Does your business need a Chief AI Officer?

The need for a Chief AI Officer (CAIO) within a company really depends on various factors.

Many of the larger technology consultancy firms are advising their global enterprise clients to consider hiring a CAIO. Especially those that are now building significant AI-based capabilities within their firm.

The reality is that all companies are going to rely on technology much more over the coming years and as technology becomes more capable with the use of advanced Artificial Intelligence, the areas in which technology can augment, support, or even control will increase and cut across all parts of the value chain, both front-office and back-office. Having someone at the executive level who will focus on the AI algorithmic capabilities of the firm is going to be essential soon, both for large corporates but also for SME firms.

Part of the challenge with the role of the CAIO is how it interacts with and supports the CTO, CIO, and CDO roles as there will be overlapping concerns and responsibilities. However, the most significant focus of the CAIO is on developing AI at Scale to support the business strategy.

For some organisations, the role of CDO and CAIO could be combined with a single person doing both. For others, it may be that the CIO will also cover the AI concerns. The organisation structure may change over time, as the company becomes more mature with its use and understanding of AI.

The Benefits of a CAIO role

One fact of technology is the perpetual need to update and refresh, moving towards new approaches and paradigms. Most recently this has been termed digital transformation and an element of this, which has been accelerated by the pandemic and remote working is that of moving software applications to the cloud. With many of these technology-fo- cused projects, it can be challenging to demonstrate the benefits to the business. However, this is where data analytics, machine learning, and AI can play a key part to demonstrate additional insights and information that can surface from using the cloud and the linked AI capabilities.

Ultimately, the algorithms and models that are used in a company to make the core decision-making across the organisation are going to be a significant asset to the firm and potentially create major and sustainable differentiation for its competitive advantage. Therefore, such an important element of the company should have someone to head the development and operational delivery within the executive management of the firm.

Fundamentally, as AI is significantly more challenging and different from traditional technology in many ways, having a CAIO to augment the CTO or CIO is the right decision and will provide significant benefit to those organisations that have the foresight to hire one.

Interim CAIO Services

You might feel that this is only a requirement for large international companies. However, many PLCs and SMEs are finding the need to bring in expertise in this area. During the early stages of adoption, it may be that a full-time CAIO role would be too excessive, but a part-time or interim role would significantly support the Technology department with their ramp-up of AI capabilities and offer major benefits with the speed and quality of implementation.

If you would like to discuss the possibility of us providing your business CAIO services, please feel free to contact us to understand the best options for your specific situation.