The Strategic Journey of Executive Leaders into AI Adoption

AI and automation is causing a lot of disruption within financial services, and not in a bad way, either. From moving to cloud-based platforms as well as automating processes to make teams more efficient, the financial services sector is getting a re-vamp. 

“At its core, AI enhances our ability to leverage the large volumes of data generated in day-to-day business activities. It enables us to identify patterns, make predictions, create rules, automate processes and communicate more efficiently. For financial service providers, AI capabilities are all very relevant due to the data-intensive and technology-dependent nature of the industry.” - Deloitte

For AI adoption to be successful, Executive Leaders need to ensure that they can effectively weave these technologies into the fabric of their organisations. 

So, what can this strategic journey look like? Let’s break it up:

Step 1: Assessment of technologies

Before anyone implements any type of technology into their organisation, they must conduct a certain level of assessment to see how compatible the technology will be. Businesses and the leaders within them can run the risk of jumping the gun if a piece of technology is seemingly adopted by every competitor within their industry. 

However, prematurely agreeing to implement something can cause detrimental effects on the fibre of your organisation. Just because a piece of technology has worked for a competitor, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll work for you. 

There is also a definition and methodology for this process, called “digital maturity”. In short, digital maturity is a measure of how well-positioned a business or organisation is to leverage technology to affect growth and positive change. [source]

You can find the long-form version of a digital maturity assessment here. 

Step 2: Implementation: buy-in

Digital transformation and technology adoption can become a lot harder when there isn’t buy-in at all levels. Businesses often get the buy-in process wrong and focus too much on senior levels and layers of management. 

The reality is that a piece of technology or implementing an AI platform (for example) will be used by everybody in the business. So, focusing on buy-in before and during the implementation process is crucial.

We have previously spoken about how to generate buy-in here. 

Step 3: Implementation: key leaders

Alongside buy-in during the implementation process, you must ensure that it isn’t just your Executive Leadership team adopting AI technology. Particularly in larger organisations, there must be leaders at all levels who will help to drive the implementation forward. 

It’s important to note that implementation leaders don’t necessarily have to be managers within your business. They can be individuals who have great relationships internally or even a great understanding of the piece of tech/AI that you’re trying to implement. These individuals can be instrumental in the implementation process, making it all run a lot smoother. 

Step 4: Implementation: goals and timelines

Technology and AI adoption takes time, trying to achieve a certain goal overnight (or even in a few weeks) is near enough impossible. Instead, focus on setting soft and hard goals that you’d like to achieve and spread them across a reasonable timeline.

Especially at Executive Leadership level, you need to be mindful that the time that you have in comparison to others in the business will be far less. If your involvement in the process is time-heavy, factor in additional time so you can accommodate other commitments. 

Additionally, this is where the aforementioned key leaders can be of help. Assigning set goals and tasks to multiple implementation leads during the process can make it a lot easier. Even in smaller businesses, you don’t want the responsibility to fall on just a few people, spread the responsibility and be realistic with it. 

Step 5: Assessment and feedback

If you’ve just finished a transformation/implementation, the work shouldn’t just stop there. 

“Deployment can take a few days to a few weeks. It's important to note that AI adoption is an ongoing process. After deployment, businesses must continuously monitor and maintain AI models, update them with new data, and address any issues that arise. AI is a dynamic field, and continuous improvement is key to success.” - Silverberry

Ensuring that you have the right systems and processes in place to measure your AI/Tech adoption is crucial.  Things such as feedback from employees should also be considered - not just on the process you’ve just run, but also on how confident they feel post-implementation. 

A lot of things can change when running a transformation, including the morale of your employees. Failure to gather feedback and check in with those who have gone through an often lengthy process could have negative implications on company culture and job satisfaction. 

In summary, each strategic journey is going to look different, and although you should take inspiration from guides such as ours, it’s crucial to develop a strategy that complements your organisation. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, so don’t be afraid to make adjustments to complement the journey that you’re on.