Challenge 01: Find your problem first

Podcast: Productivity isn't enough Go to next challenge
AI generated yellow umbrella with multiple holes

Agentic AI is not a goal

It's a mechanism to realize goals

Empowering an entire organization to benefit from AI isn’t just about adopting AI, it’s about thoughtfully applying it to pain points and growth opportunities across an organization.

Increased use of AI throughout an organization without a clear vision for the communication and orchestration across the business sets the stage for productivity shortfalls—not the promise of AI that leaders expect. 

This paradox emphasizes how important it is for business leaders to identify the right AI for the right process and find key high-value workflows to apply the right blend of AI for an AI-first organizational transformation.

AI generated leather glove with more than five fingers
The future of work is not about humans versus machines; it’s about humans and machines working together. AI often shines a light on what’s not working within an organization

Ann Funai

CIO and VP of Business Platforms Transformation

IBM

Know your problem to find the right tool

At this juncture, it’s up to the CIO to determine how AI will help the business and turn instances of quick wins into organizational transformation. Here are some questions to ask when determining how to steer uses of AI—AI agents, assistants and automation—into achieving your business goals:
#1 Where will AI deliver the greatest business value?

Apply AI to use cases tied to growth, efficiency or risk reduction—not just what’s technically possible.

 #2 Is our data ecosystem ready to support scalable AI?

Assess your data quality, accessibility, governance and lineage to ensure AI agents operate on trustworthy inputs.

 #3 Can our people and processes absorb this change?

Invest in change management, employee upskilling and workflow redesign to drive adoption and long-term impact.

 #4 Do our platforms support secure, scalable AI integration?

Evaluate architecture, APIs and automation readiness to help ensure that AI agents can be embedded without disruption.

Real AI

AI is only as good as your process

For example, Avid Solutions, a food production research and development firm, used AI and automation to optimize the new customer onboarding process by 25% and reduced the number of project management process errors by 10%. 

By focusing on critical business processes that were time-consuming and error-prone, they identified an ideal opportunity for optimization. Their team now spends less time on manual tasks, focusing more on strategic work.

Our employees are more satisfied with their jobs because they are no longer bogged down by repetitive tasks.”

Dr. Malcolm Adams

Chief Executive Officer

Avid Solutions

Keep on reading

Challenge 02: AI with a clear vision Challenge 03: Don’t isolate your AI CIOs: 3 actions to boost the impact of your agentic AI Explore watsonx Orchestrate