Over the last few years, rapid innovations in artificial intelligence have sparked a tidal wave of excitement over their promise to revolutionize various workplace tasks. Some experts even predict that generative AI could increase the global GDP by 7% in the next ten years. In response, organizations across multiple industries are embracing AI as the ultimate remedy for maximizing their productivity.
Yet, while AI may become a cornerstone of business operations, most organizations aren’t yet prepared to safely unlock its full potential while maintaining their IT infrastructure’s integrity. So, before hastily integrating artificial intelligence into your business operations, organizations should first prepare and check your environment, your workforce, and your processes are ready for AI.
Achieving that organizational readiness can be complex, requiring careful planning, technical proficiency and a deep understanding of IT best practices. That’s where your IT support team can come in. Below, we share four ways that their expertise can help you set the stage to effectively reap the benefits of AI.
The systems behind artificial intelligence, such as machine learning and natural language processing, allow these tools to perform tasks that previously required human intelligence. Unlike humans, AI systems have access to robust computing power for processing and analyzing large amounts of data at high speeds. As a result, they can accomplish these tasks much more efficiently, with it taking one human more than 31 billion years to perform the same number of calculations that these computers could accomplish in one second.
As a result, artificial intelligence’s sophisticated automation and intelligent decision-making capabilities have led 64% of business owners in one study to believe it will improve customer relationships and increase productivity. Other experts believe that using AI in business operations will result in reduced costs and even lead to a 6%-10% increase in revenue.
The technology allows people to cut down on labor and streamline workflows on a variety of tasks from data entry and generating long-form written content to managing customer service and making informed decisions about resource allocation. Many cybersecurity experts also believe AI will play a key role in ensuring an effective Zero Trust cybersecurity framework, since these technologies are capable of rapidly enforcing governance policies, making authentication decisions and detecting threats.
Of course, there are also many downsides to AI. Some of the biggest players in industry, Microsoft and OpenAI, warn that hackers are using large languge models to improve their cyberattacks. Alongside exposing businesses to security and data privacy risks, people are also concerned about AI’s potential to displace workers and its ethics violations.
Poorly implemented technology can result in suboptimal performance, wasted resources, data quality issues, and a negative impact on your customers’ experience. To successfully integrate AI into your existing infrastructures, it will involve taking several proactive and pragmatic steps. These include:
Before implementing any new technology into the workplace, it’s essential to first assess your current infrastructure, including your hardware, software, data storage systems, and networks. This is important for identifying where you may need to upgrade or optimize to eliminate any vulnerabilities that a bad actor could exploit should an AI tool expose you to a tangible threat – which is likely now in a world where only 39% of people trust the safety and security of today’s AI technologies.
Implementing strong cybersecurity protection measures and a strong system for continuous 24/7 monitoring and maintenance can ensure your organization remains resilient. If you lack the internal resources to manage the work of achieving that technical readiness, a managed services provider (MSP) can provide a skilled IT support team to help you build that secure foundation for your infrastructure.
To experiment with AI at work, organizations will also need a flexible IT infrastructure that can adapt quickly to the changing requirements and intensive workloads of these types of emerging technologies.
Some options to create that nimble ecosystem include adopting cloud solutions, which provide on-demand access to scalable resources on a pay-as-you-go model. Also, virtualization technologies let you dynamically provision computing resources like networks, servers, or operating systems much faster than if you used a physical hardware version.
Working with an MSP can simplify the process of achieving that agility. Like the subscription-based relationship that the cloud provides, most providers operate on a retainer structure, with the capacity to expand their services as your needs change. So, when you’re ready to experiment with new technologies like AI and need more support, their experts can dedicate more resources to creating the strong environment you need to support that. To help your evaluation process in finding the right partner, consider these key performance metrics when selecting a managed services provider for IT support.
Getting a helpful output from an AI tool will require inputting accurate and relevant data. Implementing a best-practice data storage solution and a regular data backup practice will help you rely on always available high-quality data that lets you derive value from artificial intelligence.
An MSP will typically integrate these services into their IT support offerings, allowing you to rely on managed backups overseen by skilled professionals. They can also provide guidance on establishing effective data management and governance policies for your employees to manage, store, and use data responsibly so that you can always reliably access it when needed.
If you want your employees to collaborate productively with AI tools, organizations should cultivate a strong culture of AI literacy.
As part of your IT support, offering learning opportunities can help your employees understand the capabilities and limitations of AI. You don’t have to start from scratch: many AI developers supply extensive resources for empowering employees to adopt these tools into their daily workflow. For example, you can refer them to Microsoft’s Copilot Success Kit and AI Learning Hub, which give a thorough explanation on the skills users would need to effectively use their AI virtual assistant.
It will also be helpful to develop AI guidelines that clearly outline how to responsibly use artificial intelligence at work in a way that aligns with your organizational goals and risk tolerance.
Finally, no matter what the new fancy gadget of the day is, employees will benefit from a more general comprehensive understanding of how to safely navigate digital environments amidst rising threats. Providing end user awareness training about overall cybersecurity best practices will help them recognize, prevent, and respond to threats so that they can collectively protect their sensitive data.
Integrating artificial intelligence into your workplace will be a complex and challenging process that requires caution and meticulous planning.
At PC Corp, our managed IT services experts are here to provide the consistent IT support you need to have an optimal and predictable environment that keeps your data safe. And if you want specific guidance on AI implementation, our IT projects team can make recommendations to ensure that your technology foundation is ready for it.
Contact us today to discuss how PC Corp can be your dedicated partner in boosting your organizational readiness for AI’s benefits.