For the second time in a week, a Not for Profit client has asked me about implementing AI within their organisation.
There were no clear objectives or problems to solve. They just thought they needed to do something. After all, that’s all they hear about from their Boards, peers and conferences.
Interestingly, this pressure is NOT coming from the people their mission serves.
So, do they really need an AI strategy?
AI is already in the workplace
A recent Microsoft study said that 75% of all knowledge workers are using AI in the workplace.
The real questions then are:
- How are they using it?
- Are they putting your organisation at risk by doing so?
For the first part of an AI strategy, I would always recommend two actions to address these questions:
- Ensure you have an “Acceptable Use of AI Policy” in place. This can be part of your existing “Acceptable use of IT” policies.
- Send out a survey to staff, ensuring them that they will NOT get in trouble for answering honestly.
Ideally, the new policy and survey should be going out together.
How are staff using AI now?
From my conversations with various organisations, Not for Profit staff are mostly experimenting with AI rather than fully embracing it.
The few super users tend to use AI now for content generation. This can be for social media posts, lengthy emails, first-draft documents, or image generation.
They may also be using it for research instead of scrolling through pages of search results.
There are many, many other ways to use AI, but the most common motivator for using it is increased productivity.
As your existing software applications add AI functionality, you can guarantee an even greater level of staff adoption, but at a financial cost. As an example, Microsoft Copilot Pro license is an additional ~AU$600 more per user/year.
Should your Not for Profit have an AI strategy?
Given the potential productivity gains of AI, should your organisation have an AI strategy?
Personally, I’d rather develop a strategy around a problem or goal rather than a tool i.e. AI.
If the goal is for innovation in the delivery of your services, AI may just be one of the many options that can be used in reaching it.
If you have a specific problem you are trying to address, such as the significant number of manual processes in your organisation, once again, AI may be one of the tools that can be used to address it.
Final thoughts about an AI strategy.
AI, by itself, should not be the goal. It is a tool.
Too many executives are throwing out everything they know about strategy when it comes to AI because vendors are cramming it down their throats at every opportunity.
So, if you ask me for an AI strategy, I would rather create a service innovation strategy or to solve a specific problem where AI might be part of the solution.
Please don’t confuse the tool with your desired goals or outcomes.
I regularly help Not for Profits with IT-related strategies. Let me know if you need some help.
P.S. If you found this article helpful, you might want to read these too:
- Should your Not for Profit invest in Microsoft Copilot Pro now?
- Is AI washing the new greenwashing?
- Are you practicing safe AI?
Tammy Ven Dange is a former charity CEO, Association President, Not for Profit Board Member and IT Executive. Today, she helps NFPs with strategic IT decisions, especially around investments.