For organisations, new technologies have always ushered in new tools with which to become more efficient, to better reach and serve customers, to remain competitive. Yet many organisations, from multinational corporations to small businesses, remain rooted in systems designed for the industrial era, making it difficult to keep up with a shifting technological landscape.
Leaders of organisations established in the previous millennium have been steadily ‘digitally transforming’ their organisations over the last decade or more. But all too often, the change effort has been focussed, for expediency, on digitising inefficient analogue processes to suit third party supplied enterprise software without considering how their holistic operations could be reimagined to deliver more effective outcomes and superior experiences for customers and partners and employees alike.
More than ever, with the maturation of a range of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, and their availability at scale, the challenge for organisations is to reimagine how they can operate, innovate, and remain adaptable in a new world of ecosystems connected and mediated by AI.
It will require organisaisations to reimagine their organisational structures, business models, how they create, deliver and capture value, and to envision their place in a new world where AI technologies seem destined to become all pervasive as the intermediaries that facilitate, connect, or influence every interaction, process and system. To become as foundational and all pervasive to the functioning of our civilization as electricity became a century ago.
The Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies recently published a 5-layered ‘onion ring’ model to help visualise the elements of this new world of pervasive AI.
1. As with any framework informed by human centred design, it places humans at the centre and envisages our increasing augmentation.
2. Surrounding us, informed by contextual data across our professional, social, community, familial and biological identities, an ambient layer of AI mediated intelligence and agents will enable our personalised interaction and participation across multiple systems.
3. A range of interfaces and sensors, including immersive, spatial reality technologies, biotechnological and smart sensing ecosystems, and physical robots will enable and deliver these augmented interactions and experiences, and bridge our corporeal being, and physical environment with increasingly digitally enhanced context.
4. All of which will be made possible at scale by new, currently highly energy intensive, foundational infrastructure such as quantum computing, new crypto / digital economies and a commitment to interoperable platforms.
5. And which will operate in accordance the context of the prevailing organisational and ecosystemic worldview, expressed through narratives, cultural norms, values, ethics, and governance. Increasingly a challenge for multi-nationals.
Addressing the technical skill gaps through periods or rapid technological change is always a significant challenge. Building the curiosity, confidence and resilience of individuals, teams and organisations to navigate uncertainty harder still.
People are often deeply tied to familiar, established practices, protocols and systems and resistant to change. Advancing AI capabilities are seen by some as a threat to human creativity, autonomy, and judgement. Yet others see AI ushering in greater opportunity for personal growth, augmenting human potential, and meaningful contribution. For strategic innovation practitioners, maturing AI technologies are ushering in extraordinarily exciting times.
The organisations best equipped to thrive in the future are the ones that embrace uncertainty and actively seek to develop the capabilities to benefit from this era of accelerating change.
Leaders recognise that the best preparation is for every organisational culture to embrace an innovation culture – one that promotes curiosity, creativity and collaboration and prioritise experimentation, learning and adaptability. And dedicate the resources needed to support this.
If you need help to develop your organisation's innovation culture and capability, and to position your organisation to thrive, get in contact: