Democratizing AI in Enterprises
The only reason why anything might be complex is because you have not found a way to simplify it. This might sound cliché but it's a very helpful angle to look at things. Before AI, understanding complex concepts was harder. You had to search through Google and YouTube for eternity. However, AI enables me to break down complex concepts to a 5th-grade level for easy understanding.
Democratizing AI enterprise-wide is not much different. It is all about simplifying access to AI automation for real business use cases across departments, regardless of technical abilities.
Everyone has heard about AI and its awesome benefits to businesses. However, it mostly stops at text prompts with ChatGPT for many employees. Anything beyond that is intimidating, especially for non-technical employees. The IT teams, who have the technical abilities to explore the benefits of AI adoption and help everyone else are already overwhelmed with everyday tasks.
To stay relevant today, you have to keep pace with the rate at which AI changes. However, when AI expertise is only available in the IT team, it creates a bottleneck. New ideas get stuck in IT backlogs.
The only way around this is to ensure that different departments with their domain expertise can channel their knowledge into building AI automation for themselves. This means that the marketing department can build customized marketing automation, HR, sales or finance can equally do the same thing without much dependence on IT teams. Think about it: who better to solve real-world problems with AI than the everyday workers closest to those issues?
This is the concept of Democratizing AI– AI automation for the people, by the people.
In this article, I will show you how to achieve this in your enterprise.
How to Achieve AI Democratization
Eliminate code, Increase Robustness
Enable non-technical teams to drag and drop their ideas to life.
For example, If the sales team wants to automatically add leads from their outbound campaigns to their CRM or buyer enablement software, it should be simple. They can set their trigger and then simply drag and drop all the necessary applications in the desired order.
If they want to build a much more complex workflow, AI can analyze the task that needs to be done and then generate custom code or API requests automatically. This reduces the workload for IT teams and enables them to easily support these non-technical teams.
You don't want Bob from sales to break out cold sweats because he has to figure out how to integrate his outbound campaign with the CRM or sales enablement software. If non-technical employees feel like you are trying to turn them into developers, you will be met with great resistance and they might even resign. That would be a great loss if it's a high-performing member of the team.
To ensure that every department can build its own AI automation, you need no code, or drag-and-drop automation tools with user-friendly graphical interfaces. Make it like Lego for adults –put the pieces together, and you have an AI workflow. There are a number of tools that you can explore, but we highly recommend Activepieces
In the next section, we will discuss how you can introduce this effectively to your workforce.
Change Management
There is always a visible excitement on our customer's faces each time they discover the possibility of turning every department into an AI powerhouse. However, we are always faced with a common question–how can we start and get our departments to adopt this as a culture?
The answer is to start small–it's better than not starting at all and missing out on being able to keep up with AI trends. If it doesn't work out well for you, then you can abort the mission with minimal risks.
Starting small can minimize disruption and allow easy adaptation. Ensure you address concerns about job security and ethical considerations to build trust. Let everyone know the reason for the change and what the enterprise hopes to achieve with this new development.
Another tip is to compare the two situations.
What is the productivity of the segment of employees who implement this AI automation compared with the ones who do not? Also which segment seems happier and more satisfied with their work? These are interesting and also effective metrics to measure success.
Establish Clear Governance and Ethics
Departments are like small powerful colonies, highly creative and passionate about what they do and how it is done. Giving them autonomy to build their own AI automation is like putting a lot of power in their hands - this is a good thing. However, it can quickly become a chaotic mess if there is no form of governance, ethics, or standardization.
Establish clear guidelines for the development and deployment of AI automation. This is especially important for departments that deal with sensitive data.
What are the Benefits of Democratizing AI in Enterprises?
A wider range of employees with different backgrounds and expertise can contribute to building on AI, leading to more innovative solutions and business opportunities. Access to AI tools can help employees develop new skills and advance their careers. Empowering employees to use AI to solve problems and create value can boost morale and job satisfaction.