AI Beyond the Hype: A Six-Step Guide to Demystify the AI Journey for Companies

Imagine a world where Artificial Intelligence (AI) drives your business to new heights. This isn't a distant dream — it's happening now as AI is revolutionizing industries across the globe. Yet, many companies are still on the sidelines, unsure how to begin their AI journey. In this third installment of our AI series, we demystify the process with six essential steps to help your organization harness AI's transformative power and turn aspirations into achievements.

Step 1: Where Do I Start?

Kickstart your AI journey by diving deep into your organization's current state. Uncover those nagging pain points and unanswered questions — these are golden opportunities for AI to shine. Remember, AI isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, so keep an open mind and be ready to adapt.

Ask Yourself These Key Questions

1. What business problems are we trying to solve?
2. Do we have the necessary data to address these problems?
3. Are we aligned on the priority and potential value received by solving each problem?

Determine AI Readiness
Evaluate your organization's readiness by assessing three core areas:

• Data Infrastructure: Do you have the right systems in place to collect, store and analyze data?
• Skillset and Knowledge: Does your team have the necessary expertise, or will you need external support?
• Leadership Support: Is there a commitment from leadership to invest in AI initiatives, and have they acknowledged success is not a given in AI efforts?

Step 2: Align AI with Organizational Strategy

AI should not be pursued in isolation as an end unto itself. AI cannot be seen as a hammer looking for a nail. Instead, your AI strategy must be seamlessly integrated within your broader business strategy. Consider how AI can bolster your organization's mission and objectives. Best practices include:

• Define Success Metrics: What does success look like for your AI projects?
• Engage Stakeholders: Ensure AI initiatives have buy-in from across the organization.
• Balance Ambition with Feasibility: Prioritize projects that are impactful but achievable given your current resources, skillset and trust, allowing you to build momentum that will position the organization to achieve larger objectives over time.

Step 3: Establish AI Governance

Effective AI governance is critical to ensure ethical, transparent and successful implementation. Key components include:

• Policy Development: Create guidelines for responsible AI use for the broad organization’s use of common AI solutions and for those working on more complex AI initiatives.
• Data Security and Privacy: Evaluate your current access policy implementation and, where necessary, implement measures to strengthen the protection of sensitive information. Security through obfuscation is no longer an option with the emergence of AI.
• Regulatory, Compliance and Risk Management: Review and assess industry and geography relevant requirements.
• Accountability Structures: Assign clear ownership and accountability for individual AI projects and the overall AI strategy.

Step 4: Identify and Prioritize AI Opportunities

Not all opportunities are created equal. Focus on identifying and prioritizing use cases that promise the highest value and have the highest likelihood of success. Like other journeys, progress using AI is made over time, not in a single step. To help identify those steps, consider the following:

• Conduct Opportunity Workshops: Gather teams to brainstorm potential AI applications that can solve their business and operational challenges.
• Assess Feasibility and Impact: Use a framework to evaluate the technical feasibility and business impact of each idea at a detailed level.
• Create a Prioritized List: Focus on opportunities that align with organizational goals, will create positive impact and have a clear path to implementation.

Step 5: Build Your AI Roadmap

Once priorities are set, create a roadmap to guide your AI initiatives, knowing that you will need to adjust and adapt it over time. When creating your roadmap, consider the following:

• Short-Term Goals: Focus on quick wins to demonstrate value.
• Long-Term Vision: Outline strategic initiatives that will drive sustained impact.
• Iterative Development: Plan for a phased approach, allowing for adjustments based on outcomes and feedback.

Step 6: Pilot and Roll Out AI Capabilities

Transition from strategy to execution by starting small, learning from pilot projects and scaling up. Effective execution requires discipline and a learning mindset:

• Pilot Projects: Test AI applications on a small scale to validate assumptions and demonstrate value.
• Measure and Refine: Use pilot results to improve models and processes.
• Scale Successfully: Leverage lessons learned from pilots to deploy AI solutions across the organization.

Embarking on an AI journey is an exciting but complex endeavor. By following these six steps — from readiness assessment to scaled deployment — your organization can unlock AI’s transformative potential. Approaching this journey strategically and aligning your goals, governance frameworks and organizational capabilities will allow you to move forward on the path to turning your AI dreams into results. Let the journey begin!

Stay tuned for our next article in the series where we’ll discuss considerations for ongoing AI evolution and support; or if you have questions about AI or your AI journey, contact Jeff Chenevey or Kevin Sexton to discuss this topic further.

Cohen & Co is not rendering legal, accounting or other professional advice. Information contained in this post is considered accurate as of the date of publishing. Any action taken based on information in this blog should be taken only after a detailed review of the specific facts, circumstances and current law with your professional advisers.