Basualdo - Winning with Artificial Intelligence: Seven Points Business Leaders Dont Know about Competing with AI

The year is 2016.

The world champion of the game of Go, Lee Sedol, and an artificial intelligence, AlphaGo, were having a match in South Korea. The event was being transmitted over multiple media channels, with more than 200 million persons attending. The event took place in South Korea when it was nighttime in the Americas. Even with the inconvenient time, many in the Americas watched the tournament.

The match between Lee Sedol and the machine started like any regular tournament. The tournament was a five-game event. AlphaGo won the first three games, and Lee Sedol won the fourth game. The fifth game is now part of AI history. After 280 moves in the fifth game, AlphaGo made an unexpected move, placing a stone on the boards lower-left side. At first sight, everyone thought the machine had made a mistake and even double-checked the instructions from AlphaGo. No human had made that type of move before. Lee Sedol looked at the board in disbelief and then in anguish. He became desperate. He left the event abruptly to go outside. After a few minutes, he returned to the tournament, stared at the board for 15 minutes, and sadly accepted defeat.

Go is a popular game played in Asia. The game has more possible moves than the number of atoms in the universe. To prepare for the game, the artificial intelligence AlphaGo, only received the rules of the game. AlphaGo learned to play Go by first watching 150,000 games, analyzing 30 million moves in the process, and then playing itself against previous versions of itself . After 21 days of learning by itself, AlphaGo could beat 60 Go experts. After 40 days, AlphaGo became the best Go player in the world.

The tournament proved that artificial intelligence could become an expert learning by itself. The business world has not been the same since that event.

Savvy corporations use the new artificial intelligence, AI, capabilities to compete in new ways that previously had not been possible. Using AIs ability to learn, companies now have detailed insights into each customers preferences and offer personalized services. Chatbots can quickly answer customers questions at any time. Some banks can process loan requests and provide an answer in less than a minute. Grocery warehouses can operate with autonomous robots to fulfill orders. AI algorithms can predict trends, set prices, and optimize inventories. Through AI predictive analytics insights, B2B salespersons can reduce customer churn and increase cross-selling. AI can reduce costs and increase revenues and employee engagement. Artificial intelligence is not only a tool for differentiation in this digital age but a tool for making corporations competitive.

Many leaders want to use AI for business. Successful 21 st Century companies are already enjoying high profitability with AI. When executives decide to use AI, many simply request Information Technology, IT, to implement it. After spending considerable time, effort, and money, the company finds only minimal benefits. Management becomes frustrated and wonders what they did wrong or if AI is the right technology for them. Over half the companies who implement AI experience little or no benefits.

Low returns from AI happen when companies limit themselves to implement the technology only, without making other changes to the business and the organization. Merely installing AI software in your company is not enough. Business executives must do much more than ask IT to do an AI project. This book describes seven points business leaders must address to receive the full benefits of AI. AI is not an IT-only initiative.

This book applies Harvard, MIT studies, and other verified sources that prove how some companies have achieved new levels of competitiveness with artificial intelligence. The approach of this book is not technical; it focuses on what business leaders need to do to achieve greater competitiveness through artificial intelligence. Board members and company functions, including Information Technology, must work together to find new ways of doing business and serve customers through AI applications.

Companies using AI provide unparalleled customer experience, increasing sales, enhancing digital commerce, reducing cost, and preventing fraud. AI is taking these companies to unseen levels of competitiveness and profitability. By applying the seven points described in this book, your company can achieve similar success.

Today, artificial intelligence is the technology with the most significant potential for businesses. Companies in all industries are already starting to invest in AI. Now is the time to start using AI to grow the business. Delaying the AI initiative may mean competitors will get ahead. Act now.

This book provides business executives with the knowledge to achieve new competitiveness levels by upgrading the organization. Upgrading the organization means moving to an omnichannel or ecosystem business model to profit from networks of customers, suppliers, and stakeholders, redesigning key processes to eliminate delay-causing bottlenecks and addressing organizational culture. With his book, you will learn how to:

1. Use artificial intelligence profitably by improving customer experience, digital commerce, productivity, employee engagement, and marketing effectiveness while reducing cost and risk.
2. Identify AI opportunities and lead organizations to implement them and obtain the benefits.
3. Compete with an updated digital business model to bring new revenues by connecting with others using AI technologies.
4. Implement AI with a detailed roadmap for executives.
5. Use the artificial intelligence age implications on businesses and everyday life by examining what successful companies do to excel now.
6. Apply proven 21 st Century business practices leveraging digital networks to bring more revenues.
7. Explain how artificial intelligence is critical for companies of all sizes and convince business executives of the need to leverage AI.
8. Redesign processes to create frictionless interactions with clients.
9. Overcome the new challenges AI may bring, including security, ethics, and privacy.
10. Plan ways to profit from low energy, computing power, and telecommunications costs. Plan how to use the increasing data availability for AI applications.
11. Turn employee resistance to change to a culture open to change.
12. Distinguish among AI myths from facts and clear AI concepts for others.
13. Navigate the impact of AI on the creation, loss, and transformation of jobs.
14. Create a culture of data in the organization.
15. Use innovative tools and techniques to generate new ideas.

Many business executives want AI to transform their business but are not sure how to apply it. Few people know what AI is, and fewer know how to implement it successfully in a company. This book explains the steps leaders must take on the business side to reap the rewards of AI. Leaders must link the AI initiatives to business value and move to a digital business model to achieve AIs full potential. They must also remove non-value-added steps in critical processes and address organizational culture issues to manage employees resistance to change. This book offers 65 AI examples to increase profitability you may use in your organization. In addition, the book includes a detailed, sequenced roadmap for AI implementation from the executives perspective. Figure 1 shows the components of this book. This book is not technical. It is a business book on how to apply AI technology.