Artificial Intelligence Consulting: What Are the Typical Activities?

So, you've (finally) overcome your skepticism regarding it: artificial intelligence does have the potential to propel your business right into the future! To drive productivity, enhance efficiency and flexibility and, overall, to transform your brand from the ground up. But how do you know what AI technology to go with? What are the AI use cases perfectly suited for your own business? And this is where artificial intelligence consulting comes in!

An AI consultant/AI consulting company's role is precisely that of answering all your questions and pointing out to you the right AI approach, the AI-powered solution(s) suitable for your own business:
 

1. Which artificial intelligence technologies should you integrate (according to your industry, specific challenges and opportunities, data & analytics capabilities, tech know-how, growth plans, budget etc.)?
2. Which are the most valuable AI use cases for your own company?
3. What is the current and future potential of AI?
    

And now let's talk facts, shall we? Let's see what are the typical artificial intelligence consulting activities that such an expert would engage in during your collaboration.
 

But Why Is There An Increasing Demand (and Low Supply) for AI Consultants?

There's an entire cause-and-effect circuit here, leading to:
 

1. a high demand for AI-powered products
2. too many companies with huge potential that aren't leveraging AI to their/its full potential
    

And why is that? What's behind this intriguing paradox?

Well, studies revealed the following 2 key aspects:
 

1. companies do see all the opportunities deriving from the “do more with less” principle of the AI technologies and they nourish high expectations from AI
2. yet, they're having trouble choosing the right AI services provider/AI product(s) for them
    

The result: too many companies, with significant potential, that aren't leveraging low complexity, high-benefit AI use cases. 

A disappointing reality of an unbelievable potential left unexploited!

Yet, one that artificial intelligence consulting experts can change. 
 

Artificial Intelligence Activities: Developing a Long-Term Strategy

How precisely should you be using artificial intelligence? 

This is the question that your consultant will try to answer while identifying the strategy to be developed. And it all comes down to identifying the AI-centered, business-specific initiatives to implement.

A strategy which he/she won't be able to put in place until he doesn't:
 

1. fully understand your company's current strategy
2. … the specific challenges that you're dealing with
3. … the opportunities opening up for you
4. … and your data & analytics capabilities
    

With the results of his “investigations” at hand and his understanding of AI's present and future potential, your artificial intelligence consultant can “detect” the most valuable AI initiatives for your organization.

Note: a wise enough consultant will suggest you to rethink your existing strategy from the ground up instead of just “tweaking” it to your present AI needs. For some AI technologies might just “take over the future”: 

Just imagine Google translate reaching human-level translation capabilities in 5-10 years!

Hence, you need to future-proof your current strategy, making sure it will still be “relevant” enough to stand... the wind of change blowing its way on a longer term.
 

Artificial Intelligence Consulting Activities: Implementing The Suggested AI Initiatives

During the strategy developing process your consultant will identify a certain number of initiatives to be implemented:
 

• by the AI consulting company itself
• or in-house, by your team(s)
   

And speaking of such recommended AI-powered activities, let me point out to you a few of the most relevant examples:
 

• project management
• planning
• business processes improving, so they should level up, in terms of efficiency and productivity, to your current AI project
• vendor selecting
• development
   

And even if:
 

• it's in-house implementation that you'll choose (even global tech firms care for their budgets and relying entirely on an AI consulting company for implementation can get costly)
• but your team lacks the tech know-how to implement some pressing initiatives
   

… your consultant can intervene and speed up the implementation process
 

Artificial Intelligence Consulting Activities: Staff Training on the New AI Technologies

Now don't think that such an AI consulting professional will just:
 

• come in
• put together your company profile
• develop an AI-strategy accordingly
• point out to you the initiatives and AI technologies to be implemented and... that's it.
   

Of course that your team will still be lacking the skills and the know-how to properly leverage the suggested new technologies.

And so, it goes without saying that training your staff on the recommended emerging technologies is one of your consultant's key responsibilities. 

“Training” and instilling the right mindset and proper approach to innovation and innovative tools and technologies.
 

Final Word

Artificial intelligence can't go anywhere else but... up. With more products to be launched, more technologies aimed at boosting productivity and enhancing efficiency to emerge.

Hence, the future belongs to those (companies) wise enough to see some powerful advisers in these artificial intelligence consulting experts. And bold enough to implement their advice, as well!