Getting Board Members on Board: The Role of the CIO in AI Strategy

By Trevor Schulze

Regardless of industry, company board participants are anticipated to absorb a viewpoint on artificial intelligence (AI) and a forecast for its position within their business. With the promise of huge productivity gains by means of AI capabilities, boards understandably desire to dive in headfirst.

While the emergence of generative AI only amplifies those needs, boards would possibly well maybe presumably be overlooking one of their strongest assets—their chief information officers. CIOs absorb a really powerful position to play in bridging doable records gaps and helping boardrooms put into effect an effective AI strategy.

Alteryx no longer too long ago polled 300 endeavor board participants in four international locations to know how boards are thinking about and using gen AI. Though gen AI is honest one portion of a unheard of broader AI puzzle, these insights demonstrate how boards are interacting with one of at the present time’s most dynamic applied sciences.

An overwhelming majority (76%) of the board participants we polled train gen AI in some capability, either actively implementing AI in the direction of their business or experimenting with AI in decide out cases, our seek published.

Remarkably, virtually one out of every four respondents (22%) rated themselves as having an “skilled” understanding of the abilities. Only 43% sought skilled counsel regarding gen AI. Of those looking for advice, honest 12% affirm that they are turning toward the CIO for input.

This disconnect would be a neglected opportunity for boards to work with a abilities chief uniquely positioned to abet AI be successful within their organization.

Elevating the CIO’s Standpoint on AI

In an era when gen AI is dominating the AI discussion, the truth is that many abilities leaders are aloof grappling with the intricacies of the abilities. Even Google CEO Sundar Pichai no longer too long ago conceded that he and other experts “don’t totally mark” certain parts of AI programs.

CIOs offer a varied point of view on AI, particularly on managing the risks and defining the benefits this fresh abilities would possibly well presumably bring. Many boards would possibly well presumably also fair no longer acknowledge the fee of the CIO’s holistic seek for of the organization in crafting the good strategy. This is the reason CIOs must work to construct themselves as the trail-to useful resource for management on AI.

The evolution of AI is happening in exact-time, so an occasional conversation with board participants won’t suffice. CIOs must explore out time with the board and build a ordinary dialogue to maintain them updated.

If board participants aren’t already seeking their opinion, CIOs must organize informational workshops or Q&A sessions that abet spark meaningful conversations and build themselves as a useful resource. Amid so unheard of AI hype, organizations want their CIOs to administer the race, maintain boards focused on business outcomes, and answer all their questions.

3 Tricks for CIOs to Act as Advisors to the Board

A a success CIO and board member relationship requires consistent communication.

As a first step, boards and their CIOs must align on a shared vision of the business impression of AI, beyond honest the technical parts. AI deployment isn’t about launching a sequence of pilot programs and seeing what sticks. Thinking astronomical is the foundation of AI strategy, nevertheless it’s equally crucial to open tiny, and from there, begin to pass like a flash.

Once in settlement on the mission, a couple of key considerations can abet CIOs abet as serious AI advisors to board participants.

1. CIOs must mark and keep up a correspondence each and every the doable and limitations of AI in the context of business impression. The CIO must counsel the build to invest first, primarily primarily based on business targets—no longer primarily honest the technical capabilities of an AI tool. And boards can no longer fail to spot ethical, compliance, and fair limitations when deploying AI. They must prioritize those projects with the most instant doable impression.

2. Ongoing education is the only solution to cessation informed—for boards and CIOs alike. The learning curve for AI programs is by means of the roof, to be capable of develop into an correct skilled, CIOs must continually explore out their contain sources to find out about the most novel advancements and plight how other organizations are approaching their deployments.

3. As AI evolves, so will your strategy. This flexibility requires CIOs to continually benchmark and workshop their solutions to remain inspiring. Benchmarking and case reviews abet keep up a correspondence progress to boards, which would be in general much less involved in day-to-day deployment. Showcasing how AI affects explicit areas of the business, or highlighting the build the business would possibly well maybe train it, can inform better decision-making.

As AI continues to adapt at a memoir tempo, the CIO would possibly well maybe presumably be the most essential trail-to useful resource for board participants looking to catch smarter about the abilities and hone their strategy. An initiate line of communication between CIOs and their boards can abet fabricate certain leaders mark the alternatives and doable risks of AI and would possibly well presumably totally maximize its benefits.

Be taught more about the Alteryx AI Platform for Undertaking Analytics.

Trevor Schulze is CIO of Alteryx.

Original!

Approach Planning and Execution Course

Rush your profession with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online management training helps you hone your talents with lessons admire Approach Planning and Execution. Invent badges to portion on LinkedIn and your resume. Entry more than 40 lessons trusted by Fortune 500 companies.

The finest solution to fabricate a winning strategy—and build it to work.

Begin Course

Be taught More & Ogle All Packages