Is Your Head in the Sand?

I regularly meet executives that are pondering what to do with AI.

Typical responses I hear are:

“Clearly it’s overhyped!”

“It’s moving so fast. Why should I do anything now?”

“We are too busy running our business.”

“Our data is a mess, we need to clean it up first.”

It’s easy to dismiss AI and just stick your head in the sand.  I can say with certainty after spending nearly three decades in the technology industry, that AI isn’t a passing fad.

Back in college (1994), I, too, had this mentality.  I still remember sitting in a humanities class listening to the professor drone on about how the internet was going to change the world.  He was raving about the Blacksburg Electronic Village, and how it was THE model for global communication and commerce.

I didn’t get it.

I was too focused on passing the class, graduating college, and spending the rest of my life outdoors conducting field research.

Around this same time, Marc Andreessen co-founded and launched Netscape. Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.

The signs were there.  A massive wave of change was coming but I didn’t take notice at all.

I had my head stuck in the sand.

Since that time, we’ve seen many other technology waves including:

• Broadband
• Smartphones and mobile apps
• GPS and location-based services
• Social media
• Cloud computing
• E-commerce and digital payments
• Video media

Many of the companies that tested the waters early, saw significant upside.  Those that waited until the technology was mainstream struggled to stay competitive.

Of course, different industries are more apt to invest in new technologies than others; but, unlike past waves, AI has broad applications.

It super charges all past (and future) waves.

It has the potential to improve all business functions and processes in every type of organization.

It may even revolutionize what you’re selling to your customers and how you make money.

I encourage every company to, at minimum, “dip their toes in the AI water”.

But… Don’t do it without a thoughtful strategy.

If you jump into it without a strategy, it’s highly likely your first project will fail.  And, if you get discouraged by a failed project, you may give up for months or years while the rest of the world steps on your head in the sand.