Fast Forwarding Business Adaptation In The Age Of AI

It is no great shock to suggest that we are in the midst of a technological revolution that is reshaping industries and redefining the way we work. What is generally underestimated though, is the pace at which this is happening and the exponential nature of the gen AI advancement that is fuelling this revolution. Rob Cleghorn, Chief Technology Officer of ClearPoint not only has a front-row seat for the profound changes AI is bringing but is also helping drive this change across a range of industries. “The pace of change is just insane,” he says, comparing the uptake of ChatGPT to that of the internet, “The internet took ten years to do what ChatGPT did in five weeks in terms of adoption.”

The recent AI frenzy marks a historical paradigm shift, akin to the emergence of mobile technology and cloud computing. “We go through these every ten or 15 years or so, these big fundamental changes,” Cleghorn explains. This time, however, the speed is extraordinary, with AI technologies being developed, adopted, and integrated at an accelerating pace.

What is also extraordinary is the ubiquitous nature of AI’s reach across most industries, each experiencing its own wave of transformation. ClearPoint’s role as a technology partner for a broad range of industries puts them at the leading edge of this transformation. 

The ClearPoint team have been assisting with Just Ask Xero, (JAX for short) Xero’s new AI business companion, which helps to automate accounting tasks and deliver personalised insights. As a leading Microsoft partner, they are also building multiple, ground breaking Gen AI solutions for clients, on a global stage. “Using the Azure AI offerings that have rapidly evolved from the strong partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI, we’re able to iterate quickly on our clients’ ideas and get real value faster than we’ve seen in other technologies”, says Cleghorn. ClearPoint is working with those in the travel, professional services and tech industries to create Proof of Concepts to explore innovative AI applications. The PoC initiatives are designed to assess the feasibility and impact of these AI ideas, guiding future investments and driving long-term success.

Clients that are policy-driven and operating under specific constraints are focusing on simplifying processes and improving the user experience for customers. The goal is to maximise customer satisfaction through intelligent AI-driven solutions.

ClearPoint’s AI services are aimed at boosting business efficiency by integrating AI into various business processes to streamline tasks and improve decision-making. They provide an AI Enablement Framework that assists organisations in adopting AI, ensuring they have a solid foundation and strategy in place. This involves getting leadership on board, grasping AI fundamentals, defining business objectives, and identifying opportunities to use AI effectively.

Cleghorn suggests that the pace of change necessitates a fundamental shift in decision-making within organisations. “You have to try and work out how you make decisions fast, particularly at an organisational level. And that’s about decentralising the decision-making, which sounds easy, but it’s actually pretty hard, particularly when you’ve got, for example, a quarterly board meeting to make some key decisions. That’s too slow. You can’t wait for that. Having a five-year strategy – not with AI? No one knows what’s happening this year, let alone next year.”

Traditional structures and long-term strategies are often too slow to keep up. Cleghorn emphasises the importance of empowering decision-making to foster agility. Decentralisation empowers teams to make timely decisions and adapt quickly to new developments. This approach requires a cultural shift, encouraging trust and autonomy within teams. “It’s about living with that uncertainty a bit and getting used to it, learning will be made on the journey under the guise of mistakes” Cleghorn advises.

AI is not just about enhancing existing processes, it is also the catalyst to fundamentally rethink business models. From streamlining operations to revolutionising customer interactions, AI opens many new avenues for innovation.

While not AI-specific, an example of ClearPoint’s focus on fundamental strategy change is their collaboration with The Warehouse Group to enhance their organisational capabilities through a customer-first transformation using Design Thinking. This initiative, which earned recognition at the Best Design Awards, involved creating a comprehensive Design Thinking Toolkit aimed at embedding a customer-centric mindset across TWG’s operations. This project was not just about adopting new tools but also about changing the company culture to focus more on customer needs. ClearPoint helped streamline this transformation by integrating various internal approaches into a unified Design Thinking framework, accessible to all team members and adaptable across different settings. This approach significantly enhanced TWG’s ability to innovate and respond to customer needs rapidly.

ClearPoint also played a pivotal role in enhancing the digital customer service capabilities of Countdown (now Woolworths NZ), with “Olive,” an AI digital assistant. Olive was implemented to operate across various communication channels including web, mobile and voice response systems. Within just three months of development, Olive was operational, significantly reducing call volumes by handling thousands of customer inquiries. The software engineering sector is no stranger to constant evolution, but the current wave of AI-driven change is particularly impactful. Cleghorn highlights the necessity for professionals in this field to continuously adapt: “If you’re in the software area… and you don’t like change, you’re in the wrong industry.”

AI tools are enhancing productivity in remarkable ways. At ClearPoint, the implementation of AI-driven code generation and co-pilot tools has led to significant efficiency gains. “We’re seeing a 20 to 30 percent improvement… just on the software engineers,” Cleghorn reports. These tools streamline various stages of software development, from testing to actual coding, allowing engineers to focus on more complex and creative tasks. At ClearPoint, this approach involves experimenting with AI technologies to understand their potential and limitations. By fostering a culture of innovation and encouraging teams to explore and experiment, ClearPoint is positioning itself to leverage AI for competitive advantage. “This year is our proof of concept year where we just try things out and see what we learn,” Cleghorn shares.

It is also important to note that this productivity improvement is not based on the replacement of human talent but the support of it. The focus is on leveraging AI to enhance human capabilities rather than replace them. “It’s very much a toolbox at this stage,” Cleghorn explains. By using AI tools to augment human performance, organisations can achieve higher levels of efficiency and innovation.

ClearPoint’s strategy involves creating working groups focused on different aspects of AI integration. These groups explore new technologies, experiment with their applications, and share their findings across the company. This collaborative approach ensures that the entire organisation grows and learns together, staying ahead in the AI race. 

And while responding quickly to the pace of change is important, it’s important to take the opportunity to look at a fundamental change Cleghorn reiterates. “The change that we see today is only going to get faster. And we’re only just starting to tap into the things you can do with AI, but also the things that AI can do for us. And if you’re thinking of AI as being able to do things faster, that’s nice, but actually, you can rethink the way you run your businesses and even your life.”

Find out more about how ClearPoint supports their clients with AI here.