The world is changing. It’s faster, more complex, more ambiguous and the models that served us well in the past are no longer enough. The rise of artificial intelligence is not just a technological shift, it’s a fundamental change to how we need to think about and execute business strategy. If we’re not careful, we can make strategies that are out of date even before they’re executed.
In a recent episode of Pragmatic Talks, our CLO – Beata Mosór, expert in strategy and marketing, and founder of several companies, joined Wiktor Żołnowski, founder and CEO of Pragmatic Coders to discuss how to adjust to change of pace in marketing and business. The duo dove deep into business model canvas and some new insights we can make when considering the potential of AI.
Here you can watch the video >>
AI Business Strategy is King
At the core of any successful business, no matter how modern, is a robust and well-defined strategy. That starts with key components that will stay the same:
- Mission: The overall purpose of your existence.
- Vision: The future you are trying to bring about.
- Values: The principles that guide your decisions and actions.
- Unique Value Proposition: The unique value that makes you competitive.
This core should provide a roadmap that, while not set in stone, provide the guardrails of where you are going as an enterprise.
Rethinking the Business Model Canvas for an AI World
The business model canvas, a staple framework for understanding the different parts of a business strategy should now take a new face into account in the face of AI. Areas such as:
- Cost Structure: Consider the financial implication of adopting AI within your framework.
- Value Chain: Understand how to get value from AI, given the various resources and actions needed to compete and remain competitive.
- Customer Experience: As we evolve to more intelligent solutions and digital applications, consider how AI will change what a customer wants and gets from you.
AI Business Strategy in the Upcoming Tech Era
The Rise of Fast-Moving, Circular Strategies
Change is a constant, so how can you create a strategy that won’t be outdated tomorrow? The answer is that you shouldn’t be married to tactics or specific details. Here are two key ways strategy must change:
- Transparency: AI is only useful insofar as you understand how it works and the logic driving it, so understanding what “the agent” is doing is important.
- Efficiency: We can no longer operate with old papers and procedures, and require systems that allow for the fastest access to needed insights and actions.
Is Your AI Your Employee or Partner?
One of the biggest mistakes that’s being made today is that companies use AI like a hammer, not a swiss army knife. They are treating AI as an agent to carry out orders, rather than a partner that can bring a unique set of resources to help achieve your vision. We need to shift the focus away from “What can AI do for me” to “What world are we creating?”
With these things in mind, let’s move away from treating AI like a employee that does what we tell it. The next evolution comes by upskilling it, creating an environment where AI can iterate on what it does to become better. And to do so, you need to ask yourself…
Watch the second part of the interview with Beata Mosór here >>
Do You Have the Right Talent to Execute Your Vision?
One of the most exciting companies right now is Cursor AI. The company, built by students at MIT, is valued at 9 billion dollars because of their dedication to AI. However, this may be because they are integrating it very well. The question you need to ask yourself is “Am I working with the right talent that understands the tech?”
While having a machine perform the work can accelerate the speed of your company, not just in terms of technical resources but people. This requires ensuring every level of the operation not only is fluent with AI, but also ready to provide and accept its feedback.
Redefining Your Business to Reimagine How to Operate
The shift to AI isn’t about doing the same things faster, it’s about reinventing your business from the ground up and you must ask yourself, “How would my company be if the entire ecosystem was designed with AI at its core?” By building this model, you can see how each AI tool can make it faster and more efficient. Ultimately, these questions should prompt the more foundational questions:
- How will your partners change?
- How will our employees change?
- How will your company change?
Check how we design and validate the business strategy for your product >>
What Should I Do First?
Beata said, “What do you wish for? You should ask yourself what you are dreaming about and how you would like to our future world look like?“
Rather than focusing on the day to day, focus on how to create a vision for what a business that is AI native looks like and then build out that vision to your present day reality.
The Future is Here
As Beata said, to ignore AI is to have “Nokia” moment where we let go of something that could provide value to our future.
By learning to see AI as a collaborator, rather than just another set of tools, we can re-imagine how businesses operate, allowing us to create a bold new era for companies to evolve.
Listen the interview with Beata Mosór on AI impact on society & economy >>
Key Takeaways:
- Business Strategy as a Core: Business strategy should be at the core of a business, defining mission, vision, values, and key principles, with unique value proposition.
- Business Model Canvas: B.M.C components such as cost structure, distribution channels, customer experience should be considered.
- Business strategy needs to be redefined to the era of AI Business has evolved and its time to reinvent some models, such as AI circular moving models.
- Not just automation, but a partner. AI should not just be used for automation but rather as a partner that can help with tasks such as redifining a strategic vision.
- AI’s greatest strength lies in the ability to process and analyze huge amount of data quickly.
- Ultimately goals for strategy creation must take into account longer-term values, as well as be specific.
- Core Strategy Remains Constant: The mission, vision, and values of a business should not change but the tactical execution of the strategy must.
- AI as a Fast Enabler. AI-based solutions can significantly speed up the implementation of business strategies.
- New is Not Always Best. There are many different models, and the newest is not always the best, as well, so it’s worth considering the best model given the task at hand.
Additionally:
- It’s worth looking for an “impersonal” AI because trust, privacy and compliance are paramount.
- AI is a hammer, and must be used for what it does best so the hammer isn’t used to try to drill a screw.
- “Good AI tools” are able to provide a new way to envision the future, and help the leaders ask, “what world am I creating?”