AI adoption is surging across industries, but many organisations are overconfident about their AI readiness and overlooking critical factors for long-term success.
HPE research reveals that while 90% of organisations have an official AI strategy, only 57% have a single, consolidated strategy across functions.
A fragmented approach with siloed goals and metrics can dilute AI’s impact. Your organisation needs an overarching strategy aligned with clear business outcomes and unified metrics to drive meaningful results.
We provide more colour on architecting an AI advantage below.
Strengthen your data foundation
Only 7% of organisations can leverage real-time data for AI. This data gap means your organisation may be basing AI decisions on outdated or irrelevant information.
The best place to start is evaluating your data maturity and investing in data management, governance, and centralised access across hybrid environments.
HPE’s hybrid cloud offerings can assist with that, providing a flexible foundation for handling AI’s data-intensive needs.
Assess AI-specific infrastructure needs
If you assume your existing infrastructure can handle AI’s unique demands, you’re in unfortunate company, with less than half of IT leaders grasping the networking and computing requirements across the AI lifecycle.
Conduct a thorough assessment of your infrastructure readiness, particularly if running AI on owned architecture.
Prioritise security
Implement end-to-end encryption for AI model inputs and outputs to combat data leakage, a top concern for 34% of IT leaders.
Deploy secure enclaves or trusted execution environments to protect AI models during training and inference.
For infrastructure security, containerisation and orchestration tools like Kubernetes can isolate AI workloads effectively.
Bridge the leadership disconnect
HPE found that IT directors, rather than C-suite executives, are usually the decision-makers in AI rollouts. While this leverages technical expertise, it risks implementing AI without a strong business case.
It’s always best to promote collaboration between IT leaders and C-suite executives to balance technological capabilities with strategic priorities.
Don’t just jump in
AI adoption rates are high because the technology moves fast, and organisations are paralysed by a simple choice: invest or fall behind.
Investment is necessary, but being hasty and adopting the wrong AI systems is a recipe for being bogged down by technologies that don’t actually work.
It’s better to take your time and research the best solutions or partner with an IT provider that can recommend the best-fit solutions.
Summary
Your organisation needs to humble itself and shun overconfidence in AI readiness to architect an advantage.
Many businesses are adopting AI with fragmented approaches across departments and no strategy for security, compliance, or performance. Success demands a holistic approach that aligns AI initiatives with business outcomes.
If you want to learn more about how you can architect an AI advantage please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.
