AI is coming for your business (yeah right... right?)
When the world changes around you, it is already too late.
Every time I read about the new developments we see every day on Exponential Technologies (AI, Robotics, Cryptocurrencies, Quantum Technology, etc.) I cannot avoid thinking about those who just continue with their business as usual, as unsuspecting as the dinosaurs when the asteroid came.
In particular, business leaders and owners.
Big corporations usually have Chief Information Officers (CIO), Chief Technology Officers (CTO) and etc. who are paid the big bucks to be well informed and up to date.
With tons of emerging technologies making their appearance daily, they usually have big budgets (and big teams) to explore and learn which ones they need to adopt to ensure their business survival.
But Small and Medium Businesses don’t have that luxury.
Neither do some non-tech Entrepreneurs, who are 100% focused on achieving Product-Market Fit (PMF) in a market that is about to be hit by the proverbial asteroid.
That’s the reason why I started this publication a couple of years ago.
If I could reach at least a small number of those business leaders and entrepreneurs, and share with them proven strategies and enough applied technology knowledge, they would be able to steer their businesses safely into this new changing environment.
The core concept behind business survival is, unsurprisingly, very Darwinian.
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives,
not the most intelligent that survives.
It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
— Charles Darwin
So, the most important capability a business must have to survive in a changing environment is Adaptability.
My personal experience has shown me that an Adaptable Organization needs to have at least the following six organizational capabilities:
Clear business vision, values and expected outcomes
Fast objectives setting, adjustment and control
Agile project management
A Customer Experience Management culture that listens and quickly adapts
A company-wide Change Management process
Cost-efficient and frictionless technology adoption
I’ve named this the “Future-Proof Entrepreneur System™”.
Let’s review its components one by one.
Clear business vision, values and expected outcomes
A business’ vision, values and expected outcomes, can act as guardrails when the policies are insufficient and people needs to make decisions.
Without them, it becomes almost impossible to keep everyone aligned in the same direction, especially during hard and uncertain times.
An organization in disarray during stressful times is as good as dead.
Fast objectives setting, adjustment and control
We no longer have the luxury of spending months of “strategic planning” for the next year.
5-year plans don’t last 1 year at the current pace of change.
We need to set yearly objectives, but manage them quarterly, and completely redefine them if needed.
In short, this is called the Objectives and Key Results methodology (OKR).
Agile project management
Projects no longer can take months or even years to provide tangible benefits.
The whole reason to be of a project can disappear or radically change in the middle of its execution.
Agile project management methodologies are indispensable to make sure we are still building something that makes business sense, and adapting the scope on the fly if needed.
A Customer Experience Management culture that listens and quickly adapts
In the Age of AI, automation and robots behind the counter and the workplace, the human touch will be a key (and expensive) differentiator.
An organization designed to listen to the Voice of the Customer, and to act accordingly in response, will win every time.
But this requires a purposeful end-to-end redesign, where everyone in the organization knows the part they must play in the great Customer Experience act.
A company-wide Change Management process
Adaptability means change.
And change is risky if it is not managed properly.
The only sure thing in the near future is that organizations will have to be in a state of constant change and adaptation.
So a properly implemented Change Management process, that covers the whole organization, will be key to success.
Cost-efficient and frictionless technology adoption
There are many ways to acquire new technology.
A big corporation can sign up a contract with a big AI provider, and pay enormous amounts of money for a service they hope will give them an edge over their competition.
A small business cannot afford to be so careless.
But with some expert guidance, they could implement Open Source technology that can provide them the same level of benefit, but at a smaller scale (for a smaller business) at a fraction of the cost.
This way, being small can be turned into an advantage, not only in the size of the solutions required, but the speed at which those can be adopted.
While your bigger competitors are entangled in red tape and budget approvals, you’ll be already reaping the benefits of new technology that gives you the upper hand.
Making your own Adaptable Business
You have already taken the first steps into redesigning your business to become Adaptable, and making sure it will thrive during the Age of AI, by subscribing to my publication and reading this article.
But if you want to go further, here are two options:
If you want to start right away, you can join me in my Ready yourself for the future coaching program, where we will begin implementing together my “Future-Proof Entrepreneur System™” in your organization.
Or join my Future-Proof Entrepreneur Community, and continue learning about which technologies you must be prepared to adopt, with tips and strategies from me and your peers.
This is the time for swift action.
The asteroid didn’t wait for the dinosaurs to evolve, and the technological asteroid won’t wait either.
Talk to you soon,
Alfredo.
Great post Alfredo! I like how you framed it though Darwin's words. Thank you for sharing!