How AI and decision intelligence are changing the way we work

In a digital world fueled by a steady stream of data, achieving organizational excellence depends on giving everyone instant access to accurate, up-to-date information. Organization-wide communication and collaboration are essential. Business-critical decisions in particular depend on the timely sharing of lessons learned and insights from all departments.

With new technology based on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), it’s easier than ever to share data effectively and consistently. Remarkably, technology is now enabling companies to harness the knowledge stored in one person’s head and translate it into actionable data that anyone can use when they need it. This technology takes organizational communication and collaboration to the next level – an invaluable asset in the pursuit of excellence.

Driven by data

The trend towards decision intelligence brings together processes and technologies to support “continuous, connected, contextual decision automation and augmentation,” said Gartner senior research director Pieter J. den Hamer. Decision intelligence includes data-driven decision making and the increasing use of AI and ML to accelerate and improve data analytics. With the benefit of more data that is also more relevant and reliable, data analysts can produce stronger insights, resulting in faster and more confident decisions, greater efficiency and productivity, and a solid foundation for business strategies.

Indeed, companies now have the ability to leverage data anywhere using new technology platforms powered by AI. The deep and diverse knowledge derived from external data, internal data or the minds of individual employees supports data-driven decisions and can be shared company-wide.

Decision intelligence means the right data at the right time

Technology can also provide a simple yet powerful AI tool that employees can use in their day-to-day activities. They can record lessons learned as they work in real time, and adjust their actions when corrective action is needed, including in real time. Throughout this process, AI defines actionable tips, shares insights, and provides concise lessons learned (e.g., by suggesting corrective actions), all of which can improve the performance of the entire team.

As AI turns the data collected during day-to-day work into actionable lessons, each team member can contribute to and draw on the collective knowledge of their team – as well as the collective knowledge of the entire company. The technology asks them to record their work and it “knows” when a team member needs to see information relevant to their current job. AI ensures that everyone has the right data at the right time, exactly when they need it.

In this vision of a data-driven environment, access to data liberates employees and empowers them to pursue new ideas, Harvard Business Review writes. In some companies, however, a culture shift may be required first. Organizations need to “take their data strategy to the next level so that it is intertwined with their business strategy…both strategies must be given equal weight and importance and be embedded in the culture.”

The end of silos

All data is critical to the data-driven organization – not just information that flows in from numerous sources outside the company, but also information that is generated within the company. Unfortunately, individual departments and teams often isolate their own data in silos, making it inaccessible to others.

It’s easy to see why data silos may be the most common obstacle to communication and collaboration. If teams don’t know what’s happening in other departments, they may never realize that the information they need already exists within the enterprise. Continuous improvement and knowledge sharing processes allow data to flow freely throughout the enterprise, eliminating disruptive silos.

Organizations can also contain a different kind of silo, in the form of employees who are the only ones with unique information and expertise in their heads. Artificial intelligence can quantify individual knowledge and experience and turn it into data-driven insights, ready to be deployed on-demand across the organization.

The advanced technology behind constant learning, communication and collaboration enables organizations to leverage their most valuable asset – data – even down to the very specific knowledge and expertise of individual team members.

In the important practice of decision intelligence, AI gives people tools to instantly capture and share their own knowledge and learn from each other’s experiences, enabling companies to expand their institutional knowledge easily, organically and successfully.

Ofir Paldi is founder and CEO of Shamaym.