How Should My Company Prioritize AIQ™ Capabilities?

Photo by Kati Hoehl on Unsplash 

Synaptiq created AIQ™, a collection of 11 capabilities shown to help companies succeed with their artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives, to guide investment in the most important aspects of AI readiness. But what if your company doesn’t have enough resources to invest in all 11 capabilities at once?

Where Do You Start?

The answer is tricky. AIQ™ is a cohesive strategy, not an ordered “to-do” list. So, there isn’t an objectively “most important” capability. Subjectively, the most important capability is the one that best suits your company’s near-term business objectives.

For example, if your company’s current top objective is sourcing better data to support in-use data applications, then Data Sourcing should be your primary focus. On the other hand, if your company’s top objective is setting expectations for AI and its role in your organization, then Data Organization & Ethics is key.

Note that it’s important to consider your resource needs in addition to your business objective wants. Maybe you want to source better data, but developing Data Sourcing to achieve this objective would require an investment of $500,000. Would the return on investment (ROI) be positive or negative? Could you invest in a different capability and receive a greater ROI? Companies with limited resources may want to prioritize funding flow by ensuring that the ROI from developing one capability is sufficient to develop the next, and so on.

Questions to Guide Your Investment

Step #1: Determine your business objectives and how AI can serve them.

• What are your business objectives (in order of priority and timing)?

• How would your data and AI serve each business objective?

• What AIQ™ capabilities are needed for AI to serve each business objective?

Step #2: Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses in terms of AIQ™.

• Do you already have maturity in one or more capabilities?

• How much will you need to invest to achieve the appropriate level of maturity in each capability?

• What is your desired timeline for establishing the right level of maturity in each capability?

Step #3: Consider the logistics of raising your AIQ™.

• What existing, in-house resources and talent do you have for each capability?

• What ROI can you expect from investing in each capability?

• Will investing in one capability help you invest in another?

• Are you open to using outside vendors?

Key Considerations to Keep in Mind

#1: Your company’s approach to raising its AIQ™ will likely not be linear. (If we wanted to encourage a linear approach, we would’ve made our AIQ™ graphic a line, not a circle.) It’s simply not efficient to sequentially develop maturity in Data Sourcing, then Data Architecture & Governance, then Data Engineering, etcetera. Synergy is what makes the capabilities useful. What use is Data Sourcing maturity when you lack maturity in other capabilities needed to use that data? Where’s the synergy when one capability is far more developed than the others?

#2: That said, there are six fundamental AIQ™ capabilities, and as the name suggests, these will likely be the first that you develop. These capabilities aren’t objectively more important, but they’re a prerequisite for developing maturity in the other seven capabilities. If the process of raising your AIQ™ is a construction project, the six fundamental capabilities are the foundation.

1. Data Engineering
2. Data Architecture & Governance
3. Data Product Management
4. Data Organization & Ethics
5. Data Operations
6. Business Intelligence

Key Takeaways

Ultimately, there’s no easy answer to the question, “How should my company prioritize AIQ™ capabilities.” The roadmap to raising your AIQ™ is just that—yours. It’s likely that your company will benefit from a roadmap that (i) centers on your business objectives, (ii) considers your resource needs and investments available, and (iii) adopts a nonlinear approach to maximize synergy throughout the journey. Beyond these best practices, we can’t offer general advice for such a personalized process.

If you’re interested in ensuring that your company approaches AIQ™ in the most efficient and effective manner, consider reaching out for a consultation. Synaptiq can help you deepen your understanding of each of the 11 AIQ™ capabilities: what it means, why it matters, and how it fits into your company.

About Synaptiq

Synaptiq is an AI and data science consultancy based in Portland, Oregon. We collaborate with our clients to develop human-centered products and solutions. We uphold a strong commitment to ethics and innovation. 

Contact us if you have a problem to solve, a process to refine, or a question to ask.

You can learn more about our story through our past projects, blog, or podcast.