Creating data-empowered businesses

This year, organisations and their leaders should rightly question the use of AI more. Many have been excited by the advancements and efficiencies, and have been quick to respond to the hype. Now they need to get the most out of it before jumping on the next trend or potential fad as a way of staying ahead.

I’m pleased to see that fewer executives now expect to see AI replace jobs in their organisations. In 2024, 49% of C-suite leaders felt AI would lead to job losses. Now, this proportion has dropped seven points to 42%. It’s possible that more intelligence and experience through regular interaction with AI over the last year has given executives a different perspective on the supporting roles of people and this tech with smart implementation. This is critical and should be pushed further. 

“Like any technology, AI is only as good as the people implementing and using it – you need both to maximise the output.” 

Emerging tech like AI is only successful if the underlying data is correct. If you don’t get the data right by being misinformed, you’re not getting artificial intelligence, you’re getting artificial information. 

With the right data, AI really allows for hyper personalisation. It can add everything someone likes at a click and brings in other data sources. On social media, via emails and while surfing the web, consumers get content that is more and more tailored to them and only them. However, we’ve seen businesses get it wrong – it’s an easy way to put consumers off and rebuilding reputation is difficult. 

Organisations are still experiencing the age-old glitch of human input influencing the output of the tech. I expect this is why we’re seeing ‘introducing or improving systems and processes to ensure data quality’ is the biggest priority for data management and governance investment from leaders in 2025. 

This priority is absolutely critical to get any sort of value from your investment. All AI is trained upon historical data. So, if an individual has any bias (even subconscious), the AI is going to inherit that bias. The risks and consequences of this are high if it’s wrong. 

One development that could support this is the new EU AI Act, which came into force on 1 August 2024 and is intrinsically linked to GDPR, as well as the safety and respect of AI systems, and now the latest Digital Operation Resilience Act (DORA) that has just come into force in January. 

While the AI Act is only enforceable across Europe, it’s the first legal framework of its kind proposed by a major regulator and will impact any organisation with interests in the region or looking to expand. This is an opportunity for an organisation and its leaders to assess the level of risks associated with the technology it has invested in, and the way the data is being applied across all international operations, for the benefit of their people and clients or customers.