How to successfully approach AI adoption

Guest blog from Kirsty Biddiscombe at NetApp as part of our #PuttingAIIntoAction campaign week 2024.

From executive boardrooms to Parliament, artificial intelligence (AI) is constantly at the top of business and political agendas. With AI’s transformative potential to streamline content creation, inject efficiency and automation across industries and supercharge decision-making, it’s easy to see why businesses are keen to adopt the technology.

Recent NetApp research found that UK businesses have high hopes for the technology: 67% of IT decision-makers view AI as strategically important to their operational success.

However, AI alone is no silver bullet to business challenges and in many cases can be a significant investment. As the intelligent data infrastructure company, we’re aware that the success of AI initiatives is determined largely by the quality of implementation and the data that underpins it. But, how can businesses ensure their deployments are set up for success?

More haste, less speed

The excitement around AI has led to a lack of clarity in best-practise and approaches across organisations. Today, AI seemingly features on nearly every product roadmap or business plan. It’s easy to see how businesses feel pressured to rush to deploy new products or solutions given the vast benefits on offer; however, a slower and more considered approach is critical to success.

With just 31% of IT leaders confident that their business is well-equipped to adopt AI, and nearly a quarter believing there is an inadequate understanding of the technology within their businesses, it’s clear businesses need to approach AI more strategically. Speed is not the answer, and rushed AI deployments may even risk damaging customer trust.

Instead, businesses must start their AI implementation journey by developing a clear understanding of how to access the benefits of AI or what the most effective use of AI is. From there, they should focus on creating a solution that adds tangible value to their businesses or customers.

Data is the answer

A robust data management strategy is indispensable for successful AI adoption. The quality and accessibility of data directly influences the performance of AI models and their output. And as data volumes continue to grow exponentially, businesses need to have a clear grasp of what data they possess, where it's located, and how to access it efficiently.

Visibility across the data stack is essential for various cloud environments. With data often coming from multiple systems and sources, connecting it before it can be processed is tricky. But with effective data management software that works across silos, businesses can gain better awareness of their data, and begin to clean it. This removes any duplicate, irrelevant or unnecessary information.

When firms truly understand their data landscape, they can then strategically plan how much preparatory work is required to identify the right data, collect it, and organise it.

Thoughtful AI adoption

The technology industry is known for its “fail fast” culture, the complexities of AI adoption make it clear that a slower, more strategic approach is key. Indeed, it’s the businesses that rush into adoption that are the most likely to miss out on the benefits of AI. They’ll likely have more of a challenge on their hands repairing deployments or redirecting efforts. Meanwhile, those who invest in the right infrastructure and take the time ensure models are fed with high-quality proprietary data are more likely to gain the competitive edge in the age of AI.

Dive deeper with more AI insights:

If you're interested in AI adoption you can find more insights on our AI Campaign Week page, here:

Stay up to date with techUK AI Adoption work:

To help promote greater levels of responsible AI adoption, techUK is working alongside its members and key stakeholders across the AI ecosystem to demonstrate the significant benefits of this technology for both the economy and society. The best way to stay up to date with our work is to visit our AI Adoption Hub.

Call for AI Adoption case studies:

As part of techUK’s 2024 AI Campaign Week, we are launching a call for techUK member case studies, to demonstrate how organisations are tackling the barriers to AI adoption to maximise AI's potential. These case studies will be showcased to UK organisations that are also embarking on their AI adoption journeys, providing them with practical examples and insights to guide their Putting AI into Action efforts. Learn more here.

techUK - Putting AI into Action

Our Putting AI into Action campaign serves as a one stop shop for showcasing the opportunities and benefits of AI adoption across four strategic sectors - Health and Social Care, Cyber, Central Government and Transport.

techUK is coordinating a calendar of events, reports, and insights to demonstrate some of the most significant opportunities for AI adoption in 2024, as well as working with key stakeholders to identify and address current barriers to adoption.

Visit our AI Adoption Hub to learn more, or find our latest activity below.