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A yr in the past, our firm made a daring transfer. We put up one million {dollars} in prize cash for any of our crew members—irrespective of their function—who got here up with transformative methods of utilizing AI to serve our shoppers. As a well being advertising and marketing company, we noticed it as our model of the famend XPRIZE, hoping that this initiative would really spark significant change and encourage us to suppose greater for our shoppers.
Full-steam forward on AI adoption
We additionally regarded to historical past to information us with situations that confirmed hesitation was the enemy of progress, and that the best dangers weren’t in considering too massive—however too small. Take the arrival of electrical energy. When electrification emerged within the late nineteenth century, it took a long time for factories to exchange their steam engines. Early adopters merely swapped out steam energy for an electrical motor, maintaining the identical layouts and processes. They failed to understand that it was a possibility to remodel workflows and drastically enhance efficiencies. They needed to go massive. Assume massive. And so did we, now that the AI revolution was at our doorstep.
Earlier than we launched the million-dollar contest, we appointed AI coaches to information our folks on the adoption of AI instruments. We made them obtainable to anybody on the lookout for assist figuring out and operational ache factors that AI may remedy. Our “navigators” provided workshops, one-on-one tutorials, and casual chats on matters like find out how to offload repetitive duties, experiment with AI in day-to-day work, or provide you with solely new methods of doing issues. Inside weeks, we began seeing venture managers utilizing AI for useful resource planning and copywriters testing content material drafts.
Launching the million-dollar problem
With the gears on AI adoption now turning, we unveiled the million-dollar worker contest inviting anybody, from administrative assistants to senior leaders, to submit an thought on how AI may streamline workflows, deal with consumer wants, or allow solely new product strains. We collected over 500 submissions that touched virtually each side of the enterprise. To get real-world suggestions and validation, we assembled a crew of senior government judges from main life sciences firms like Bristol Myers Squibb, Genentech, Lilly, Novartis, and Pfizer. They evaluated proposals for his or her feasibility, market differentiation, and potential to remodel processes.
One of many frequent threads we took within the profitable submissions was how AI can work hand in hand with human experience. The grand prize-winning submission was each progressive and sensible: a pharmaceutical compliance device that proactively critiques advertising and marketing claims as they’re created, lowering evaluate workloads for consumer medical, regulatory, and authorized groups. The device ensures alignment with FDA tips and model prescribing data, releasing our inside regulatory specialists to deal with strategic and relationship-building actions. This human-plus-AI hybrid method underscored all of the profitable concepts; a number of of the concepts we developed into prototypes, together with three which have already been rolled out to shoppers.
The electrification of the fashionable office
Like within the daybreak of the economic revolution, firms can’t simply change the “steam engines” of present workflows. All the system, from how every particular person is empowered to make use of AI to how departments change knowledge, must be reimagined. For any chief seeking to speed up AI adoption, listed here are 5 key takeaways from our expertise:
- Begin by empowering people. Present accessible instruments, navigators, or coaches so anybody can experiment with AI.
- Bake actual incentives into the method. Whether or not it’s a prize competitors, recognition, or particular budgets, give staff a cause to step ahead with daring concepts.
- Make investments past the preliminary fanfare. Turning ideas into prototypes requires time, sources, and management help. It’s not sufficient to supply a money prize.
- Pair AI with human oversight. AI can automate duties, however sound judgment, moral and strategic considering should come out of your folks.
- Encourage, don’t mandate. Change administration works greatest when folks really feel possession. Present them the potential, then allow them to drive.
Right this moment, AI is integral to our each day operations, enhancing all the pieces from inside communications to consumer deliverables. Our folks didn’t simply undertake new instruments—they helped reshape our tradition.
Our problem confirmed our those who AI is an amplifier, not a magic bullet. It could possibly deal with heavy lifting—scanning knowledge, producing first drafts, and automating mundane processes—so we people can deal with what actually issues: creativity, empathy, strategic downside fixing. It’s precisely how Henry Ford rethought the manufacturing unit: When you see the brand new prospects, you’ll be able to’t return to steam energy.
Leerom Segal is cofounder and chairman of Klick Well being and Klick Utilized Sciences.
