Your competitors can buy the same AI but they can't buy your people!
Think about the competitive advantage AI creates.
Today, an organisation can purchase access to many of the same AI models and technologies available to its competitors. The tools are becoming more accessible, the capabilities are improving rapidly and the barriers to adopting increasingly sophisticated AI are falling.
So what happens when everyone has access to similar technology?
The technology itself may become less of a differentiator and what matters is how effectively an organisation uses it and that depends on people.
Their experience, their understanding of customers and suppliers, their willingness to challenge assumptions, their creativity, their commercial judgement and their ability to recognise opportunities that technology alone cannot fully understand.
Two finance teams could deploy exactly the same AI platform and achieve very different outcomes, for example, one might focus entirely on reducing costs whereas, the other might use the same technology to develop its people, improve decision-making and create new opportunities.
Both may become more efficient, but only one may emerge significantly more capable.
AI may become widely available. An exceptional workforce never becomes a commodity.
That's why I believe the organisations that invest in their people alongside AI could build a competitive advantage that is much harder to replicate.
The question for business leaders is a simple one, if your competitors have access to the same AI technology, what will make your organisation better?
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