Guidepost: Three Strategies to Conquer the Ideation-Implementation Divide in Prosperous AI Financings
Guidepost: Three Strategies to Conquer the Ideation-Implementation Divide in Prosperous AI Financings
Bhadresh Patel serves as the COO for the global professional services firm, RGP.
In 2024, investment in AI saw a significant boost, with predictions of further growth in 2025. According to Menlo Ventures, business expenditure on generative AI increased sixfold from $2.3 billion in 2023 to $13.8 billion in 2024. As per Bloomberg, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft alone plan to spend a whopping $200 billion on AI in 2025.
However, the majority of these investments are driven by CEO directives, as AI is still in its early stages with limited evidence of cost savings. The hype surrounding AI mirrors that of the dot-com bubble and the push for digital customer experiences. Companies were eager to invest in new technologies without fully considering how they fit into their overall strategy.
Organizations must acknowledge that digital transformation encompasses people, processes, and technology, implying that significant implementations will alter business-employee and customer interactions. AI adoption is going through these phases, and navigating the substantial gap between conception and execution is one of the main challenges organizations face.
Successful AI implementation relies on an organization's capacity to bridge this gap by prioritizing initiatives that yield the most sensible results when scrutinizing these factors:
1. Where is the data most organized?
Many companies with large data management projects grapple with fragmented data. AI implementation is futile without reliable data.
At RGP, we continuously explore the areas where our data is most organized and leverage AI to generate efficiencies. Leaders need to shift their mindset from searching for an all-encompassing AI solution to considering what AI can provide for their organization, which begins with data.
By allocating AI investment to departments with well-organized data, leaders can also better prepare their organization for change management and readiness when the initiatives go live. Considering the growing concerns about AI-related job losses, leaders will increasingly need to demonstrate how these investments help the organization adapt, increase productivity, and foster innovation.
2. Where is the organization in sync to drive results?
Many companies invest in large AI initiatives without seeing positive outcomes. Every technology has some overlap with other technologies, and each technology has limitations. To succeed with any technology implementation, leaders must comprehend why they're making the investment, how the technology fits with the organization's existing tech capabilities, and what the overlap is in terms of knowledge and training. This alignment enables leaders to communicate effectively with their teams and educational them about the potential of their investments.
Technology implementations often fail when functional employees fail to grasp the capabilities and limitations of the new tools. It's essential for business leaders to respect these technology constraints in their respective roles and realize the limitations of the tools at their disposal.
3. Where are the most promising use cases?
Frequently, we see organizations set up AI centers, expecting them to deliver miracles. This strategy won't produce the desired results. Leaders must examine specific use cases within each new technology implementation where the tool can yield the most significant impact. Where can generative AI boost productivity, revenue, or cost efficiency? It's essential to be careful when prioritizing the use cases that make the most sense for the business.
I anticipate that we'll see more clarity and focus around the types of AI initiatives organizations prioritize in the next 12 to 24 months. Leaders will dedicate more resources to these investments and introduce new applications at scale, helping bridge the ideation-execution gap. Concurrently, we'll see some companies withdraw as they understand their data, governance, or business ROI weaknesses.
Over time, as we've seen with other technology cycles, AI will become an integral aspect of our daily lives. In five years, we will consider AI the same way we currently regard digital investment. For businesses to prioritize investments in areas that make the most strategic sense, leaders must understand the existing technology capabilities of their organizations, recognize the required modifications to core operational systems, and account for the human impact of each initiative.
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At RGP, Bhadresh Patel, as the COO, plays a crucial role in exploring the areas where data is most organized to leverage AI and generate efficiencies.
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