The AI Factor: How to Apply Artificial Intelligence and Use Big Data to Grow Your Business Exponentially by Asha Saxena. Asha holds a Masters in Data Science and Machine Learning from Southern Methodist University.
Asha is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Above all, Asha is the Founder and CEO of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WLDA). She has served as CEO and Chairperson of Future Technologies Inc., a data management firm that provided warehousing, analytics, and intelligence services.
The AI Factor is addressing a roadmap business leaders can understand while beginning their organization’s AI digital transformation. In fact, Asha provides a great introduction that will resonate with companies: Micheal Lewis’ Moneyball which tells the story of the Oakland A’s use of data analytics to find success as a small market baseball team competing against teams in huge metrpolitean areas across the country.
Asha is writing about AI transformations at Netflix and Starbucks. For instance, the key element for both companies was their extensive deployment of data analytics which provided a key advantage of their competitors. Netflix has fully embraced data analytics versus Blockbuster. Besides, this transition was at the right time. Broadband was beginning to deliver on the promise of the internet and tip the scales for amazon to continue launching into the giant they have become.
It all starts with data
Asha is gently delivering a key element to the success of AI: data and analytics.
Perhaps this is the best message for organizations now confronting the impacts of ChatGPT: how do we get our organization to be an AI-first moving forward? Asha’s experiences around data, how an organization not only collects and maintains data, but how you must assess your business data.
In Chapter 5, Assessing Your Business Asha outlines her process: assess, frame, prioritize and measure your business data. Here organization leadership must be willing to innovate and take risks. In fact this will include abandoning legacy business models and conventions. Worry not, your competition already is embracing AI. This will not only free the organization to embrace the features of AI services, but importantly help any organization’s leaders understand that value is achieved by applying data in meaningful ways. In many cases this will require external consultants to help guide your early efforts to offset internal competence regarding AI.
Is your organization ready for AI ?
On the other hand, missing is the need for every organization to complete an AI maturity evaluation. If this is new, do not be surprised or intimidated the first score is 1 out of 5. Remember crawl, walk, run. Finally, Asha is on target that organizations must evolve into leveraging dashboards and KPIs including ‘new to our company’ Data Performance Indictors (DPIs)
In conclusion, The AI Factor’s greatest impact is addressing the need for organizations to fully embrace big data and analytics. Without this base, organizations will trip and fall in their AI transformation.