At our signature conference—Converge New York—a couple of weeks ago, Flynn Coleman stated that “AI will be the most transformative technology humanity will ever create.” Organizations that embrace artificial intelligence (AI) now will succeed in the future. When done successfully, these companies are taking transformation beyond digital, revolutionizing all aspects of their business.
Picking up on the now-present reality of the cognitive revolution, and the augmentation of brands that this will bring, let’s consider the steps to take in order to become a truly augmented organization. But first, what do we mean by “augmented organization?” These organizations are digitally transformed and have applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) to various functions in their business that enhance their departments, internal experiences, decisions, and processes. This was the topic of conversation at Converge New York, and as our Co-founder and CEO Martín Migoya explains it, there are 3 fundamental steps to excel as augmented organizations.
The 3 key steps to augmented organizations’ success
These organizations also experience advanced capabilities in driving efficiency, reach, and innovation. How to get in on that? Here are the key steps.
Step 1: Unique vision
As we found in a recent study, less than a third of companies currently living out their transformations consider their digital maturity to be cutting edge. As brands, it’s important to keep the focus on the things that made us who we are. Not just that the brand is a sum of its various departments and disciplines, but that all of those individuals are moving in the same direction for the same cause. In our case, that’s getting together innovation, engineering, and design and making it scale.
A unique vision is something people can get behind. It positions an organization to experience success in the digital era. And it makes all the difference.
Step 2: Autonomous culture
As Martín put it, just flip the org chart. Leaving behind a command-and-control style brings autonomy.
If you’re really looking to harness the innovation that all areas of your organization are sure to have, reconceptualize your role. As business leaders, your strength and responsibility lie in serving to support the teams that are closest to your clients. At Globant this takes the form of our Agile PODs model.
“There’s one thing that has changed the quality of our delivery: autonomy.”
–Martín Migoya–
Another factor in the autonomous culture step: culture. This takes serious attention, strategy, and curation. In the interest of augmented organizations, Guibert Englebienne (CTO and Co-founder of Globant) has pointed out the importance of driving diversity and inclusion in culture.
It also has to do with embracing digital in order to drive a brand’s culture. As we found in another recent study, it’s more essential than ever for business leaders not to underestimate the role of relationships, recognition, technology, feedback, and consistency with company values.
In the same study, 74% of respondents indicated that they are open to using technology to build stronger relationships with coworkers if these solutions look like the ones they’re using in their personal lives. The way we embrace technology stands to make or break the employee experience.
These factors directly influence brands, and augmented organizations stand the chance to really drive this change.
Step 3: Disrupting with AI
Applying AI to each key process in an organization really brings performance and innovation to a whole new level. Augmented Globant focuses on augmenting code and culture, among other processes.
Those present at Converge got a sneak peek into how Globant lives this reality. Experiencing Augmented Coding, attendees got to understand what it means and looks like. It was clear to the audience how Globant is using AI to augment capabilities and revolutionize the software development industry.
Anytime brands do apply AI to core processes, it must originate from their ethics. From the get-go, Globant has been clear on its intentions with AI. Our AI Manifesto came first, and influences every decision related to augmenting the organization more. As Flynn Coleman made clear at Converge, “we can’t only trust algorithms to solve our problems. We have to use moral guidance as well.” We couldn’t agree more.
Embracing AI is the third step to succeeding in this digital and cognitive jungle. It is currently what is accelerating and improving the quality of what we offer.
Success despite all challenges
Navigating these three steps isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but it is fast becoming one of the most essential. After all, being known and appreciated as an augmented organization depends on the technology that bolsters your most central processes. As we found in our recent client study, AI is one of the technologies most worth the investment right now; it’s part of the foundation of every modern business.
If you find yourself wondering about the other key areas to which your organization could apply AI, check out our Trends Report Special Edition on Augmented Organizations. At the very least, make sure you’re on the right path to becoming one of these organizations by comparing where you measure up against the 3 steps to succeed in the jungle.
#GlobantCONVERGE In order to “Succeed in the Jungle,” @migoya suggests 3 steps. pic.twitter.com/LByYulCIZy
— Globant (@Globant) 6 de noviembre de 2019
