Business Technology Roundtable

As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the business technology arena at breakneck speed, a fascinating paradox emerges: the more sophisticated our AI tools become, the more crucial human skills become in determining organizational success. The latest Fortune AIQ Advisory Board survey reveals that forward-thinking companies are investing in AI tools and fundamentally reimagining their approach to talent acquisition, employee development, and organizational culture around AI capabilities. This shift represents more than a technological upgrade; it's a fundamental transformation in how businesses conceptualize competitive advantage. The companies that will thrive in the AI-driven economy are those that recognize AI proficiency as a core competency, not merely a nice-to-have technical skill. The New Enterprise Hiring Paradigm The survey data paints a compelling picture of this transformation. An overwhelming 69 percent of respondents consider AI skills either "very important...

The emergence of Generative AI (GenAI) represents a pivotal moment in business technology evolution, with early enterprise adoption showing promising results according to PwC's latest Global CEO Survey . While much attention has focused on potential future impacts, concrete productivity, and revenue gains are already materializing across industries, suggesting we're at the beginning of a transformative wave in how organizations operate. Current State of Enterprise Adoption The PwC research findings, drawing from 4,701 CEOs worldwide, reveal encouraging early returns from GenAI tools and associated use case investments. Notably, 56 percent of CEOs report that GenAI has improved employee time efficiency, while about one-third have seen increased revenue (32 percent) and profitability (34 percent). These performance metrics, while slightly below initial expectations, demonstrate that organizations are finding practical ways to extract value from the latest technology. Perhaps most...

The democratization of artificial intelligence (AI) has created an unprecedented opportunity. Are you prepared to skillfully apply this digital transformation catalyst? While enterprises invest millions in proprietary information technology (IT) solutions, readily available free Generative AI (GenAI) tools now match or exceed many corporate capabilities — enabling dramatic productivity gains across functional groups and business units. The strategic advantage lies not just in the tools, but in their skilled application. Experienced practitioners can rapidly deploy these technologies within appropriate risk boundaries, neither compromising intellectual property nor exposing proprietary content. This combination of powerful capabilities and pragmatic governance creates immediate value without traditional enterprise IT constraints. It presents a strategic imperative for executive decision-makers. The Business Technology Landscape The artificial intelligence technology market has evolved ...

The rapid evolution of Generative AI (GenAI) platforms has sparked a transformation in how progressive organizations leverage their institutional knowledge and enhance productivity. McKinsey's development of its internal GenAI platform, named Lilli, provides valuable insights into how large enterprises can successfully implement practical solutions while prioritizing user adoption and maintaining high security and quality standards. McKinsey's approach to developing Lilli is noteworthy for its methodical, user-centric implementation strategy. Starting with a small team of just four people that has since grown to over 150, the firm focused on solving specific operational challenges across four key domains: team performance, client development, service delivery, and post-project communications. Why Purposeful Adoption Planning Matters Rather than attempting to solve every possible use case at once, this focused approach has proven instrumental in the platform's successful ad...

How can applied technologies advance digital business growth and unlock strategic competitive advantages? Here's a proven approach. In the rapidly evolving commercial landscape of artificial intelligence apps, Generative AI (GenAI) tools have delivered unprecedented results. As a C-suite executive, understanding these innovative GenAI technologies can empower you to act decisively. Why now? It's a leadership imperative. A recent comprehensive study of GenAI Prompting techniques offers valuable insights that can be directly applied to enhance your organization's AI strategy. Strategic Importance of Structured Prompting At the core of interacting with Generative AI tools lies the concept of Prompting - the art and science of crafting inputs that guide GenAI tools to produce desired outputs. The study reveals that well-structured prompts consistently lead to improved results across a wide range of tasks. This finding underscores the critical need for organizations to develop ...

