Video: What does the roadmap to AI look like?

When I think about the roadmap to AI, I’ve reduced this to six steps you can follow to bring the promise of AI to life in your organization.
So first of all, I think that it’s not based on lofty vision and grand ideas.

Those things have a role, but for accelerating progress, it comes down to developing models, testing them, vetting them with lines of business, and applying them to solve real business problems.

For that reason, the essence of acceleration comes down to selecting the right use cases—the first pilot projects you’re going to work on.

I think about this as having a portfolio of proof-of-concept projects that enable you to work through your ideas, your ability to deliver, and your capabilities, and to see your strengths and weaknesses, which makes improvement concrete and actionable.

Really, the beginning and the foundation is having this portfolio of proof-of-concept projects.

With those proof-of-concept projects, you become better informed about the tools and technology you need and about the business requirements you’re trying to solve.

And consider whether there are external vendors you need to partner with, either for technology or for support, to realize your vision.

The third thing in terms of accelerating your progress on this road to AI is understanding that it requires training of your internal teams.

This is not just technical training.

It is a shift in mindset.

It’s a different way of thinking about solving problems that uses data to drive insights, and those insights have to drive action.

This is not just science or an academic exercise.

This is about delivering real-world value.

This tie to action and this new way of thinking about data—not just for reports, but to inform and to drive—requires a culture change.

Once you start to see results from your portfolio of initial projects, you’ll find that some rise to the top and others fall by the wayside.

As you find those successes, you begin to build on them and scale those projects throughout your organization.
With that, you can increase the scope and the sophistication of the analysis as you go along.

Finally—and also at the very beginning—this is about maintaining focus on the customer and on your strategic priorities.
This is not something separate from those things; it’s intrinsic to them.

Hopefully you’ve seen that in this roadmap to AI, it is about taking practical steps.

Your fastest path to impact is creating this proof-of-concept portfolio and acting on it.