With AI technology developing at a remarkable speed (and AI scare stories a seemingly daily feature of everyone’s newsfeeds), this in-depth article from PwC offers some timely reassuring guidance for organisations looking to create an AI adoption strategy.
We asked SmartPA Managing Director, Youssef Bejaoui, what message he has for organisations who are perhaps currently unsure where and how to harness AI effectively.
“I think it’s natural that a lot of organisations may have uncertainty and be unsure how to navigate the changing world of tech, particularly where it comes to safe AI. The opening paragraph of the article certainly resonates with me where it talks about the importance of aligning AI safely to your business strategy.
Part of my role as Managing Director involves collaboration with cross functional teams and investing time to understand where we can evolve and do better as a business, and every business leader certainly needs to be factoring AI into their thinking right now. SmartPA is a very fast paced business, never wanting to stand still and always be a pioneer within our space. Indeed, our mission statement says: ‘To lead the ongoing transformation of admin and business support services through technology and education’. So we’re always looking at ways to increase efficiencies and productivity. And there’s no doubt AI is set to play a large part here. We’re aware that AI may replace roles, but I also believe that new jobs will also be created.
The key thing is that our focus is always on the customer experience. In other words, it’s about how we use the tech to improve our responsiveness and make faster, more informed decisions that, in turn, lead to more effective, tailored interactions and improved services.
My advice to other organisations is to take a continuous learning approach. So, take a step back to look at your business and its pain points; ask yourself if you have areas of operational inefficiencies, or elements that could benefit from modernisation. This will give you stepping stones to problems you’d like to solve, which will support your business to modernise and adapt. In short, I think it’s important to know what you want to improve, so you can build your strategy with a solution focused mindset that technology and AI can enable."
Youssef Bejaoui
SmartPA Managing Director
SmartPA is a pioneer of remote, outsourced admin and business support, providing individual SmartPAs, multi-skilled cross-functional teams, and full lift and drop admin process outsourcing. Working with more than 5,000 businesses of all sizes world-wide, SmartPA draws on a global talent pool of accredited SmartPAs, with a Centre of Excellence based in the UK, near shore hubs in South Africa and Uganda, and an offshore hub in Malaysia.