Generative AI (Gen AI) has been the ‘buzzword of the year’ since early 2023 when it was introduced, and it has been hailed as a panacea for all kinds of business operations. However, since then, many businesses have been dealing with the painful tasks of proving the value of AI to using it in actual production. Finding the right ways to get the most value out of Gen AI has been a tougher nut to crack than most expected. That said, there has been a recent large-scale study on the real-world state of Gen AI, which revealed a lot of things. But one thing is clear – there is a vast disconnect between executive expectations and actual outcomes.
For instance, the Forrester Consulting study found that, although more than 80 per cent of respondents said they believe that the importance of Gen AI will increase over the next 12 months, fewer than one in five (22 per cent) said they are unlocking Gen AI value across their organisation today.
We find this to be the general challenge when working with clients: it is not so much the technology itself but the necessity of well-defined business use cases that are proven, prototyped and deployed as quickly as possible.
To that end, we work with our customers to identify the most promising use cases, give them a window into what an end state might look like, and provide a tangible, actionable path to get there.
Business use cases that matter
The true path to Gen AI business value starts with a laser focus on business scenarios. Below are just a few examples of how targeted business use cases drive Gen AI business value.
The abovementioned report notes that only 42 per cent of organisations train Gen AI models on their own data – a must-have task to realise the most value. A case study on ServiceTrade, a construction software provider using Amazon Bedrock to quickly summarise equipment service history and extract maintenance schedules, illustrates the power of applying enterprise data to enhance operational efficiency. This underscores the Forrester Consulting study’s focus on data readiness and the ways that organisations will unlock Gen AI value by fully leveraging their own data.
Those that use Gen AI more widely across their business see the benefits more rapidly – for example, in areas such as customer engagement, the study states. This is exemplified by Luminoso’s approach. This company’s Gen AI-powered platform helps Fortune 500 clients interact with their customers more effectively through faster, real-time insights.
The results of the Forrester Consulting study also showed that 88 per cent of organisations need partners with knowledge of their market and contextual use cases. Continental’s development of virtual factory solutions also demonstrates the transformative potential of Gen AI applied to specific industry challenges. For example, Continental is facing unique automotive industry challenges in terms of shortened development cycles and time-to-market pressures in the automotive industry (for both Continental and its customers). This again shows the tremendous value that tailored Gen AI applications can bring to business.
Conclusion
If 2023 was the year of Gen AI experiments, 2024 is the year of Gen AI deployments at production scale. But we recognise that every client is at a different stage of their Gen AI evolution. Wherever they are in their journey, the pace of that journey fuels success.
In the end, it all comes down to three words: production, production, production.
There are also structural elements that set organisations up for success, including data readiness, technical skills development, governance plan development, and finding service providers that can help accelerate the discovery and deployment of AI solutions. There is Gen AI value to be had for business, and we will show you how to find it.
Learn how to turn Gen AI from a mere buzzword into a genuine business advantage for your organisation.