- The three areas that CSOs should consider applying AI to in their organizations.
- How organizations can build strong data infrastructure that supports AI and enables responsible innovation.
- Practical steps for CSOs to stay informed and strategically engaged with AI without needing deep technical expertise.
Key questions covered in this podcast episode:
- (3:48) What should strategy leaders and organizations be paying attention to with relation to AI right now?
- (5:33) Have you perceived any changes in how organizations are preparing for the future?
- (7:50) What actions should organizations take right now?
- (9:46) How do you invest with all these factors in play at the same time?
- (16:13) What’s the maturity stage of organizations that are looking to make AI investments?
- (17:54) What should be the role of the chief strategy officer in making strategic AI investments?
- (21:30) How are you educating your organization to make better decisions about technology?
- (24:25) How can organizations better understand the possibilities for a future they can’t see yet?
- (29:20) Sometimes when a new technology is introduced, it becomes easy to copy. Do you think we will see that with AI?
- (33:17) What advice do you recommend for strategy leaders?
Keep Strategy Top of Mind
AI doesn’t fundamentally alter organizational strategy—rather, it provides new ways to execute and realize value. As Kelker noted, “The strategy is the strategy. Maybe what AI does is give you more ways of executing it or more ways for value creation.” This perspective helps CSOs maintain focus amid the AI hype cycle.
Three Critical Investment Areas
Kelker outlined three essential buckets that organizations are focused on for AI investment:
- Customer touchpoints: Examining opportunities before, during, and after sales interactions
- Value-based offerings: Leveraging unique data assets to create competitive advantages
- Operational excellence: Improving internal efficiency and effectiveness
One often overlooked aspect of AI implementation is the foundational infrastructure required. Kelker emphasized, “There is no AI without IA (information architecture).” Currently, organizations typically spend 80% of their AI budget on information architecture and data, with only 20% going to AI itself.
“Companies that don't embrace AI will fall behind, but those that rush in without flexibility risk building tomorrow’s legacy systems today.” – Knapp
The Chief Strategy Officer’s Evolving Role
For chief strategy officers, the panel highlighted several critical responsibilities:
- Strategic Alignment: Maintaining the organization’s focus on its existing strategy while evaluating AI opportunities
- Education: Ensuring appropriate AI literacy across different organizational levels
- Balance: Managing diverse perspectives, from AI enthusiasts to skeptics
- Risk Management: Creating safe spaces for experimentation while protecting core operations
Practical Implementation Approaches
The experts advocated for a measured, thoughtful approach to AI implementation:
- Create Sandboxed Environments: As Sheppard noted, “Trust is hard to earn, easy to lose, and even harder to get back.” Organizations should establish controlled environments for experimentation before large-scale deployments.
- Develop Clear Guidelines: Establish an ethics board with cross-departmental representation to create clear guidelines for AI usage and data handling.
- Focus on Augmentation: Rather than replacement, focus on how AI can augment existing capabilities and empower employees to be more effective.
Maturity and Scaling Considerations
Most enterprises have already conducted AI experiments, but scaling successful pilots presents new challenges. Organizations typically seek external guidance when moving from successful experiments to enterprise-wide implementation, particularly when confronting unexpected costs and architectural requirements.
Building Organizational Readiness
The panel emphasized the importance of preparing the organization for AI integration:
- Tiered Education: Create targeted training programs for different organizational levels
- Cultural Preparation: Build employee comfort and trust with AI tools
- Ethical Framework: Establish clear boundaries and guidelines for AI usage
- Data Strategy: Determine optimal balance between centralized and decentralized data management
"We’re experimenting with generative AI to draft initial reports—letting our team add the final insights. It’s about augmenting, not replacing, and making time for what humans do best.” – Sheppard
Looking Forward
As organizations navigate the AI landscape, CSOs must maintain a balanced perspective between innovation and practical implementation. Success requires careful consideration of infrastructure requirements, clear ethical guidelines, and strategic alignment with core business objectives.
The experts emphasized that while AI represents a significant transformation in how organizations operate, the fundamental strategic questions around any new technology remain the same: How does this serve our customers? How does this align with our core mission? How does this create sustainable competitive advantage?
By maintaining this strategic focus while carefully evaluating AI opportunities, CSOs can help their organizations navigate the complex landscape of AI investment and implementation effectively.
Episode Guest Bios
Ed Knapp is the corporate CTO for American Tower. He is responsible for leading the company’s strategy, global innovation program, and technology investments. Prior to joining American Tower in 2017, as Senior Vice President of Engineering at Qualcomm, Knapp was responsible for their New Jersey Corporate Research Center from which he managed a diverse engineering team with researchers and product engineering staff across India, Israel and the US. He has more than 38 years of communications technology experience with over 30 years invested in the development of the global wireless industry from 1G to 5G, including CxO leadership roles in 3 start-ups. He received a master’s of business administration from Columbia University, his master’s of science degree in electrical engineering from Polytechnic University (NYU) in New York, and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Stony Brook University. Professional Board and Advisory Affiliations: CAR (Center for Automotive Research); AST SpaceMobile; Ciena 5G; Harman TAC; Rutgers Engineering ECE – Industry Advisory Board.
Joanne Sheppard is a non-executive director and advisor for strategy, digital transformation, new technologies, innovation and data at Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. She is the former SVP of Strategy and Investments for the organization. She sits on the board of directors for two biotech companies and the advisory board for a £100m+ tech company.
Prashant Kelker is Chief Strategy Officer of ISG and a member of the ISG Executive Board (IEB). He was appointed Chief Strategy Officer in 2018, responsible for developing the firm’s three-year strategic blueprint, and he was instrumental in the development of our highly successful ISG NEXT operating model in 2020.
In January 2023, he was named to the expanded role of Partner, Americas Consulting, bringing together all advisory capabilities in the region to support commercial and public sector clients in response to the growing convergence of digital technology and enterprise operating models, business processes and revenue-generating connected products and services. Kelker joined ISG in 2012 from Accenture, initially based in Germany. He earned his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore and a BE in electronics from Bangalore University in India.
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