Build a Strategic AI Roadmap

Organizations feel pressured to implement AI solutions without taking a holistic look at how AI can benefit them, what safeguards are needed, whether they have the skills and capacity to support it, and where the AI solutions are feasible.
There are significant risks to developing or adopting AI technology, such as a low return on investment, lack of transparency, and threats to reputation and trust, privacy and security, and inclusiveness.
Despite playing a significant role in organizations, HR is being left out of the conversation on AI adoption.

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Our Advice

Critical Insight

The resurgence of AI has led organizations to consider adopting it to help automate tasks and processes. The success of organizations in leveraging AI hinges on their ability to develop a comprehensive strategy aligned with their AI maturity level, organizational value drivers, and objectives to maximize value while mitigating risks.

Impact and Result

Organizational leaders must come together to determine the AI vision, mission, and values and how AI can support the organization’s value drivers, objectives, and initiatives to ensure success.
Organizations must consider the current state of AI maturity and the desired future state to improve AI maturity and enable the most success from AI investments.
HR must collaborate with organizational leaders to build an AI strategic roadmap that aligns maturity initiatives and AI use cases with the organization’s value drivers, goals, and initiatives to maximize value, mitigate risks, and prepare the organization for the future.

Build a Strategic AI Roadmap Research & Tools

1. Establish AI strategy scope

Establish the scope of the AI strategy and its vision, mission, and values.

2. Assess AI maturity and identify maturity initiatives

Assess AI maturity and develop maturity initiatives to address the gap between the current and ideal state.

3. Identify AI use cases

Explore AI use cases and connect them to organizational goals and value drivers.

4. Prioritize initiatives and create an AI strategy roadmap

Build an AI strategy roadmap to visualize prioritized initiatives and use cases and communicate the roadmap and next steps.

Workshop: Build a Strategic AI Roadmap

Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

Module 1: Pre-Workshop: Understand the Organizational Strategy and AI Adoption

The Purpose

Prepare necessary information for the workshop.

Key Benefits Achieved

Current state of organizational strategy and strategic organizational initiatives identified
Current state of AI capabilities identified
Participants scheduled

Activities

Outputs

1.1

Review documented organizational strategy and strategic business initiatives.

Organizational strategy and strategic business initiatives

1.2

Understand the current state of AI capabilities.

1.3

Schedule participants.

Workshop schedule

1.4

Complete pre-work.

Module 2: Establish Scope of AI Strategy

The Purpose

Outline the AI strategy and responsible AI guiding principles.

Key Benefits Achieved

A foundational understanding of AI
Industry-specific opportunities/risks.
A strategic direction through the AI mission, vision, and values and responsible AI guiding principles

Activities

Outputs

2.1

Provide foundational understanding of AI, industry-specific opportunities/risks.

Organizational value drivers, objectives, and initiatives

2.2

Develop vision and mission statements for the AI-enabled organization.

AI vision and mission statements

2.3

Develop value statements for the AI strategy.

AI values statements

2.4

Articulate responsible AI guiding principles.

Responsible AI guiding principles

Module 3: Assess AI Maturity and Develop Maturity Initiatives

The Purpose

Assess the current and target states of AI maturity, identify gaps, and develop maturity initiatives to bridge the gaps.

Key Benefits Achieved

AI maturity initiatives identified

Activities

Outputs

3.1

Assess the current and desired levels of AI maturity and conduct a gap analysis.

Maturity assessment

3.2

Brainstorm and develop AI maturity initiatives.

List of maturity initiatives

Module 4: Identify AI Use Cases and Prioritize AI Use Cases and Maturity Initiatives

The Purpose

Identify AI organizational use cases and prioritize AI use cases and maturity initiatives.

Key Benefits Achieved

AI use cases identified and prioritized
AI maturity initiatives prioritized

Activities

Outputs

4.1

Identify AI use cases.

List of AI use cases

4.2

Prioritize maturity initiatives and AI use cases.

Prioritized list of AI use cases and maturity initiatives

4.3

Develop one-pagers for AI use cases and maturity initiatives.

One-pagers for AI use cases and maturity initiatives

Module 5: Develop an AI Roadmap

The Purpose

Develop a timeline and roadmap for addressing AI maturity initiatives and implementing or piloting AI use cases.

Key Benefits Achieved

AI roadmap
Communication and action plan
AI strategy presentation

Activities

Outputs

5.1

Develop an AI roadmap.

AI roadmap (Gantt chart)

5.2

Determine next steps and communication approach.

Communication and action plan

5.3

Present AI roadmap to executive leadership team.

Preliminary AI strategy presentation

About McLean & Company

McLean & Company is an HR research and advisory firm providing practical solutions to human resources challenges via executable research, tools, diagnostics, and advisory services that have a clear and measurable impact on your business.

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your HR problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

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Get the help you need in this 4-phase advisory process. You'll receive 12 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.

Guided Implementation 1: Establish AI strategy scope

Call 1: Identify key individuals and establish a cross-functional steering committee. Review organizational goals and initiatives through the organization’s value drivers.
Call 2: Develop AI vision statement, draft an AI mission statement, and create AI value statements.
Call 3: Develop responsible AI guiding principles and discuss broader AI governance considerations.

Guided Implementation 2: Assess AI maturity and identify AI maturity initiatives

Call 1: Explore AI dimensions and their relation to AI maturity. Assess AI maturity and set target maturity for each component.
Call 2: Describe the gaps and develop maturity initiatives.

Guided Implementation 3: Identify AI use cases

Call 1: Brainstorm ideas for AI use cases. Review the organization’s capability map to help brainstorm potential use cases.
Call 2: Record use cases under each value driver and identify challenges and opportunities for each. Map the use cases by connecting them to organizational value drivers and initiatives.

Guided Implementation 4: Prioritize initiatives and create an AI strategy roadmap

Call 1: Prioritize maturity initiatives and AI use cases.
Call 2: Create one-pagers for prioritized maturity initiatives and use cases.
Call 3: Build the AI strategy roadmap to visualize the prioritized use cases and initiatives.
Call 4: Construct presentations for key individuals and communicate across employee groups.
Call 5: Determine next steps.