Align AI Strategy Across Three Communities To Grow AI Value

Advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI (GenAI) are reshaping and revolutionizing all organizations and industries, redefining how value is created.

With the increase of customer expectations and market demand for innovative products, services, and experiences, technology and business executives feel pressured to deliver results with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI (GenAI). However, adoption of AI and GenAI is now happening everywhere in the enterprise, requiring leaders to move AI out of an ivory tower and toward developing a strategy that goes beyond an IT-oriented mindset.

Diagram representing a maturity model or strategic framework. On the left side, three words are arranged vertically, forming a path or progression: Empower (at the base) Incorporate (in the middle) Evolve (at the top) On the right side, two words are arranged horizontally, creating an axis: Business Functions At the bottom of the diagram, between the two sides, are the fundamental concepts: Foundations Value Maturity The visual model suggests a journey from empowering individual functions with solid foundations, through their incorporation, to evolving toward value and maturity at the business level.

The AI Journey to value

To stay ahead, leaders need to create an environment that provides the capabilities and technologies that enable organizations to embed and extract value across the business value chain at the foundation, function, and enterprise layer:

Foundation layer: Organizations must build their AI-first technology stack through a process of technology modernization, including infrastructure, data, models, and applications optimized for delivery of AI.
Function layer: Organizations must infuse AI into value streams as well as key and supporting activities to optimize processes, improve outcomes, enhance end-to-end employee experiences, and boost productivity.
Enterprise layer: Decision-makers must focus on developing more compelling, engaging, and innovative products and services, enhancing end-to-end customer experiences, and supporting enterprise-wide innovation and business unit strategy.

Artificial Initiatives throughout the AI Journey

Diagram describing a three-phase strategic framework for adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) in an organization, covering three levels: Enterprise, Functions, and Foundations. The structure is organized as follows: Phase 1: Enable Focus: Empower people. Enterprise: Define high-value use cases, deploy initial AI safeguards, invest in AI literacy, and start a pilot program. Functions: Implement functional use cases, test and learn, enhance people's AI skills (treating AI as a 'co-pilot'), and build in sprints. Foundations: Select strategic AI partnerships, implement AI applications, set up and introduce initial simple models, access AI through the cloud. Phase 2: Embed Focus: Embed AI into work. Enterprise: Align strategy and OKRs with AI, redefine the operating model, strengthen trust in AI, reshape the workforce, and orchestrate business change. Roles: Embed AI into value streams and work processes, use AI to transform products and experiences, and focus on the end-to-end value stream. Foundations: Build an AI development "factory," select and train domain models, organize enterprise-scale data, and invest in AI and cybersecurity infrastructure. Phase 3: Evolve Focus: Evolve the company. Enterprise: Define an ecosystem strategy, redefine the business model, implement "always-on" trust platforms, and orchestrate ecosystem change. Roles: AI powers ecosystems and workflows across organizations, deploys agents, and evolves new possibilities for experience. Foundations: Implement AI across the ecosystem, compete using domain models and ecosystem data, and consider AI with quantum computing. The diagram shows a progression from initial training to the complete transformation of the business and its ecosystem through AI.

The road to value at each layer depends on the maturity level, requiring a different mix of initiatives as the organization traverses the three stages of maturity:

Enable the people and functions within the organization to adopt AI and genAI tools and build the foundation for capturing the first wave of productivity.
Embed these new capabilities into business workflows, products, services, and value streams to deliver greater value.
Evolve the enterprise business models alongside their new AI ecosystem to disrupt and lead in their markets.

The report “Align AI Strategy Across Three Communities To Grow AI Value" is the second report of a series of three reports co-developed by Forrester and KPMG, on the integration of AI, D&A, Low-Code, Automation and Cloud to optimize processes, enhance user experience, and increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness throughout its value chain. Access the report below to learn more about how organizations are laying the foundations, modernizing and enhancing their functions, and transforming their enterprise in their AI and GenAI adoption journeys.

A report co-developed by Forrester and KPMG

Access here

This report was produced by KPMG’s EMA Advisory Technology Hub, a regional centre of excellence that brings together our business, sector and technology expertise, methodologies and accelerators. We bring together KPMG Member Firms across Europe, Middle East, and Africa to support our client's in accelerating their digital transformation journeys with the use of AI, GenAI, Cloud, Low-Code, Automation and Cybersecurity.