for executives pivoting to an AI-integrated strategy:

• Start with the goals of the business
• Be ruthless about integration decisions
• Understand the cost of getting it wrong.

Along the way, Lukic notes that "Each integration choice carries tradeoffs in cost, speed, accuracy, and cybersecurity risk." Exactly. All integrations of AI into a business process, and then the integration of enabled processes into the organization's strategy, carry risks.

First question for you: How are you preparing the executive team to understand and calibrate these risks?

Before you say "Not my job" let me push back: it is your job as the leader of a technical function to do exactly that.

Lukic continues (quoting at length):

"I firmly believe that in the near future, more CEOs will have a foundational background in data. That doesn’t mean that CEOs have to become a technical expert, but it does mean they should become a strategic data leader. To start, CEOs should:

Create a strategic data and AI team that reports directly to them—not to just IT.

Treat data as a product. Have the data and AI team report to them like a product team does and focus on usability, accessibility, and value.

Define upfront what types of data can create value for the business. Otherwise, the company risks paying for data that looks polished but doesn’t deliver a return on investment.

Ask the CIO to walk through the top five places where bad data impedes progress.

Own the why—and no longer abdicate responsibility to technology teams."

He is saying that in the near future the non-technical executives will own the data via the AI function. 

Second question for you: how are you setting up the CEO for success in this configuration? 

Third question: how are you setting up your team for success in this configuration? 

Fourth question: how are you setting yourself up for success in this configuration?

If your best answer to all four questions revolves around the incorporation of cybersecurity in each transition, you are on your way to success.

Ask us how we can help you manage the shift to an AI-enabled business strategy that calibrates risk and reward.