Strategic Value Sharing and Organisational Adaptation: Priorities and Constraints for AI in the Enterprise

Moving from a view of artificial intelligence as mere technology to a broader consideration as its content and strategic value to be shared with management and accompanied by an adjustment of the entire internal organisation, under the banner of sustainable solutions resulting from a discussion with technology providers.

These are the strategic priorities in the conscious use of artificial intelligence identified by the C-Levels of the 150 leading Italian companies of the Foundation for Digital Sustainability community gathered in the context of the General States of Digital Sustainability. The aim of the survey is to identify the conditions for developing a shared approach to the adoption of AI, analysing its impact on the corporate organisation, and analysing the priorities and constraints related to adoption.

At the top of the list of priorities, with a score of 4.4 out of 5, is the need to foster an integrated and shared approach within the frontline management of companies in order to pursue a vision of AI as a strategic value for the company, which goes beyond mere technical expertise through collaboration between different business functions. This implies that companies and CIOs adopt 'an approach to AI as content, not just as technology'.

The third priority is organic sharing with the rest of the company, thus coordinating and transforming the organisation. In fact, management must be able to become more and more a promoter of virtuous processes, indicating the elements on which it is appropriate to focus in order to develop applications, which 'must be designed considering both the technical content and the social, economic and environmental spin-offs'.

In third place is corporate policy: this involves identifying areas where AI can be applied in accordance with corporate policy and the AI Act, to ensure responsible use and alignment with sustainability goals.