AI, short for artificial intelligence, has become a term that is hard to avoid and easy to misunderstand. For an organisation, the practical question is whether any of it is useful, and what needs to be in place before staff start using it.
The short answer is yes, for specific tasks. AI tools are useful for drafting, summarising and routine work, and they are no replacement for judgement, experience or knowing the organisation’s customers and members.
What AI tools do
Most of the AI tools available to organisations fall into a few practical categories:
- Content and writing, such as drafting blog posts, social media content, website copy, email responses and marketing materials, where AI can produce a useful first draft quickly if it has clear instructions and context about the organisation.
- Research and summarising, such as pulling information together, summarising long documents and answering questions about an unfamiliar topic.
- Image generation, for visual content in social media, presentations and marketing material.
- Automation, such as connecting tools together, moving data between systems and turning meeting notes into minutes and action lists.
- Customer communication, such as a website chatbot that answers common questions using the organisation’s own FAQ content.
What AI tools do not do well
AI works less well for anything that depends on knowledge of a specific organisation, its customers or its local context. Generic output often sounds as though it could have come from any organisation in any industry, which is a problem for a recognisable brand voice. Our FAQ on getting AI content to sound like the organisation explains how to address that.
AI also states things confidently when they are wrong, so its output needs checking before it is used. It does not replace the strategic thinking behind decisions either. AI can draft a marketing email, and it cannot say whether that campaign suits the organisation right now.
What to settle before staff use AI
In many organisations staff are already using AI tools, whether or not leadership has approved them. Before AI is used for work, the organisation should know what data is going into the tools, where it is stored, who else can see it and whether its privacy obligations cover the use. A short, practical AI policy that sets out what staff can use AI for and what is off-limits is usually enough. This is covered under Technology Governance.
Get the foundations right first
If files are disorganised, processes are not documented and basic digital tools are not working properly, AI will not fix any of that and will add another layer to an already messy setup. The organisations that get the most out of AI already have reasonably clean data, clear processes and a digital setup that works. Where that is not the current position, Digital Setup is a better starting point than any AI tool.
Where to start
The most practical starting point is one specific task that takes up time and could be done adequately by a tool. Getting that task working properly first, and building from there, produces better results than rolling AI out across the whole organisation at once. A short trial using the organisation’s own material is the lowest-risk way to test whether a task suits AI before any budget is committed.
How we help
Our AI Automation service covers choosing a suitable tool, running a proof of concept, configuring the tool with the organisation’s context and building the automation that turns it into a working process. Rules for how staff use AI are covered under Technology Governance. For help choosing between tools, see How do I choose the right AI tools?
