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AI Luminaries series: With AI, you can’t move fast enough

  • Posted on August 5, 2024
  • Estimated reading time 4 minutes
AI Luminaries series: Part 1

As Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Avanade, I've had the unique opportunity to steer our company through the exciting waters of AI innovation. Avanade, rooted in the vision of our founding partners Microsoft and Accenture, leads globally in providing digital, cloud, AI, and advisory services, along with industry solutions and design-led experiences across the Microsoft ecosystem. Our early and strategic embrace of AI has not only given us a competitive edge but also a canvas to outline our vision for the future of enterprise operations and client services.

Gaining an edge with Microsoft technologies
Our relationship with Microsoft is more than strategic; it's symbiotic. You’d be hard-pressed to find a Microsoft product that we’re not using and experimenting with. To be at the forefront of innovation means pushing the envelope on what’s possible with AI. And our leadership, in helping clients find true value from AI, has earned us the recognition of being named Microsoft’s inaugural Global Business Transformation Partner of the Year for Copilot.

The impact of these technologies on our operations is profound. Avanade employees have seen personal productivity improvements on specific tasks range between 50 to 70% by using Microsoft 365 Copilot. This is not just about saving time; it's about enhancing the quality of our work and the insights we provide to our clients. For our consulting arm, knowledge management has taken on a new dimension. For example, the integration of Copilot for Microsoft 365 has transformed tasks that once took days into solutions that take mere minutes, while Sales Copilot has significantly increased the number of client contacts surfaced and integrated into our Dynamics CRM system.

Moreover, as part of our commitment to responsible AI, we've been proactive in ensuring the security of our data and operations. We've worked closely with the Microsoft engineering team to understand the security mechanisms in place, ensuring that our sensitive data remains within our controlled environment. This vigilance extends to how we deploy AI tools, always with a keen eye on security and ethics.

AI for people: Engagement and inclusion
Adopting new technologies is just one part of the equation. Cultivating a learning culture and encouraging exploration across departments have been equally pivotal. This ethos has enabled our teams to share knowledge about the toolsets and capabilities, amplifying productivity and knowledge exchange within Avanade.

I'm particularly proud of our initiative to make every employee AI-literate through an extensive training program which utilizes Microsoft technologies and has sparked enthusiasm among employees, particularly around prompt engineering. This initiative aimed not only to enhance employees' roles and client interactions but also to shift our company culture towards viewing AI as an opportunity rather than a threat to job security.

To address the challenge of keeping new AI tools top-of-mind, we introduced an element of friendly competition, motivating employees to discover how they can perform their roles more efficiently and effectively, and fostering a culture where the increased use of technology leads to better outcomes and heightened job satisfaction. As a result, the company saw not only deeper understanding of how AI works, but widespread adoption across the company, even among employees who initially questioned the relevance of AI for their role.

An unexpected benefit of our AI toolsets has been their impact on our neurodiverse employees. Tools like Copilot have been game-changers, enabling people who struggle with maintaining focus during lengthy meetings to catch up on crucial information they may have missed, which has empowered greater confidence and participation. This is a testament to our belief that AI isn’t just about productivity; it’s about enabling higher-quality outcomes for everyone – outcomes that we can only begin to imagine.

The future is now: Moving at the speed of innovation
As an early adopter, we’ve already begun a journey of transformational change, not only by redefining our business operations and client interactions but also by establishing a specialized team dedicated to AI research and innovation. This team, Disrupt Avanade, has been instrumental in identifying and capitalizing on emergent opportunities that have kept us on the cutting edge.

Looking ahead, I believe the future of AI at Avanade is about transforming how the enterprise functions as a whole. We're not just looking to enhance personal productivity; we're aiming to integrate AI across all organizational functions. My vision is for AI to be a fundamental element in this transformation, bringing together our advisory services, experiences, and technology expertise to deliver outcomes that are uniquely Avanade.

The journey of integrating AI into every facet of our operations is challenging, exhilarating, and, above all, transformative. At Avanade, when it comes to AI, you can’t move fast enough.

Learn more about how Avanade helps organizations ready people, processes and platforms for AI and watch our Leaders in AI | Learn from Avanade's Transformation video.

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