S04 Ep. 08 Thomas H. Davenport and Laks Srinivasan – Making AI-ready Organizations

In this episode, we talked to Tom Davenport and Laks Srinivasan from the Return on AI Institute (ROAI) about how AI is empowering and challenging organizational models worldwide, and how the platform business model is often based on AI capabilities in the background.

Tom is a world-renowned thought leader and author on AI. He is the President’s Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College, as well as a fellow at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, a visiting professor at Oxford's Saïd Business School, and the Chairman of ROAI.

Laks is a data and analytics executive with more than 15 years of experience in management, entrepreneurship, and innovation roles to help clients create measurable value from AI. He is a co-founder and Managing Director at ROAI and former CEO of Opera Solutions (now ElectrifAI), an applied AI solutions company with 500+ employees globally, and the winner of the Netflix Prize and several Kaggle AI competitions.

Tom and Laks explore with us how different forms of artificial intelligence might transform product teams at companies around the globe. In the second part of this episode, Tom and Laks offer concrete examples of companies that have created new business models powered by AI, as well as suggestions on what traditional organizations should look at when preparing to adopt artificial intelligence.

Key Highlights
👉 AI is becoming pervasive in large organizations, but many are still struggling to get meaningful value out of it.
👉 Companies that “do AI” vs (digital native) “AI companies”.
👉 Platform business models (as a form of ecosystem) are based on AI.
👉 How AI could transform product teams.
👉 The challenge with AI is multi-dimensional: involves organization, leadership, culture, data, and technology.
👉 AI replaces tasks rather than entire jobs.
👉 Strategy-by-doing applies to AI: think big, start small, fail fast, and invest where things are working.
👉 Increased awareness among executives is needed to develop their intuition around AI.

Topics (Chapters)
00:00 Intro notes and welcoming of Thomas H. Davenport and Laks Srinivasan
03:16 How AI is empowering organizations or challenging organizational models
08:11 AI as a matter of doctrine in organizations: yes or no?
11:56 Platform business model (as a form of ecosystem) based on AI
17:13 How AI could transform product teams
24:50 Example of companies which have created new business models powered by AI
33:40 What should traditional organizations look at when preparing to adopt AI?
42:02 To integrate more AI into the process? Think big but start small.
50:58 Thomas and Laks’ breadcrumbs

Remember that you can always find transcripts and key highlights of the episode on our website: https://boundaryless.io/podcast/tom-davenport-and-laks-srinivasan

To find out more about Tom Davenport’s work:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/tdav
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davenporttom
- Website: https://www.tomdavenport.com

To find out more about Laks Srinivasan’s work:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/LaksSrinivasan
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laks-srinivasan
- Website: https://roaiinstitute.com

Other references and mentions:
- Working with AI: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262047241/working-with-ai
- All-in On AI: How Smart Companies Win Big with Artificial Intelligence: https://www.amazon.com/All-AI-Companies-Artificial-Intelligence-ebook/dp/B09Q6KHWVT
- Ping An Group: https://group.pingan.com
- CCC Intelligent Solutions: https://cccis.com
- USAA: https://www.usaa.com
- Amara's Law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Amara#Amara's_law
- The Return on AI Playbook Podcast: https://sites.libsyn.com/411860

Tom and Laks’ suggested breadcrumbs (things listeners should check out):
- Being a fire volunteer for fire control or, in general, being a volunteer for something
- How Generative AI Is Changing Creative Work: https://hbr.org/2022/11/how-generative-ai-is-changing-creative-work

Recorded on 28 October 2022.

Get in touch with Boundaryless:
Find out more about the show and the research at Boundaryless at https://boundaryless.io/resources/podcast
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/boundaryless_
- Website: https://boundaryless.io/contacts
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/boundaryless-pdt-3eo

Music
Music from Liosound / Walter Mobilio. Find his portfolio here: https://blss.io/Podcast-Music