The AI ​​Way or the Highway: Why Becoming AI-Centric is Critical to Business Success

After a few years of relatively stable technology, generative AI has taken the world by storm, with McKinsey predicting that any business without AI will be obsolete within the next three years.

AI-native businesses (businesses built with AI at their core) are already on the rise, and incumbents that need time to implement change should take note: Generative AI will create a tipping point where AI-centric models will move forward at breakneck speed, and organizations that are still on the fence will be quickly left behind.

I saw something similar happen during the dot-com boom when Blockbuster failed to digitize its business in time to meet the needs of its increasingly digitally savvy customers.

The same thing happened with Blackberry, when the company failed to introduce touchscreen keyboards on time, causing cutting-edge devices to become obsolete. In both cases, the problem was not so much a lack of product updates, but rather the failure of leadership teams to drive business transformation on time.

While many companies are finally waking up, for organizations still grappling with AI, time is already running out. That's the bad news. The good news is, there's still time to get back on track.

Successful technology transformation starts with transforming business processes. It's all about employees and how they work together. Given the right tools and space to contribute, employees can quickly become change agents. And it's easy to do so.

I think there are two forces converging here: one is the emergence of what are essentially AI-native organizations — startups built with AI embedded in their infrastructure from day one, with automation and data at the forefront of their approach; and two is the rapid transformation of existing organizations into AI-centric organizations.

To survive and thrive, more organizations will need to become AI-centric and make room to embrace AI as the central “glue” for their future operations and growth.

Of course, this transformation is a big challenge: Any operational change that affects every aspect of your business, from sales and customer service to finance and human resources, is a painful process.

But I believe the opportunity cost of not making this massive transformation is too great to ignore. Organizations need to embrace AI if they want to remain competitive and relevant in the long term. So the question is not whether to become an AI-centric organization, but how to get there.

People fear the unknown, and when change occurs and employees are the last to know, it creates a lot of anxiety and uncertainty.

For example, McKinsey research finds that many change efforts fail because the goals aren't tailored to the jobs of individual employees. Even more worrying, the survey found that senior managers are 20 percent more likely to believe those goals are tailored than the rest of the workforce, leaving a significant gap in misunderstanding between the two groups.

As you define your AI strategy and goals, you should involve intrapreneurs at all levels in your organization to consider how these changes will impact their individual roles. Encourage affected employees to communicate these changes. Create an open forum where employees can ask questions, voice concerns, and share best practices. While this type of active engagement may be unsettling and require help initially, it will surely pay off in the form of increased levels of innovation, adoption, and impact in the future.

You need to think not only about letting people know what changes are happening (top-down), but also about how to include all employees in the process (bottom-up). Early McKinsey research showed that when employees feel actively involved in business change, they are much more likely to stick with it.

The best way to engage your employees is to ask them about use cases and tools they think could solve existing business problems. Another way is to create a “prompthon,” which will help your employees come up with new AI prompts while also providing much-needed insights into the quality of existing AI algorithms.

Finally, have your team test the pilot solution and get their feedback. For example, if your customer service team needs to learn how to work with a new chatbot, collaborate with them to co-design it. Your employees are your best innovators and know your business processes best.

Watch the rapid change in both technology and new business models in the AI ​​space. If you have a dedicated innovation team, work with them to experiment with AI-centric solutions. If you don't have one, now may be the time to create one because AI innovation won't wait.

In this context, we develop a hierarchical approach for AI use cases, clear metrics and prioritization frameworks, and transformation maps for each business function. AI-centric organizations require data (and organizational knowledge) to flow freely between business units and underlying platforms.

While this may be a costly endeavor, it presents a unique opportunity to rethink and reinvent your entire business infrastructure. Think of it as moving from paper notes to email. It was a big leap, but today it's hard to imagine that organizations once relied solely on print and internal email.

As I work with executives across many industries, I find that many of them are subject to fear-mongering about AI. Business leaders feel increasingly pressured to adopt AI when they're not ready. Of course, this is the wrong approach. Poor AI adoption can be far more damaging than not adopting it in the first place. So, the first step is to make sure you focus on your business strategy.

But being complacent is not the answer either. If you don't have a clear strategy for how AI can improve your business, you need to make it a top priority. Consult with your employees to gather insights you wouldn't get any other way. And get to work. The clock is ticking, and companies using AI are already thriving in a competitive environment.

Alex Goryachev is an award-winning AI and innovation executive and the WSJ bestselling author of Fearless Innovation.