Beyond Automation: Ways to harness your Intelligent Future

The pace of innovation in artificial intelligence is relentless. Another hour goes by and somebody, somewhere has posted another tweet about another enhancement that’s only a step or two away from putting us all out of work. “Robots are taking our jobs” rules the social converse. Pandora’s Box has opened and AI is rapidly becoming a workplace reality. The smart move isn't burying your head in the sand –  it's having a gameplan.

And yet, despite PWC predicting a 40% boost to employee productivity by 2035, many SMEs find themselves, very naturally given the speed of innovation, at a standstill, overwhelmed by the sheer vastness and complexity of the AI landscape. We call this phenomenon, AI Paralysis.

Busting the AI Paralysis

"As of mid-December 2023, 85% of UK businesses reported they were not currently using AI, the ONS said, while 83% revealed they had no plans to adopt it within the next three months."  - ITPro 9th Jan 2024

Based on this, it would seem that most businesses are stuck at square one – overwhelmed by possibilities and terrified of making the wrong move. That's understandable, but it's holding businesses back, especially SMEs.

This isn't just about automating a few grunt-work tasks (though that's the obvious thing we see currently).  If executed correctly, integrating AI across your business is your answer to next-level growth, the kind that blows your competitors out of the water and moves you into places you never thought possible. You need a clear integration strategy, one that balances the practical "today" with the ever-changing "tomorrow".

But where and how to start? Before jumping in with both feet, you need to take the time to think how you’re going to put AI to work, assess how you educate your workforce and decide what the potential opportunities for AI to optimise efficiencies and fuel business growth are. You need to determine what human, data, technology, and budgetary resources you have available to dedicate to AI initiatives and define a clear AI strategy behind which your organisation can align - Not an easy task when the technology is moving at such rapid speed.

Introducing the AI Readiness Assessment Tool

To help business owners overcome AI paralysis, we’ve built our own AI Readiness Assessment Tool.

Designed specifically for SMEs, this evaluation toolkit empowers organisations to identify and implement the most relevant AI opportunities, aiming to drive significant business impact within 6-36 months. 

How it Works

Recognizing the scale of the challenge, the AI Readiness Assessment Tool is built to demystify the process, offering a straightforward and actionable adoption plan for businesses. 

1. Assessment: SMEs are guided through a series of carefully crafted questions. These inquiries are designed to gauge the current state of your digital infrastructure, your strategic alignment with AI goals, operational readiness, and potential for impact. 
2. Recommendations: Based on your responses, the tool generates a personalised set of insights. These recommendations highlight specific AI opportunities that align with your operational needs and strategic objectives. 
3. Roadmap: Beyond simply presenting opportunities, the AI Readiness Assessment Tool sketches out a strategic roadmap for implementation, offering guidance on how to allocate your human, financial, and technological resources effectively and sustainably.

The Road Ahead

Armed with the insights from the AI Readiness Assessment, SMEs can confidently move from paralysis to action. Once you have defined your strategy, pick a small, well-defined process that makes everyone groan. Maybe it's customer email analysis – sorting the rants from the real questions. Train a simple AI tool to do a first pass. It won't be perfect, but it will show you:

It's not magic: You'll demystify AI and get your team engaged.

Where the gold is: Those initial results point to areas ripe for more AI goodness.

What's worth your time: You might discover a task is better without overcomplicating it.

This "dip your toes in the water" approach shows your team that AI isn't here to replace them – it's about making their jobs much more satisfying (and less boring).

The magic of AI is that it frees up more of your time to consider higher-level tasks and opportunities. At Move78, we believe this combined power of artificial intelligence and human ingenuity - the centaur approach to AI - will lead to the greatest breakthroughs.  

AI becomes the tool that enables your team to level up their game:

Customer Service: How might your team craft more personalised experiences now that they have some additional headspace?

Innovation: There's room to tackle those improvement ideas collecting dust.

Relationship Building: AI can't grab coffee with clients (yet). That's all yours. You can use that to get closer to your clients and work with them on crafting more ambitious opportunities.

Your AI-Powered Growth Engine

Once you’ve managed to prove the value of AI without frightening everyone, your team’s a bit happier...That's a great start, but it shouldn’t be your end game. True superpowers come from baking AI right into your future business plans. What might your company do if you weren't limited by the same old constraints?

Hyper-Personalized Marketing: AI that analyses customer behaviour to predict their next purchase.

Data-Driven Everything: Decisions based on real-time analytics, not gut feelings.

Problem-Solving on Steroids: Monitor workflows and flag potential issues before they happen.

This is where you move from incremental improvement to industry disruption. It takes more planning and maybe some outside help, but the ROI can be insane.

Where AI Meets Ambition

The most successful businesses aren't the ones with the fanciest tech. They're the ones who see the big picture and build AI into that vision.  We call it "Future Intelligence" – strategy that leverages a healthy dose of AI potential. This isn't some distant sci-fi dream. The building blocks are here now.  Here's your action plan:

Establish your strategy: Start with our AI Readiness Assessment 

Pilot Now: Get some hands-on experience to guide your strategy.

Re-imagine Your Workforce: Don't automate people, empower and educate them.

Think Exponentially: How could AI fundamentally change what your business does?

Our tool sets you on a course to stay ahead of the curve. Whether it’s optimising operations to boost efficiency, unlocking data-driven insights for better decision-making, or elevating customer experiences through personalisation, we provide businesses with a sustainable path to AI adoption.