AUSTIN, TEXAS -- The buzz around generative artificial intelligence has left CIOs and IT leaders moving fast to figure out how to safely and proficiently incorporate the technology within business workflows.
A strong AI strategy can make the difference between the technology being a success or a failure, said Forrester analyst Rowan Curran. Curran spoke during the Forrester Technology and Innovation Summit in Austin, Texas. While most CIOs already have an AI strategy, the rise of generative AI (GenAI) in 2022 propelled the technology to the forefront of business leaders' minds, meaning CIOs became tasked with finding more use cases for the technology.
Douglas Perry, deputy CIO at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said the organization created an AI strategy in 2020 involving a competent and collaborative workforce and business processes to enable AI adoption. Since GenAI exploded onto the scene a couple of years after NOAA put together its AI strategy, Perry said NOAA administrators have been heavily engaged in what the organization is doing with AI. Perry said NOAA had 37 AI-specific pilot projects in 2023; in 2024, NOAA is working on 70 generative AI projects.
"That energy results in pressure," Perry said during a panel discussion with Curran at the Forrester summit. "In the IT community, we're feeling pressure from our end users and from our executives."
Curran said an enterprise AI strategy will help corral what can be overwhelming top-down pressure around AI and help an organization focus on foundational measures.
An AI strategy will help CIOs identify AI use cases
Curran identified several key pieces that should be included in an AI strategy, including a set of principles tied to a standard like the company's mission statement, identifying a business strategy and cultivating AI use cases, figuring out who will be operating the AI use case, and determining governance across AI projects.
An AI strategy will help CIOs find and prioritize use cases for AI and establish an overall approach to integrating AI into existing workflows, Curran said. He pointed out three elements for picking an AI use case, including assessing the business goal of the use case, establishing the functional or technical capability to allow users to accomplish that goal and mapping out the specific metrics and measurements.
You're not creating a strategy just for AI, it has to be connected to the business side.
Douglas PerryDeputy CIO, NOAA
Prioritizing AI use cases will be crucial for CIOs and other business leaders in charge of the strategy, Curran said. Prioritization happens in stages that help CIOs look at the use case and understand its feasibility, as well as what its impact will be on the business.
"At each stage, you shed use cases that you don't find useful," Curran said.
NOAA's Perry said it's key for CIOs to align a company's AI strategy to its overall business strategy or mission, otherwise it will "miss the mark."
"You're not creating a strategy just for AI, it has to be connected to the business side," he said. "You need a clear idea of why you're doing AI."
Makenzie Holland is a senior news writer covering big tech and federal regulation. Prior to joining TechTarget Editorial, she was a general assignment reporter for the Wilmington StarNews and a crime and education reporter at the Wabash Plain Dealer.
