Key steps to a successful enterprise AI strategy

April 17th 2024 | Box News

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A well thought-out artificial intelligence (AI) strategy can help you go beyond just embracing the latest technology trends and use AI in a way that aligns with your business goals.

Let’s review the key steps for a successful enterprise AI strategy and how to get started.

What is an AI strategy?

An AI strategy is a plan to harness the full potential of artificial intelligence in your organization. It includes a meticulous assessment of existing data assets and infrastructure, identifying key areas where AI could drive operational efficiency and allow enhanced decision-making. It also involves formulating a comprehensive framework for acquiring, curating, and managing diverse datasets, ensuring the quality, relevance, and ethical handling of data throughout its lifecycle.

Having a strategy for AI implementation has become a pressing necessity for enterprises to remain competitive.

What you have to gain with an artificial intelligence strategy

With an enterprise AI strategy, you have a roadmap to navigate the complexities of integrating AI into your operations on a large scale. Consider these key benefits.

Strategic alignment

A well-defined AI content strategy should align with your overall business plan, ensuring that these initiatives contribute directly to the achievement of your organizational goals. According to a study, early adopters of AI expect to see a 9.3x return on their investment (ROI) in the near future. By aligning efforts strategically, resources can be directed toward AI projects that provide the most value and impact, avoiding scattered investments.

Efficiency and automation

Enterprise AI implementation automates routine, time-consuming tasks, reducing manual efforts and minimizing errors. Results include optimized resource utilization and reduced labor costs.

Let’s consider the example of retail businesses implementing AI-powered chatbots for customer support. By providing instant and efficient responses to common inquiries, these chatbots reduced the workload on human support agents, leading to improved operational efficiency and customer service.

According to a Box-sponsored IDC report, 30% of respondents expect to have the greatest positive impact from using generative AI when it comes to “better chatbots for customer interaction.”

Improved decision-making

AI systems analyze vast amounts of data quickly, providing valuable insights that facilitate informed decision-making. Let’s say you’re working on a business intelligence report. By leveraging AI to ask targeted questions about multiple documents, the process of uncovering key insights becomes streamlined. You accelerate data analysis while enhancing the precision and depth of the insights obtained.

Competitive advantage

Enterprises with a strategic approach to AI are better positioned to innovate by developing and deploying AI-driven products and services that differentiate them from their competitors. AI strategies can also enhance an organization’s ability to adapt to market changes, customer preferences, and technological advancements, fostering a competitive edge.

Benefits of an enterprise artificial intelligence strategy

How to build an AI strategy for your enterprise

In building a framework for applying AI in enterprises, follow these key steps.

Step 1: Set your business goals

Clearly outline overarching business objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs) that AI can influence. Establish clear ethical AI principles, ensuring the ability to support compliance with data security and privacy regulations.

Step 2: Identify high-impact AI use cases

Evaluate current workflows, data infrastructure, and technological capabilities to gauge your organization’s readiness for AI. Identify and prioritize specific use cases where AI brings significant value and aligns with business goals.

Step 3: Define the technology and talent plan

Determine the specific enterprise AI platforms and infrastructure required to meet your organizational objectives. Define the strategic initiatives for acquiring, managing, and retaining AI expertise within your organization. As part of this step, identify the skill sets necessary for successful AI implementation.

Step 4: Establish a phased implementation roadmap

Set clear milestones and timelines for the implementation of your AI business strategy. Each phase should be strategically structured, ensuring a systematic progression. Equip your team with the necessary skills and training on how to use AI in their tasks.

Explore our guide on how to train employees to use new technologies.

Step 5: Get stakeholder alignment on your AI policy

A survey from the Conference Board finds that 56% of workers use generative AI in their jobs, but only 26% say their organizations have an AI policy. In addition to establishing AI policies, you should ensure they’re clearly communicated to your team.

Statistic stating that 74% of companies lack an established, clearly communicated AI policy

Step 6: Monitor and assess the impact of your strategy

Implement robust monitoring and measurement mechanisms to track the impact of AI on your business outcomes. Regularly assess the performance of your initiatives and adapt the strategy based on technological advancements, changing needs, and lessons learned from implementation.

Here’s an overview of the questions you should ask when building your enterprise AI strategy:

Step	Questions you should ask
Setting business goals	Are there specific challenges or pain points that AI could address to enhance business outcomes? What ethical considerations are relevant to our AI initiatives, and how can we address them proactively?
Identifying high-impact use cases	Are there use cases that serve as quick wins to demonstrate the value of AI? Have we considered the feasibility and complexity of implementing each identified use case?
Defining technology and talent plan	What technology infrastructure is needed to support our AI use cases, and how will it be integrated into existing systems? What skills and expertise are required for successful AI implementation, and do we have them internally or need to acquire them?
Establishing the implementation roadmap	What are the key milestones and timelines for each phase of AI implementation? How will scalability be addressed as AI initiatives expand?
Getting stakeholder alignment	Are all stakeholders aware and aligned with our AI strategy? What communication and training strategies are needed for stakeholder engagement?
Monitoring and assessing the impact	What key performance indicators (KPIs) should be tracked to measure impact? What mechanisms are in place to gather feedback from users and stakeholders?

Leverage Box as your enterprise AI platform for content

Box AI brings the power of intelligence right to your enterprise content. Our new suite of capabilities natively integrates AI models into the Content Cloud. You can:

Summarize documents in seconds
Write emails and meeting agendas
Personalize onboarding and sales material
Translate documents and reports
Surface insights from market research

Plus, you benefit from Box’s existing security and compliance. Leverage built-in granular access control, multi-factor authentication, zero trust security, enterprise-grade encryption, and more.

Future-proof your enterprise AI strategy with Box. Contact our team to get started.

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While we maintain our steadfast commitment to offering products and services with best-in-class privacy, security, and compliance, the information provided in this blog post is not intended to constitute legal advice. We strongly encourage prospective and current customers to perform their own due diligence when assessing compliance with applicable laws.