When your board champions AI, will you win the future consumer?

Boards that drive the holistic and transformative adoption of AI can help their organizations own the consumer relationships of the future.

AI is disrupting a wide range of industries and new entrants to markets often realize competitive benefits in comparison to incumbents by their use of AI. At the same time, uncertainty in understanding and adopting AI at scale have placed many traditional consumer products and retail (CPR) organizations at risk of becoming irrelevant, as the way consumers engage with brands fundamentally shifts to embrace new technologies, like AI.

With all the disruptive opportunities AI has the capacity to offer, boards, in particular, need to be able to contextualize the next wave of AI to transform and grow their business. Forward-looking boards are driving their organizations to employ the vast possibilities of AI to influence consumer behavior at scale and entrench early mover advantages. Boards also need to think of how else AI might impact the consumer relationship and play a critical role in making certain that trust in AI is a founding principle.

A look into the future consumer

Consumer engagement is undergoing a sea of change. Consumers who value time more than money are looking at AI to identify brands that reflect their ideals and way of life. Social trends – such as consumers wanting to become “better versions” of themselves or contributing to the betterment of society – present significant opportunities for AI to play a role in meeting these needs. As attitudes toward consumption change, AI can offer brands meaningful ways to promote sustainability or social good and connect with consumers on a deeper level. Conversely, consumers could use AI to steer clear of brands that are not reflective of their values. Boards can influence the role of AI technology in addressing this shift in consumer behaviour.

What’s next for boards?

The potential of AI is enormous, with so much more to come. Only boards that are willing to demonstrate curiosity and interest in the topic can meaningfully engage management on its benefit to the organization in the longer term. Boards need to understand what AI can bring to the table, and help their organizations transform those capabilities to innovate and grow.

Questions for the board to consider:

• Does the board explore and understand how the organization is using AI to create competitive advantage and drive new value?
• Which processes in your organization, when addressed by AI, could have the greatest impact on customer experience? 
• What is the board doing to challenge biases that may appear in the data the organization has collected?
• Has the board challenged management to consider how it might publicly respond to ethical dilemmas and how it can achieve transparency, accountability and ethics with AI use? 
• Has the board reflected on the need for behavioural scientists in the boardroom to design AI services in a human-centric way?