Reimagining Businesses with AI

CHAPTER 15Managing Change for AI-Driven Transformation

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one most adaptable to change.”

—Charles Darwin

INTRODUCTION

Throughout this book we have talked about business transformation. In this summary chapter we will talk about how you manage the transition process so that you can be great at managing today and at the same time build for the future. This requires broader organizational alignment and deep-rooted fundamentals, otherwise the pursuit of the future will distract and destroy today. In writing this chapter we have leveraged some concepts from the chapter “Driving Change Effectively” in Making Big Data Work for Your Business by Sudhi Ranjan Sinha.

Often organizations make the mistake of considering AI a technology problem; technology here is a mere enabler. Embracing the true power of AI requires organizations to adapt to different thinking and behavior. Effective change management becomes crucial in such an environment. You need to transition your people and teams to the future state of business enabled by AI. In his HBR blog on “Predicting Customer's Behavior,” Alex Pentland made a profound observation: “Behavior is largely determined by social context.” He further goes on to say in the same article that “markets are not just about rules or algorithms; they are about people and algorithms together.” AI can give insights into what to change; it is up to the people in your business ...