Behaviour shift is needed

Alyona Medelyan, a co-founder, CEO and director of Auckland-based customer insights platform Thematic, says many companies and organisations will make mistakes as they adopt AI, like they have with other technology shifts. The role of directors is to encourage their companies to not make these mistakes.

The two, she says, that are top of mind are:

1. Not acting fast enough
2. Working on the wrong things

“You might not be acting fast because you think it is hype and you want to wait it out,” she says. “However, experts agree the new capabilities in AI are transformative. The CEO and chairman of independent research and advisory firm Forrester Research, George Colony, said earlier this year the time to act is now.

“You might not be acting fast enough because you feel restrained by your resources. The good news is you do not need AI experts to benefit from AI. Powerful software tools and AI libraries are available to anyone today.” She suggests:

1. Make the company more productive

A behaviour shift is needed. It is a mistake not to take advantage of what’s out there. For example, every software developer should use Github Copilot. Every content marketing person should use ChatGPT togenerate ideas. Every designer should be using AI integrated into design software, such as Adobe or Canva.

2. Look into how AI will disrupt your business

If you won’t disrupt yourself, someone else will. Every company director should be researching how the market is adapting to the wave of AI tech and products. Who are the new players in the market? What AI-powered features do they launch? What is resonating with customers?

Medelyan says they quickly became aware the old ways of doing AI were outdated and they needed to “reinvest ourselves, instead of being disrupted”. “Luckily, we realised a massive opportunity of integrating AI in our product. We immediately launched a small feature called ‘insights summaries’. It was a game-changer.

“But our customers also told us they wanted a ChatGPT-like solution to answer questions about their customer feedback. So we kicked off a complex R&D project. It is in the final stages of Beta.”

AI opens up so many new possibilities, she says, that picking the right one is critical. “So much feels within reach. It is easier than ever to build a quick demo using AI that shows some valuable output for the business. But just because you can build it, it doesn’t mean you should.”