We have reached the tipping point for business technology investment. The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the economy is a transformative force that executives can no longer ignore. The Stanford HAI's " Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2024 " provides invaluable insights into the economic impact of AI, highlighting both opportunities and challenges that demand strategic action from today's business leaders. The AI Investment Race: America Sprints Ahead The United States has emerged as the undisputed leader in AI investment, outpacing China and the European Union by a substantial margin. In 2023, American companies invested a staggering $67.2 billion in AI, nearly 8.7 times more than China, the next highest investor. This investment surge underscores the immense strategic importance placed on AI by U.S. enterprises, positioning them as frontrunners in the race to harness this game-changing technology. Job Market Dynamics: AI's Transformative Im...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption is accelerating globally, transforming business and government. However, a new study by Cisco Systems reveals that while intentions to adopt AI are rising sharply, actual abilities to effectively leverage these technologies continue to lag. An overwhelming 97 percent of business leaders state that the urgency to deploy AI technologies has increased significantly or somewhat at their organizations in just the past six months. This mounting urgency is coming from the top-down, with over 50 percent saying it is being driven by their CEO and board of directors. Meanwhile, the C-suite is being tasked to prepare for action. As a result of this mounting pressure, 95 percent of organizations now have an AI strategy in place or under development. Looking ahead, 84 percent believe AI will have a major impact on their business operations. New AI Deployments Underway Many organizations have already started an AI deployment, prioritizing IT infrastructure and d...

Digital technologies have altered how people and businesses interact. The potential for dislocation from ongoing digital transformation has created unprecedented levels of C-suite discussion. The decisive market leaders have heeded the warnings and taken bold actions. That said, if you’re one of those Chief Technology Officers (CTO) who previously responded to this scenario by making small incremental adjustments to your IT agenda, then you’re potentially at risk. Any relief from those prior tweaks tend to be short-lived. The same issues will likely resurface. An Introduction to Digital Reinvention Back in 2013, the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) introduced the concept of ‘Digital Reinvention’. Why is that concept noteworthy? Markets had evolved from organizational centricity, in which manufacturers and service providers defined a predictable state, into a radically different environment described as the everyone-to-everyone (E2E) economy. The E2E economy has four dist...

Forward-thinking CEOs ensure that their organization has access to the latest digital business technologies. But in today’s global networked economy, that’s not enough. If you believe that digital transformation knowledge is power, then fully mastering the ability to apply your IT capabilities into actionable wisdom is infinitely more potent. The Harvard Business Review ( HBR ) market research team recently completed a global study of the path that several organizations have taken to develop and deliver the digital learning support resources that their key internal stakeholders both need and want. In a prior editorial , I described how Digital Leaders are better prepared to cross the skills chasm. In this follow-on editorial, I’ll share the typical roadblocks on the path to digital transformation progress. Plus, I’ll also share some useful recommendations. Enabling Ongoing Digital Knowledge Transfer According to the HBR study findings, the biggest barrier to learning about new ...

Most informed CEOs seem to know intuitively that the most qualified person to lead their forward-looking business technology advancement isn’t likely to have the profile of a typical legacy CIO. In contrast, the role of a Digital Business Transformation innovator has very different requirements to the traditional IT utility infrastructure custodian of the past. That said, some progressive CIOs are already making the transition to lead the digital competitiveness quest, and others will surely follow. Moreover, a few multinational companies currently have a CIO in a highly strategic, visible and collaborative position within the company. Their challenge is to guide the rest of the organization’s leadership to attain the required skills that will enable them to actively participate in the planning and execution of a new strategy – empowered by digital technologies. The Harvard Business Review (HBR) market research team recently completed a global study of the path that several organi...

Here's the challenge. Your CEO won't accept anything less than a world-class IT infrastructure that meets the expectations of his most informed Line-of-Business leaders. If you're the CIO and you don't want to rely upon public cloud service providers, then are you ready to deliver the caliber of IT services that they can provision? Take a moment. Consider the implications. Ponder the impact of your actions. All the leading public cloud services providers routinely design and assemble their own data center infrastructure components, due to their extreme needs for scale and cost control. Regardless of the cloud services company, a common element among all these devices is a requirement to run an open-source operating system, such as Linux, and various other purpose-built open-source software components. Gartner, Inc. refers to this trend as the Web-scale IT phenomena. Why You Need to Adopt Web-scale IT Practices What is Web-scale IT? It's all of the things ha...

Senior executives at large multinational enterprises are already demanding that their CIO has a plan in place to ensure that they can effectively procure public and private cloud services for their organization. In smaller companies, some IT managers are now expected to acquire the knowledge and skills to perform a similar role. Are they prepared? To find out, let's review a current IT resource assessment. According to the findings from a recent market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), European IT departments still need to make significant improvements before they have fully embraced cloud architectures and transformed themselves into hybrid cloud service providers. When asked to evaluate their current readiness to execute on their cloud service brokering strategy -- where they become trusted internal advisers to their Line of Business leaders -- European respondents admitted to unexpectedly low levels of confidence that they're ready. As an example, 56 pe...