Industry leaders show the wisdom of going all-in on AI
Kroger
also
has
the
largest
grocery
loyalty
program
in
the
country.
The
company
uses
data
from
that
program
to
predict
what
product
offerings
and
promotions
will
convince
members
to
show
up
at
a
local
store
more
often,
and
to
buy
more.
Kroger
also
has
the
largest
grocery
loyalty
program
in
the
country.
The
company
uses
data
from
that
program
to
predict
what
product
offerings
and
promotions
will
convince
members
to
show
up
at
a
local
store
more
often,
and
to
buy
more.
“They
are
using
the
loyalty
program
to
recommend
new
products
with
a
high
level
of
nutrition,
to
encourage
customers
to
shop
in
the
healthy
food
space,”
Davenport
says.
“They
also
sell
some
of
their
data
insights
to
consumer
products
partners.
I
think
they’re
well
ahead
of
any
other
grocery
retailer
in
that
regard.”
AI’s
value
for
large
legacy
organizations
The
primary
focus
of
Davenport
and
Mittal’s
book
is
on
legacy
organizations
that
want
to
truly
transform
with
AI.
“It
isn’t
about
the
digital
natives
that
have
a
much
easier
time
of
it,
since
everybody
[in
those
organizations]
already
believes
in
AI
and
digital
transformation,”
Davenport
notes.
“Still,
a
lot
of
companies
say
they’re
doing
it.
But
they
have
very
few
deployments
of
AI
to
show.
They
haven’t
integrated
it
into
their
day-to-day
work,
and
hence,
don’t
get
any
real
economic
value.”
Davenport
acknowledges
that
many
companies
may
feel
reluctant
to
make
a
large
investment
at
this
relatively
early
stage
of
‘modern’
AI.
But
the
book
is
intended
to
demonstrate
how
organizations
committed
to
AI
use
are
reaping
significant
benefits,
and
in
some
cases,
transforming
their
markets.
Toward
that
end,
these
leading
organizations
are
both
broad
and
deep
in
terms
of
AI
adoption,
Davenport
says.
They
have
several
use
cases
or
applications
in
production.
They
use
a
variety
of
technologies,
including
machine
learning.
Many
also
use
robotic
process
automation
and
linguistics-based
computational
chatbots.
“The
time
to
stand
on
the
sidelines
is
over,”
Davenport
stresses.
“In
a
way,
we
were
trying
to
scare
readers
and
say,
‘It’s
going
to
be
hard
to
catch
up
if
somebody
else
in
your
industry
is
doing
this,
and
you’re
not.’”
Most
importantly,
AI
is
an
area
where
it
will
be
difficult
to
be
a
fast-follower,
because
it
requires
a
lot
of
data
and
a
lot
of
skills
that
are
not
widely
available,
Davenport
explains.
Organizations
should
start
investing
in
AI
now,
and
there
are
ways
to
do
this
fairly
easily
and
inexpensively.
“Many
vendors
are
incorporating
AI
capabilities
into
their
ERP
systems
and
CRM
systems,
so
you
could
start
there,”
Davenport
says.
“But
if
you
want
any
sort
of
competitive
advantage
from
AI,
you
probably
have
to
develop
some
of
these
capabilities
yourself.
That
means
developing
the
skills
and
technology
capabilities
in
order
to
produce
some
of
your
own
use
cases.”
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