Application

How these trends impact your company

STRATEGY

Artificial intelligence should be part of every strategic plan, as it crosses multiple dimensions, from workforce automation, to digital transformation, to everyday business processes and business intelligence. It is imperative that executives and senior managers understand what AI is, what it is not, and what strategic value it adds to the business. Chief strategy officers should build a robust understanding of AI in order to engage more closely with others in the C-suite, especially chief technology officers, chief information security officers, chief financial officers, and others in the organization to develop longer-term plans. Keep abreast of emerging regulations that could restrict the use of consumer data. Risk models should be developed to determine plausible near-futures, so that leaders can adjust their strategies accordingly.

INNOVATION

As no-code and low-code applications become more widely available, innovation teams will be in position to build powerful systems for decision management, business intelligence, and product ideation. Generative AIs will improve an organization’s efficiency and enhance creativity, leading to hybrid human-machine creative teams. AI-assisted design will dramatically increase the number of prototypes that can be automatically generated with prompts.

R & D

The field of AI is growing faster than universities can produce trained people. Talent sourcing and retention will continue to pose challenges for AI companies— and for organizations in other industries that need a trained workforce but may not be able to provide the same perks as the biggest tech companies. Meanwhile, China has emerged as a global leader in R&D and is actively recruiting graduates to repatriate home. For teams with enough experience and staff resources, 2022 should be a banner year for applied AI research for health, medicine, smart cities, entertainment, and sports.

GROWTH

In most industries, AI will serve as a force multiplier for growth, bringing efficiencies, better tracking, business intelligence, and assistance with decision-making. As training costs decline, more applications will be built. Spending on AI systems and hardware is likely to explode this decade, creating significant enterprise value overall.