Surprisingly few people in business leadership seem to understand the importance of maintaining intellectual property. Most people, especially those that have undertaken studies in business theory will be aware that the only thing that separates you from the competition is what-you-know-that-they-don’t and of course, resources.
The Great Cloud Migration saw over half of businesses move to one of only two cloud platforms. There were of course many sensible reasons like disaster recovery and scalability, there were however risks that were downplayed or simply not identified.
Industry by industry the selection of business software shrunk as the big players acquired competitors and squeezing the little guys out. Meanwhile business leaders became wary of customisations because of the impacts to software upgrades. In certain industries today there remains only a few software packages likely to be seriously considered during procurement, nobody, especially your staff will want to be caught in a cul-de-sac of lesser-known software.
The age of AI will reign over further assimilation of business process. AI’s greatest party trick could also be its downfall. The vast majority of today’s business processes will in some capacity, be assisted by computers. Perhaps it’s just email, word documents or excel spreadsheets. If you haven’t noticed already, the current version of Microsoft office comes with AI built in. That’s not all. iPhones, along with most personal computing devices will have AI built into the hardware. There will be no escaping AI should you wish or need to. This is a huge problem for many students and professional writers who are prohibited from using AI.
I will again state that I love technology, and I love automation. AI is automation with a turbocharger and lipstick. What’s not to like about giving your computers the boring jobs to do? Most of my farm is automated. Where I couldn’t buy it, I made it. The only thing sexier than open-source software is open-source hardware.
But like all powerful tools, you need to be cognisant of potential deskilling. I’m reminded of this every time I hop out of our HEV and into one of our classic vehicles. And what I really want to talk about, the other less talked about risk, the risk that your business processes are becoming generic.
We understand the difference between handmade objects and machine-made ones. The machine-made objects typically have few imperfections. Hopefully the same result every time. I feel our business outcomes are no different.
Whenever there is a problem there is an opportunity.
Technologists are often on alert when everything goes too smoothly with new processes. Especially when you can’t monitor every stage. Errors and bugs become opportunities to prove each step or point. Glitches and anomalies become opportunities to innovate. Artists and designers know that nuances can become your signature. We don’t pay more for machine made watches or paintings, we like the hand made ones. We want uniqueness. Probably because we all think of ourselves as unique. I would encourage any business leader to have a thorough look at what makes their business unique. Before or after an AI project. I’m always here if you need a hand.