Can AI solve business problems?

With all the hype around AI, it is natural for businesses to want to jump on the bandwagon and experiment with new technologies. Unfortunately, these experiments can prove worthless if they are not integrated properly and aligned with the company’s needs. To unlock the true potential of AI, organizations need to be ready, with the right people, the right culture, and clear goals. They also need to understand what business problems are solvable with AI. In this blog, digital transformation specialist Tariq Munir shares his thoughts on AI and how it can help solve business problems.

Understanding AI for businesses
I generally like to categorize AI into two buckets - traditional AI, which is about traditional machine learning algorithms and is more deterministic in nature, and advanced AI, which is more around the large language models, agentic AI, generative AI and so on. Advanced AI is less deterministic but much broader in what it can do.

There is more potential for organizations to use well-established traditional machine learning AI to transform how they work. It is particularly helpful to automate anything which is manual, high volume in nature, and repetitive. I have also seen the benefits of AI when used with a technique called process mining, which gains insights from ERP systems. Utilising the capabilities of machine learning algorithms can help create entire workflows, document processes, and use advanced analytics to optimize process and different scenarios.

This does not mean that advanced AI does not have a place but, currently, the technology is still being developed and is changing rapidly. Businesses should focus on areas that can help them get ready for AI and look at the bigger picture. What are they trying to achieve? What is their digital vision? They can also start to implement some traditional AI approaches to build their capabilities.

Building a digital mindset
Building a digital mindset is what will propel the organization from being mediocre at their digital transformation efforts, to being the best in class. Businesses need to work on developing their organizational culture. They might have the best tools, technologies, funding, resources and so on, but if a digital culture is not in place, it isn’t going to be easy to make the digital transformation and to sustain it.

Another key factor to success is the people who are driving the transformation; they are the most important piece of the puzzle. Businesses need to invest in their people in the first instance, by developing their team’s skills and encouraging a digital mindset. Generally, staff that are technically savvy are quick to get on board, but people who have been in an organization for a while and are used to a certain way of working may need to be trained and coached to bring them to the same level.

A problem solved?
Developing an AI model will usually require a domain expert who can take it from proof of concept to deploying it, and then integrating it into the day-to-day processes of an organization. A typical AI development lifecycle involves defining the problem, pre-processing data, developing the model, training and testing the model, and finally deployment; then the cycle continues.

First, businesses should identify the problems that need to be solved and map their AI and digital capabilities against those problems, to determine what needs to be built. This will help determine what the cost and effort will be, and then identify the quick wins that can solve specific issues.

If it’s determined that the AI will consume more resource than a single employee, there is no point in using an AI model to do the task. Organizations will need to understand whether a business problem is solvable with AI, then ensure the algorithm is solving the right problem, the training and test data is accurate, and they are measuring the performance of the model in an effective way. So, a lot needs to be done to leverage AI to solve a business problem.

There is no denying that AI is going to keep evolving. But it’s important to remember that its success is enabled by people, who are the ones leveraging AI to solve business problems. At the end of the day, it’s not AI determining which problem to solve, it is humans; our digital mindset and approach towards technology can help solve business problems. Be grounded in the ‘why’ when starting your transformation journey. Where do you want your business to go? What does the future look like, and what does technology and AI have to do with it?

Are you ready for AI? Listen to this episode of our Tech Transform podcast with Oliver Wight Partner Rod Hozack and Tariq Munir here.

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About Tariq
Tariq Munir is a thought leader in digital transformation, with experience working with multinational corporations such as PepsiCo and PwC. Tariq specializes in leading digital roadmaps, fostering a ‘digital first’ culture and driving organizational change. He is also managing partner of this own business, Finspyre Consulting.