Poor decision-making slows things down and can cost corporations millions, not to mention shattered brand reputation. It leads to higher costs, spurned revenue, compliance breaches and unhappy customers – everybody loses out.

While people are an organisation’s most valuable resource, the reality is that they are also expensive and fallible. No matter how experienced the individual, when it comes to decision-making, human error is inevitable. Bias, a lack of data and an inability to juggle probabilities accurately all get in the way.

For most businesses, the status quo – of relying on unscalable and flawed human decision-making – is unsustainable, especially in complex and regulated environments.

If you are starting out on a path to decision automation, an AI-powered decision-making platform is one key way to counter the cost of inconsistent, poor or unscalable decisions.

The sticking point

“Uncertainty holds back innovation”, concluded a recent PwC report that measured the potential of AI-powered solutions in business versus their actual impact thus far.

Becoming an AI enterprise is challenging – businesses are wary of adoption, with increasing pressure to maximise return on investments and reduce the time it takes to integrate new products.

I see time and time again that IT and innovation teams trial AI-powered solutions successfully, but run into problems when trying to implement them into mainstream business operations. One-off solutions, often known as ‘point solutions’, can seem a more attractive prospect to companies looking for an immediate, function-specific fix without having to consider the all-important bigger picture and possible exponential value it could bring to other parts of the business.

So AI-powered trials often get stuck on innovation budgets, with companies reluctant to take them any further.
This sticking point need not occur if the pilot or trial is conducted with the endgame in mind. If the solution needs to ultimately work across the business, select your trial software with that in mind and engage strategic stakeholders (from compliance, legal, IT and procurement) early

The power of platforms

In the words of a Forrester analyst in Computer Weekly, “to shift your tool decision-making from tactical to strategic, you need to select vendors that address today’s needs while satisfying an architectural vision for the future”.

To be able to scale in the future and grow with your business, a platform that can operate successfully across your organisation is key.

This is especially important when choosing to automate decision-making. Last year, a survey of over 300 C-suite executives suggested that decision making in many businesses could be fundamentally improved – 42% said their decisioning was slow, and only 32% rated their organisations highly effective in delivering timely and relevant information to decision makers. Point solutions can’t solve these enterprise wide problems.

So what’s my one key way to fight the cost of poor decisions? Select a software platform, not a niche solution, that can run the course for your organisation. Select your trial with the end in mind.