“The Business Case for AI” summarizes the landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) in a simple, easy to understand format for business and technology leaders.
The author (Kavita Ganesan) sets out to clarify when and how AI technologies provide value to a business. She describes the process of understanding AI in a business context. She directly addresses the pain and anxiety of leaders who are trying to grapple with uncertainty:
- Where you can apply AI
- How, as a leader, you can start preparing your organization for AI
- How to find the right AI opportunities to invest in so you’re not wasting time and money
- How to determine if your AI initiatives are generating meaningful outcomes.
If these worries are keeping you up at night, this book is for you.
The author promises that if followed then the big promise will be paid off. She sets an optimistic tone for the rest of the book.
The book identifies 4 benefits of AI for a business:
- Eliminating Inefficiencies
- Reducing Human Error
- Deeper Insights
- Increased Profits
That last benefit will be the most interesting to almost any business leader. Ganesan explains all of these in greater detail. The book is presented in parts:
- “Frame Your AI Thinking” – discusses the fears around AI and dispels myths that prevent effective adoption of AI as a tool.
- “Get AI Ideas Flowing” – explains how to approach AI as a means to improve existing business problems with a series of case studies.
- “Prepare for AI” – describes how to prepare your organization to implement or integrate AI solutions, including both people, infrastructure, and budget.
- “Find AI Oppportunities” – delves into how to determine when and how different AI strategies will benefit your situation.
- “Bring Your AI Vision to Life” – finally, once AI projects are underway the outcomes must me measured for success.
There is enough detail to provide context without going into details that would be better in a deep technical exploration. In many places the author provides clear breakdowns of her expertise. For example, you will see several tables that distill a thought process. For example, examining gap in readiness for AI projects:
| Rubric | Answer |
| 1. We know what data we have. | No |
| 2. We’re storing most company generated data. | Some |
| 3. We’re able to access all our data stores. | No |
| 4. We’re logging search and key customer interactions… | Yes |
Throughout the book the author mentions additional resources with templates and other resources for readers at https://www.opinosis-analytics.com/aibusinesscasebook.
Key Takeaways
This book is a very good introduction to the field of practical AI and how it relates to a business. It answers the questions of “What can I do with AI?”, “How will AI help our business?” and also “Is AI a tool we can use right now?”
Ganesan does a good job at explaining how in some cases your business will not be ready for AI. Premature investment in an AI project will cost you a lot of time and a lot of money. She presents several examples of how to assess readiness for AI as well as case studies where the desire to use AI was based on personal feelings, not hard facts.
This book serves as a useful guide on how explain the opportunities and caveats with AI to a non-technical leader or business owner.
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