The future of tomorrow’s workplace will be vastly different than today with the continuous evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Organizations and governments who fail to plan properly for the integration of this technology and whose current processes are weak and ill-defined will find themselves falling behind their competitors.
In today’s organizations, poorly defined processes negatively impact an organization’s ability to properly execute its strategy. Without clear direction, employees may waste time and resources on tasks that are not important or necessary. Work quality suffers impacting the organization’s reputation and customer satisfaction. In addition to wasted time, poorly defined processes can result in wasted materials, resources and redundancies, all of which increase costs and reduce profitability.
Other areas we see impacted by poor process management and governance include missed deadlines, which can lead to missed opportunities and lost revenues; difficulty in accurately measuring organizational performance and tracking progress towards strategic goals, leading to difficulty in identification of areas for improvement and needed changes in strategy. Poorly defined processes can also make it more difficult to manage and implement change initiatives due to unclear expectations resulting in employee resistance and lack of buy-in.
The Importance of Well-Defined Processes in Relation to AI Integration
Trying to embrace AI when your current process governance is weak or non-existent presents a multitude of additional issues. Unexpected outcomes including inaccurate or misleading results can have a devastating impact on your organization’s performance, its strategy execution, and its operational effectiveness. Here are some basic reasons why it is extremely important to having well-defined and thoughtful processes in place as it relates to AI:
- AI algorithms require clear inputs and outputs to function effectively. As such, if your inputs and outputs are imprecise or ad hoc, it is impossible to properly train and optimize your AI system as the algorithms would most likely contain erroneous or incomplete data.
- Well-defined processes ensure data management is performed in an optimum fashion. Data is collected and organized in a consistent and structured method to ensure AI is capable of delivering accurate, reliable and consistent results.
- Processes that are optimized and concisely defined can be valuable in identifying areas of inefficiency and redundancy in workflows, allowing for optimization and automation with AI. As a result, organizations can realize significant improvements in regard to efficiency and productivity.
- Algorithms are designed around, and dependent upon, well-designed processes which lead to consistent and reliable results. If processes are unclear, the likeliness of consistent outputs is greatly diminished.
- One of the functions of AI algorithms is to help identify patterns and insights from data to inform better decision making. Clearly defined processes ensure data is structured and organized in a way to gain the most benefit form AI in terms of effective analysis and decision-making.
AI is already playing a significant role in the workplace with businesses, governments, and other organizations using it to automate routine tasks, improve decision making and enhance efficiency. With the advancements being made in natural language processing, computer vision, and deep learning, AI has the potential to transform entire industries and redefine the way we work.
Over the next five years, it is thought the integration of AI into businesses and government will continue to grow at an astonishing rate. The key trends driving this technology include an increasing demand for automation and the advancements being made every day making AI more accessible and easier to implement. Another key factor is the availability of data and the speed in which AI can read, analyze and extract insights for better decision-making and improved efficiency. Many organizations are coming to the realization that AI is going to change the way they do business and as such, are investing time and capital to attempt to gain a competitive edge. We also see governments starting to pay more attention to the regulatory and ethical considerations presented by AI technology to ensure the adoption of AI is one in a structure and more responsible manner.
When developing your strategy for tomorrow, you cannot afford to ignore the significance of the Internal Process perspective utilized in the Balanced Scorecard methodology. It is critically important to be sure you have the right processes in place and paying attention to the right things within this perspective to ensure AI can be adequately embraced by your organization.
The future of tomorrow’s workplace is one where humans and machines work together, leveraging the unique strengths of both to drive innovation, efficiency, and growth. If you haven’t included this in your strategic and operational planning, you are already behind the curve.
Algorithms are designed around, and dependent upon, well-designed processes which lead to consistent and reliable results. If processes are unclear, the likeliness of consistent outputs is greatly diminished.
One of the functions of AI algorithms is to help identify patterns and insights from data to inform better decision making. Clearly defined processes ensure data is structured and organized in a way to gain the most benefit form AI in terms of effective analysis and decision-making.
Connect with us via email or call us at 919-460-8180 for more information on how we can help you with your processes and strategy.
Terry is Balanced Scorecard Institute's Director of Training and Senior Associate with over 30 years of experience working in both the private and public sectors.