AI Tools - Where To Start

With all of the excitement around AI, it is tempting for CMO's to rush into licensing new AI tools in order to tick the box that marketing are in the forefront of innovation AI. Many boards and CEO's are pressing to see an AI plan It would however be a mistake to make hasty decisions and much more productive to develop an AI adoption plan with a robust business case

Step 1 - Set The Priority Goals

The first step in any plan is usually to set the priority goals. Is the priority to reduce costs or to increase revenue? We know already that some organizations are already seeking cost reductions from AI as evidenced by Shopify which have announced a headcount freeze due to AI productivity improvements and Microsoft who have started layoffs and claim that 30% of their code repository is now created by AI so therefore there is less need for coders. My hunch is with the current economic headwinds, much of the focus will be on productivity improvements and cost reduction.

Step 2 - Identify The Long List Of Usage Cases

Let's take the goal of cost reduction. In order to develop a plan, it is important to identify existing candidate usage cases for potential cost reduction in order to identify quick wins and where there is the greatest financial upside. This may be for example, in direct content costs (photography, music content for example,) or in content editing, and customization to each distribution platform.

Step 3 - Prioritization

In order to provide focus, the usage cases should be ranked by financial upside, (whether that be reduced costs or additional revenue,) operational ease to execute and cost to execute. The outcome of this exercise will be a shortlist of target usage cases to integrate with AI with a corresponding business case.

Step 4 - Map AI Tools To Priority Usage Cases

There are a plethora of AI tools entering the market either new AI features on existing tools or new tools designed solely for AI. With the pace of technology change accelerating, it is important to understand the AI roadmap of tool vendors and you will likely need some expert help to identify the key new tool players in the market.

Step 5 - Pilot And Prove Out The Business Case

Rather than rush into a decision, I would suggest piloting a few of the candidate tools on some sand boxed data and proving out the business case in a controlled environment. This will also give you the opportunity to test out the tools functionality and ease of use.