Generative AI is poised to revolutionize businesses by automating tasks previously performed by humans. This transformation can enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and create new growth opportunities. However, companies seek tangible evidence of AI’s impact on business performance and revenue. While vendor promises alone aren’t sufficient, directly correlating AI adoption (such as with Microsoft Copilot) to overall business outcomes remains challenging. CIOs may need to take a leap of faith, as the results may take time to materialize
Here’s Ball’s take:
Right now the world is evolving — AI is a massive platform shift. And by NOT adopting / spending on it, you risk losing market share and slowly becoming irrelevant. Because your competitors are investing in AI efforts, you also have to invest in AI efforts. At the end of the day these investments might not immediately result in better business outcomes (i.e., more revenue), but they certainly lead to better end user experiences. And very well may lead to better “other” metrics like retention or churn. If your competitors are building better end user experiences and you’re not, then you may find yourself in trouble in the short / medium term.
While CIOs recognize the transformative potential of generative AI, they seek more certainty before embracing this game-changing technology. Balancing the need for innovation with the reality of current expenses, they wonder when they’ll see a return on their investment.
Drawing an analogy to the shift from steam to electricity in the 18th century, some view generative AI as today’s “electricity moment.” Ignoring it could lead to being steamrolled by progress.
To navigate this, companies may turn to established consulting firms like Deloitte, McKinsey, and Accenture. However, this approach ironically increases costs and time to value.