AI reality check: how to take control back and market secrets

• The true operational power of AI

• The distinction in AI adoption compared to other technologies

• Passive vs active use of AI

• The AI’s competitive advantage: brand, a new business model

• Service providers what they didn’t tell you

Insights from a recent consultation, which proved to be both well-received and highly beneficial for the organizations involved:

Like with any technological advancement, it is a matter of taking control as much as possible, with intent and strategy, rather than being drowned by the relentless waves of AI’s transformative force.

The true operational power of AI for family offices

After two decades in digital strategy, transformation, and innovation—including significant time leading digital business transformation programs—I found myself  revamping the core principles and best practices of digital transformation through an AI-driven lens, tailored for a SMEs and family offices.

Beyond enhancing efficiency and speed, AI empowers family offices with the ability to independently validate insights, reducing reliance on external advisors or blind trust in their recommendations. It essentially places an "advisor to the advisor" directly in your hands. It enhance the ability to become knowledgeable about topics or industries like never before.

The adoption of AI is accelerating at a remarkable pace, and soon, those not integrating it into their daily operations may feel left behind. For family offices tasked with safeguarding, preserving, and growing wealth—often through the guidance of others—AI is a game-changer. It enables you to effortlessly verify what is being said about your wealth, offering an unprecedented level of control and confidence with minimal effort.

The difference of AI compare other web technologies 

Having studied the Turing machine at the University of Computer Science, I’m well aware that Artificial Intelligence has been in existence for quite some time:

• 1950: The idea of AI was formally introduced by British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing. In his paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence," Turing proposed the question, "Can machines think?" and introduced the Turing Test as a way to measure a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from a human's. This is often considered the conceptual birth of AI.

The Unique Evolution of AI Compared to Other Technologies: while AI has existed for over 70 years, it’s only in recent years that intuitive user interfaces (UI) have made it truly accessible to the mainstream. Moreover only recently AI has been embedded within platforms of common use through interaction and personalized training.

Unlike other technologies—such as the web or mobile application, which, despite decades of development, still face debated levels of adoption even in medium-to-large organizations—AI stands apart. It’s a bossy technology that doesn’t wait for permission to integrate itself into an organization. Its adoption is surging at an unprecedented pace, outstripping the more gradual uptake seen with earlier innovations, and transforming how businesses, including family offices, operate almost overnight.

The AI iceberg: understanding chat GTP:

AI in Organizations: Active and Passive Adoption (Still in Its Early Stages)

Today, every organization engages with AI, whether actively or passively, though its full potential remains nascent.

Passive use occurs subtly:

• AI is embedded as an extension of everyday tools, as bare minimum in CRM, ERP and Microsoft Office that are the ones every company used, enhancing basic functionalities

• While employees increasingly turn to platforms like ChatGPT, or similar tools for both personal and professional tasks. I refer to this as passive adoption because many users remain unaware of how they’re leveraging AI—or the broader implications of doing so.

One of the most critical aspect of adopting new technologies, it is not the technology per se. It is ensuring compliance with geographically specific regulatory frameworks, security measures, and industry-specific standards, best practices, and certifications. 

When it comes to AI, the level of standard for scrutiny in these areas must be exponentially greater. What I mean with "passive" AI use refers to the illusion of simply using an AI service—often at no cost—while, in truth, we are the ones providing a free service by training models we don’t own, surrendering our data and expertise to an external entity that may later use it to compete against us.

Think about assessing the use of a private cloud, where you train AI models using your own data, stored either on a physical server you own onsite (on-premises), or on a virtual server in the cloud that you control. This setup allows you to configure your own governance, ensuring robust protection against cyberattacks and unauthorized access. Private cloud keep your data, and models, secure from both malicious threats, and unintended exposure to the wrong individuals.

AI competitive advantage brand, new business model

Companies that adopt AI have a competitive advantage, but also the competitors do. AI do not replace people, which is maybe true for the lowers functions, but people and organization that adopt actively AI replace who doesn’t.

I believe the competitive advantage goes beyond using AI, but proactively create models for your organization that can be scaled and sold to other organizations in the same industry. This would set the organization apart from the competition becoming leader in the specific vertical.

Amazon is not an ecommerce business, is a server services business.

Amazon Web Services (AWS): This cloud computing behemoth pulls in 15% of total revenue but dominates Amazon's profits. The cloud is where the real gold is.

Amazon is widely recognized as a leading e-commerce giant, but it has also established itself as a major player in the server services industry through its Amazon Web Services (AWS) division. While its e-commerce platform drives retail success by connecting buyers and sellers worldwide, AWS serves as the backbone of its technological infrastructure, offering cloud computing, storage, and other services. This dual role allows Amazon to leverage its e-commerce expertise and vast data resources to power AWS, which in turn supports the scalability and efficiency of its online marketplace while also providing robust cloud solutions to businesses globally.

Amazon’s success with two seemingly distinct businesses—e-commerce (its online retail platform) and AWS (its cloud computing division)—is a powerful example of diversification and synergy: Revenue Diversification, Synergy Between Units, Data Leverage, Brand and Scale.

AI allows to reconsider existing business models and create new revenue streams, if used thoughtfully, and strategically merged with your vision.

Service providers secrets

AI is a technology that brings concretely results, measurables, at least if done by people with a concrete expertise in this sectors. 

The reality of the facts is that conventional providers, like system integrators, fortune 500 consulting companies and digital agencies, didn’t have the time to training people internally, and neither find people already skilled simple because the technology goes too fast.

Keeping Up with Technology - consulting companies face the challenge of continuously updating their knowledge, and capabilities, to stay relevant.

Skills Gap:

• The pace of AI development outstrips the availability of skilled professionals. Consulting firms, like many other businesses, are struggling to find and retain talent with the necessary expertise in areas like machine learning, deep learning, and data science.  

• This results in situations where consultants may have a theoretical understanding of AI, but lack the practical experience to implement it effectively, due to the lack of business cases already experienced.

Ultimately, those who are truly experts in their field rarely crown themselves with the "expert" title, nor do they join consulting firms that meticulously manage employee salaries to boost profit margins, often seeking the least expensive labor willing to put in overtime at the client’s site, even when it’s not entirely necessary.

In essence, while consulting companies are playing a crucial role in helping companies adopting AI, they are also facing significant challenges in keeping up with the rapid pace of change and meeting the complex demands of their clients.

Conclusion

AI is here to stay, and regrettably, the danger of giving in to fear outweighs the risk of seizing the opportunity to adopt it. Viewed through the lens of a broader vision, embracing AI can enable a complete 360-degree digital transformation of any business model.