How well has your organization historically innovated and adopted emerging technologies, and what lessons still apply today for AI implementation? As IT leaders, have you seen teams outside of IT adopt emerging technologies easily? Are you using any of those strategies to help with AI adoption?

We do have a few individuals who are really digging into these emerging technologies—sometimes even more deeply than some of our own technologists. We’ve learned valuable lessons from their approach, particularly in how they break down complex problems into smaller, more manageable questions and then build on top of those answers. For example, they might use AI to help formulate the right questions or prompts to get the information they need. Some of these approaches, which originated with these early adopters, are now starting to spread throughout the organization.

There’s nothing better than having business sponsorship and stakeholder buy-in for what we’re trying to achieve. My litmus test for success is when the business can clearly articulate what they need or want, and we can then figure out how to make that happen for them.
It doesn’t work as well when IT tries to push technology onto the business. Early adoption is key. I’ve found that the most successful approach is when a business partner is fully bought in—they can then become your “train the trainer” and help create buzz within the business.
I’ve been less successful when I’ve tried to push the envelope as an IT leader. It’s always more effective when the business is asking for the technology and excitement builds organically within the business lines. As long as IT has a seat at the table, we have a chance to convince the business to take advantage of these new ideas. That’s really the only thing that’s consistently worked for me.