September 11, 2023 – Artificial Intelligence is top of mind for organizations across the country as it makes its way into nearly every industry. To achieve its business goals in the age of A.I., organizations need to be innovative and bring together qualified and diverse talent to one A.I. team.
We sat down with DeVry University's chief information officer Chris Campbell to learn more about what an A.I team might look like and how an organization can benefit one.
Building an A.I. team might feel like a daunting task. Where does an organization begin?
The best way to begin assembling an A.I. team is to find colleagues (employees) who have the most interest in this ever-changing field. Look for skills and capabilities within your data teams and identify technologists throughout various business teams across the organization.
Additionally, creating blended teams is vital. Having business and operational colleagues work side-by-side with technology and analytics experts will ensure success. This will also help make sure organizations' initiatives address broad organizational priorities, not just isolated business issues.
What type of organizations can benefit from an A.I. team?
All organizations can benefit from developing A.I. capabilities on their teams. That said, organizations need to have enough scale in their data to create an internal team to maintain their own A.I. models.
According to Gartner, through 2023, 50% of IT leaders will struggle to move their A.I. projects past proof of concept to a production level of maturity. Which is why organizations must set goals and objectives that can benefit them from A.I. rather than creating A.I. teams and initiatives and then look for problems to solve.
In some cases, and for many companies, outsourcing to a specialized third party may make most sense.
A.I. seems to be here to stay. What are the benefits of creating this dedicated team?
That’s exactly right. It is clear that A.I. will continue to transform the world as we know it – including how we work, and the ways businesses and institutions operate. As a result, organizations need qualified talent while dedicating resources to ensure there is a strategy and strong execution toward this tech-driven future. At DeVry, we understand that well. For over 90 years, we have been innovating and striving to bridge the workforce gap by preparing learners to thrive in careers shaped by continuous technological change such as A.I.
A.I. has the biggest impact when it’s developed and managed by cross-functional teams with a mix of skills and perspectives. Having a center of excellence or a dedicated team that oversees a company’s A.I. initiative can be a dramatic accelerator.
You mentioned having a team with a mix of skills. What specific of experts should be included?
An A.I. team is not a “one size fits all”. Business and institutions need a multitude of skills, across a variety of roles and disciplines to work with A.I. This is particularly important if an organization decides to build its own team.
For instance, some of the most important experts that organizations need are data modelers, deep learning specialists, engineers, domain experts, product designers, IT leaders, operation professionals, business analysts, mathematicians, statisticians, UX designers, graphic designers, quality assurance specialists, attorneys, to name a few. Furthermore, even if an organization chooses to outsource the more technical aspects, many of these roles are critical for an A.I team.
Even if you chose to outsource the more technical aspects, you will need many of these roles.
So, it's not a one size fits all approach with the people on this team. Is it the same for the resources they might need?
No doubt having a diverse, prepared and blended A.I. team is essential for success. So having a variety of resources are also needed such as infrastructure, investment, and a pipeline of opportunities. In addition, a unified executive leadership team with a common vision for developing a culture that embraces A.I. is also essential to ensure success.
