There is no denying the fact that AI adoption is increasing across industries. In not more than a decade from now, AI will become one of the fundamental functions within every organisation and it will be the new IT department. This change is already pushing IT leaders in companies across industries to embrace the innovation. Everyone is exploring means and ways to learn more about this new technology and unlock its potential for their business benefits. If you are a leader, and are serious about infusing AI into various functions of your company, you must be careful about finding that particular service providers who provide value propositions impacting real business outcomes.

On the other hand, most IT service companies are eager to ride this wave and capitalize on the buzz around AI technologies. And, if you are one such company, you must be already experiencing a gush of inquiries landing your way. But you must also be noticing that the conversion rates are not really appreciable yet. So what is going wrong and how to avoid such situations?

The key here is in not becoming a victim of ‘AI Technology Tourism’. Many inquiries today are from people who only would want to understand more about the technology rather than investing in the business impact it can create. And most service providers are mere posts with AI technology flags with no real manifestation of the same into outcome driven, large scale solutions. Here’s briefly, what you can do to avoid ‘AI Technology Tourism’ and from becoming just tourists or tour-guides!

AI Service Providers:

Start off with a why, and ask what critical business problem your prospect companies intend to solve. Understand their readiness with data and willingness to share real data for initial POC work. Be very sure about what AI can do and cannot do. Ensure that MVPs are done with bigger goal in mind and are measured for degree of usefulness as against just the measure of accuracy. Also, remember if the POC is in an area outside critical business processes then the engagement doesn’t last further. Focus on solving a real business problem than making it a technology show. Make sure to always involve business users even in your MVP/ POC projects.

Companies looking for AI Partners:

Ensure the AI service provider you shortlisted has end-to-end capabilities (around Data, Intelligence and Experience) to successfully deliver an AI project. Evaluate their ability to understand your business and bring powerful new insights and experiences on to the table. Make sure they clearly understand your asks and do not confuse RPA with AI, as automation is not intelligence. Scalability is of paramount importance, don’t let your POC be a one-time innovation project without scale in mind.

To conclude, the need is real and every organisation is looking for ways to infuse AI into their strategy. This technology opens up endless possibilities. I wish every organisation finds their right AI partner. If you are a service provider and have a clear AI offering and expertise in guiding companies on how to implement, when to implement and the ability to implement with scalability in mind, then you are doing it right. All the best!