Gen AI in Focus: How to Strategize in the Era of Technological Evolution

The last couple of years have brought about an exciting technological revolution in the form of Generative AI (Gen AI), representing the next frontier in the evolution of intelligent systems. This shift in AI capabilities opens a realm of possibilities for businesses, playing a major role in their existence and growth.

Known for being ‘entrepreneurs with a technical soul’, Hatch prides itself on being passionately committed to the pursuit of a better world through positive change. Aiming to ultimately become a digitally mature organization, Hatch is transforming project delivery and business systems, with a strong focus on becoming more data-driven and strategic in their use of Gen AI.

Spearheading this change is Maurice Tayeh, Global Chief Information Officer, driving innovation through disruptive technology and understanding how it will impact business growth and meet their clients’ needs. Ahead of his keynote presentation on ‘Driving Innovation through Disruptive Gen AI Technology’ at the Connected Worker Summit in Houston, from 22-26 April, we spoke with Maurice about the disruptive impact of Generative AI and what leaders can do to effectively strategize and realize its potential. 

Maryam Irfan, IQPC: To start, could you give us an overview of what your role as global CIO at Hatch entails?

Maurice Tayeh: As the Global CIO, I oversee several teams within the organization starting with IT Operations including the service desk, networking, communications, cloud services, and extending to cybersecurity, application development and support. My responsibilities also cover interfacing with our business leaders and our BoD, including our IT Governance Board (Systems Committee).

Maryam Irfan, IQPC: Can you tell us a little about Gen AI technologies and what they mean for businesses in 2024 and beyond?

Maurice Tayeh: The easiest way to perceive Gen AI is to accept its role as the next fundamental evolution of technology. For Hatch, we've undergone a major Digital Transformation of our systems with requisite data over the past few years that has positioned us well to enable the next wave of technologies including data analytics/data mining, automation, and Gen AI. While this gives us a solid foundation, the question now is, where do we go from here? 

The applicability of Gen AI into our business depends heavily on two main elements:  

1. A solid foundation of systems and clean data, and more importantly
2. The imagination of business leaders on how best to leverage such technology in addressing their challenges and identifying opportunities.  

Maryam Irfan, IQPC: In which industries do you foresee the most significant impact of Gen AI and how do you think companies can maximize this potential?

Maurice Tayeh: I believe there isn't a particular industry that won't be impacted. Gen AI applications are advancing in all areas of our business.  For Hatch, Gen AI applications will be leveraged in various areas including Energy, Mining, and Infrastructure. Each industry will be affected. The limit is, frankly, the imagination of what people can do with such technology. Businesses now play a much bigger role with their IT partners.

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Gen AI can both help and harm, so we as an organization must be vigilant with having policies in place to ensure it meets both a business and ethical standard.

Maryam Irfan, IQPC: How do you envision Gen AI contributing to the development of a data-driven culture within various industries?

Maurice Tayeh: Gen AI will force companies to place a significant emphasis on behaviors that affect data. Without clean and quality data, the effectiveness of Gen AI applications will be minimized, and in some cases be adverse. Such shortcoming will compel companies to prioritize data practices to fully leverage the potential of Gen AI. Clean data management practices are a crucial, cultural enabling steps in avoiding negative consequences of any Gen AI implementation while ensuring they are a part of the culture will help to maximize its capabilities.

Maryam Irfan, IQPC: What strategies or frameworks should companies consider when deploying Gen AI across their business? 

Maurice Tayeh: The strategies for implementing Gen AI are extensive. While technology is an obvious focus, there's an important need to prioritize the establishment of governance principles. First and foremost, it's important to define what AI means to an organization and how such technology will be used and managed by its users. 

In Hatch’s case, we went through a due diligence process prior to initiating Gen AI initiatives. We’ve created a set of AI governance principles with a clear charter, vision, and guidelines.  This diligence creates a framework for when, where, and how to employ Gen AI within our business. Once the framework is in place, attention can be directed towards relative business cases and the appropriate AI technologies to be used. Determining appropriate business cases is crucial as early success will drive future curiosity and capability. 

My advice to our executives is to select uncomplicated business cases to start. By deploying simple copilots to assist our end-user base with their day-to-day activities and useful management of our systems, it enables an enriched understanding of the technology as well as upskilling the workforce. Many organizations lack skilled resources required for development and deployment.

Once users have gained a comfortable familiarity with Gen AI applications, an organization can shift the focus to more complex, and aspirational applications – applications that can truly make a difference. 

In short, Gen AI, on its own, is another tool. The key emphasis is on creating an environment to enable such technology to enhance productivity, performance, and overall work quality. 

Maryam Irfan, IQPC: You mentioned having developed a set of AI governance principles. Can you elaborate on that a little?

Maurice Tayeh: Let me share a couple of key considerations. For instance, it's imperative for Hatch to ensure that decisions are always made by humans to start this journey.  We won't let Gen AI autonomously make decisions regarding our engineering work. Gen AI applications are enablers, but at this point Gen AI won't deliver a final deliverable to our clients and / or partners based solely on automated decisions.  It is our fundamental starting point.

Another important aspect to focus on is delineating the boundaries between Gen AI’s positive and negative relevance. At Hatch, we’ve categorized this into three main areas: benefit for the business, benefits for the employees, and benefits for the community. 

WATCH: Scaling the Adoption of Generative AI Across Enterprises

Maryam Irfan, IQPC: Given Gen AI’s disruptive nature, what are the biggest challenges companies need to prepare for and how can they effectively mitigate those challenges during implementation?

Maurice Tayeh: Besides the traditional technology challenges, we must ensure that a good AI Charter is established, including a clear strategy and vision. Next, business cases need to be identified with good return on investment (ROI) and KPIs. Lastly, a capable technology team, including a good education program, needs to be established.  Anything less will add to the challenges of our business and unfortunately waste good resources. 
 
Maryam Irfan, IQPC: What should digital leaders be prioritizing in terms of skill development or strategic vision or more, keeping in mind the current landscape?

Maurice Tayeh: Strategic vision for disruptive technologies like Gen AI does not occur often, it is a generational step change.  Acknowledging this facilitates the implementation of our strategy and the prioritization of the activities that follow. From there, we determine the governance framework, business cases and technology roadmap. 
The second point is related to ‘skill development’. In short, skill development needs go beyond the development team and include a broader range of people in the business to truly harness the maximum capabilities of disruptive technologies.  This is a significant shift, and another example of the growing partnership between IT and the business.

Maryam Irfan, IQPC: So, in your opinion, what comes first?

Maurice Tayeh: The strategy and vision come first. If we don't have the backing of our most senior leaders, the potential is limited. Once the ownership and support at the top is secured, we can then develop the technology, map out the path for the business and include the education component to enhance the skill sets of everyone in the organization.

Maryam Irfan, IQPC: What are you most looking forward to at this year’s Connected Worker Summit?

Maurice Tayeh: I believe that listening to what others are thinking and engaging in discussions is perhaps the most crucial aspect for me. When I participate in conferences, my primary interest is to explore what others are planning and to learn from their experiences.

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Interested in learning more?

Join Maurice Tayeh and 300 of your peers at The Connected Worker Houston Summit, from April 23-26, for a cross-industry exploration of the challenges faced by digital plant and field leaders, and develop an action plan to leverage data driven technologies to connect your workforce to tactical, operational and strategic processes. Download the agenda for more information.