Insights from Chris Dimitriadis, Chief Global Strategy Officer, ISACA.
Determining how artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies can take their organization to the next level is a hot topic in boardrooms and C-suite offices across the globe. Goldman Sachs estimates AI investment alone could approach $100 billion in the U.S. and $200 billion globally by 2025, and investments in other technologies, such as blockchain, edge computing and cloud platforms, also are top-of-mind for many enterprises.
The Risk Involved In Technology Investments
These investments in emerging technology have the potential to supercharge innovation on the enterprise landscape, but they also come with more risk than investment in traditional areas such as personnel, training and equipment. That is because many of these technologies are evolving at such a rapid pace that the enterprise community has not fully caught up from the standpoints of governance, vetting use cases and, importantly, thinking through how these shiny tech tools match up with fulfilling the organization’s strategic goals.
When companies invest in emerging technology, it is critically important to ensure alignment with the enterprise’s overarching mission and most critical business objectives—not in generic terms but in terms of being able to define and quantify the return on investment. This might sound like common sense, but at a time when there is pressure to deploy artificial intelligence to keep up with marketplace competitors, it can be easy to rush into projects (due to the fear of missing out) that might sound promising at first blush but ultimately do not connect to the organization’s leading priorities.
To put it another way, investments in a splashy AI tool should not be made to look good for showing off to stakeholders if there is not a sound business case that fits contextually with how the organization aspires to grow. Additionally, there are often ongoing costs to sustain these investments that might initially be overlooked.
The Benefits Of Technology Investments
Still, the potential for emerging technologies to uplevel organizations’ capabilities is undeniable. They can result in efficiencies and cost reduction, business process and overall performance improvement, new products that disrupt the market, unique services and more. They can also provide value to the end customer.
For example, financial institutions stand to benefit from advanced fraud detection systems that leverage machine learning algorithms. Real estate firms might turn to blockchain systems to address several common pain points, such as reducing transaction costs through more automation and enabling better investment decisions and portfolio management. Energy companies may leapfrog in the predictive maintenance domain, reduce disruptions and implement algorithms that lead to better energy flow in both traditional and renewable energy applications.
Responsible Implementation Of AI
There is also the important matter of making sure the organization is equipped to responsibly implement AI from a governance standpoint, regardless of whether a specific project or investment makes sense. It is imperative to have established organizational policies in place before making major investments in AI and other emerging technologies.
Research from my company, ISACA, shows that the majority of organizations do not have comprehensive AI policies in place—a major gap that needs to be remedied. Workflow processes must be explainable and in alignment with the organization’s ethical guidelines, and need to account for potential AI-driven failures, such as misinformation, bias, IP infringement, privacy breaches and disruption from cyberattacks against AI systems.
Once investments in emerging technology projects are approved, outcomes should be reported to key audiences to determine whether they are unfolding as anticipated or if adjustments need to be made. Okoone.com shares this example: “A company might set a KPI of a 30% increase in leads for an AI-powered customer relationship management (CRM) system. This KPI is specific and measurable, letting the company track progress and assess whether the AI deployment is delivering the expected results.”
Regular reporting on the success of emerging tech investments is especially critical given the modern reality in which enterprise goals—and even business models, in many cases—are fluid on a year-to-year basis. Just because an emerging tech project was a good fit for the company 10 months ago does not mean it will remain a wise use of resources in the coming year if the organization’s priorities are shifting.
Entering A New, Exciting Era
The rapid growth of emerging tech makes this an exciting era on the business landscape. That can be a double-edged sword. Enterprise leaders would be wise to avoid becoming swept up in this excitement and unintentionally diverting their organization’s attention and resources from the investments that can have maximum impact on their strategic goals. In many cases, these investments may well include emerging technology.
Provided organizations have sound governance foundations in place and are clear-eyed about linking investments to the organization’s strategic focal points, it is a great time to find new ways to deliver value through technology.
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