An executive’s guide to establishing an AI Center of Excellence
How to develop a dedicated group within your business to help bring AI and automation initiatives to fruition.
An AI and Automation Center of Excellence (CoE) is a dedicated group that can exist within an organization that aims to bridge the gap between executive support and technical expertise in AI and automation initiatives. The CoE can be empowered by a framework that standardizes the evaluation process for identifying, reviewing, and prioritizing use cases. It also can address AI risks such as fairness, data integrity, privacy, security, transparency, reliability, and risk accountability. By engaging engineering teams using this framework, organizations can understand how technical potential translates into business value.
This guide provides senior managers, directors, and executives with a comprehensive outline for creating an AI&A CoE, including foundational elements and operationalization using templates and workflows. The goal is to equip decision-makers with the knowledge and tools needed to navigate the complexities of AI&A and foster innovation and growth.
Establishing an AI&A COE
To develop their AI and Automation Team, organizations should leverage existing roles and responsibilities. Product and project managers with strong relationships with both business and technical stakeholders are often a good fit. The selection of team members depends on the department being supported. Defining and documenting the CoE team's roles and responsibilities ensures effective and efficient operations, delivering value to the business.
Generally, the CoE will be structured typically as follows:
AI&A CoE framework
After forming a team and assigning roles, it is important to establish a framework. This framework helps identify and prioritize business use cases, using standardized mechanisms to promote those with higher perceived value. It also aids in managing the development process by breaking it down into stages, ensuring progress tracking and completion of necessary steps. Ultimately, the framework ensures that the final product meets business needs and delivers desired value.
Here are the five phases and procedures that can be implemented and leveraged to fully operationalize the framework.
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Next Steps
Managing AI and automation use cases goes beyond identification and review. These enhancements follow the same lifecycle as other technical projects, requiring mechanisms for design, build, implementation, and operation. When your organization is ready, KPMG provides proprietary tools and templates to empower your team.
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An executive’s guide to establishing an AI Center of Excellence
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