The realm of artificial intelligence and related technologies is one of the most rapidly growing fields of the modern digital world. From its beginning to end, 2023, the world of AI technology was filled with significant events, releases, and announcements, marking the progress of the technology. With its latest developments, the functionality of the new advanced AI tools becomes available to businesses as well, be it through APIs or separately developed applications, creating an entirely new realm of challenges and opportunities.
Jyotishman Sharma, a business strategy professional with first-hand experience working on AI tools at Google, notes that it would be an underestimation to say that these technological advances will change the market in the near future. He points out that the changes are already happening, and the companies need to adapt to them to remain successful. His current work at Google, as well as his previous experience at Dell and Ernst & Young, allowed him to garner a broad knowledge of the industry both in its near-term and long-term perspective.
The Challenges of AI Adoption
Jyotishman Sharma himself possesses vast experience in dealing with complex challenges in a rapidly changing environment and helping companies adapt to them. Before his current position at Google, Jyotishman worked at Dell and Ernst & Young, specializing in delivering and executing complex business problems and helping clients overcome technological challenges. "While the rapid growth of AI technology is an entirely new factor in the industry," he says, "there are learnings and strategies from the past that can be used as a ground for finding new solutions."
He adds that, according to the IMB Global AI Adoption Index, at the end of 2023, 42% of enterprise-scale companies reported using AI as a part of their business. However, there is an even more important addition to this fact: there are another 40% who are currently experimenting with AI but have not integrated it into their processes. Many companies stay at the experimentation stage for an extended period, which illustrates the challenge of bringing AI-based solutions to real use. While many businesses are eager to explore new opportunities, finding the right strategy for integrating them into routine business processes is a different challenge.
Based on his education, which combines studying computer science and engineering at Manipal Institute of Technology, India, with an MBA degree at Indiana University, and his professional experience, Jyotishman Sharma outlines several strategies that can make AI adoption more effective. "Try to objectively estimate the benefits and potential implications of AI in its current form. Similar to any new technology, it has its challenges, and determining them may require an extensive amount of work and time. However," he continues, "the best results can be achieved if the current processes are used as baseline, and changes are brought about in an iterative manner." Jyotishman Sharma points out that implementing AI effectively requires dedicated processes and ways to make it safe, effective, and responsible for customers. Businesses should be ready to spend resources not only to implement AI-based tools but also to mitigate newly emerging risks related to them. Navigating challenges and new obstacles in this ever-changing world will be important.
Not Limited to the Digital World
The impact of emerging technologies is the most noticeable in the highly digitized domains, from various forms of social media content to e-commerce stores to digital business processes. "However, the new approaches brought by AI-powered tools will not remain strictly limited to the digital world," notes Jyotishman Sharma. "In the coming years, they may proliferate to the real world, changing the way we interact with it." There are possible use cases for AI tools in manufacturing, retail, transportation, and other industries, especially if we go beyond viewing AI in isolation and combine it with other novel technologies instead, such as 3D printing or robotics, thus making AI able to influence the physical world.
Consequently, even companies that operate in industries considered conservative or typically having a delayed response to changes in the market cannot be perceived as a safe haven from changes of any kind. They will have to adapt to the new environment, and the time to prepare for it is now. The inspiring and insightful examples of how to approach the period of massive changes can be found in Jyotishman Sharma's upcoming book, which is planned for release in July 2024. Under the title Mastering Resilience: Transforming Obstacles into Opportunities, the author shares his experience of navigating his career and personal life and gives valuable insights for tackling complex problems in the age of change. Jyotishman says, "In my upcoming book, I try to capture a framework or a method through which business professionals as well as people in general will be able to structure and address complex problems such as how to grow your business, how to manage a complex academic question or even how to systematically manage your important life milestones. I also touch upon, extensively, the role that our minds play in creating a mindset where problems and challenges are viewed less as obstacles and more as opportunities. That is the key towards success in any endeavor." Jyotishman hopes his book will help countless individuals who may be facing challenges in their personal and professional lives.
There is no doubt that the digital industries are currently undergoing a period of major change. However, while changes bring challenges, companies can also use them to their advantage, and understanding how and where to leverage AI effectively is one of the major tasks companies currently face, no matter what industry they belong to.
