AI project success relies on people first and foremost

According to an Oct. 24, 2024, press release by BCG (Boston Consulting Group), only 26% of companies are seeing tangible value from their AI projects. This is based on BCG’s report titled Where’s the value in AI? that surveyed 1,000 CxOs and senior executives from 20 different sectors across 10 major industries in 20 countries spanning Asia, Europe, and North America.

What is the secret sauce that these leading companies have found that the other 74% of companies that are having trouble with their AI projects seem to be missing?

There are six differentiators cited as reasons why the leaders are successful and the laggers are struggling. Several key differences stand out to me.

First, the leaders recognize that people are integral to the success of their AI projects. As was specifically noted: “Too many lagging companies make the mistake of prioritizing the technical issues over the human ones.” Whereas, leaders allocate 10% of their resources to the AI algorithms, 20% of their resources to technology and data, and 70% of their resources to people and processes.

Second, leaders are using multiple types of AI (e.g., predictive and generative) and are moving more rapidly to adopting generative AI. (In my peer-reviewed journal article published by Henry Stewart Publications Journal of Supply Chain Management, Logistics, and Procurement Volume 7, Number 1 (2024-2025) titled “Shift left in your fight against supply chain fraud,” I had suggested an AI adoption methodology utilizing both discriminative and generative AI in collaboration. You can read this article on my website.

Third, leaders look at AI projects to enable their workforce, not just for quick productivity wins.  Here again, there is a people-first focus with a recognition that (as I have written before) technology is a tool to get a business process done and ideally done better. Leaders are focused on core business processes and supporting functions, likely where business stakeholders need the most help and where an AI project can yield the most benefit. Core business functions include sales and marketing, research and development, operations, customer service, and procurement.    

The BCG press release can be found here, where there is a link to BCG’s more comprehensive report. 

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