\u201cAt the point where I have to replace the legacy system or I\u2019m dead, I have to forget about the earnings,\u201d says Muratovic. \u201cI\u2019ll let the street know it\u2019s going to take huge investments. I\u2019ll have to take a step-function improvement and rearchitect my core enterprise, the data layer, infrastructure layer, and the applications layer, and all the agents that go on top of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The companies that have the most at-risk business models may be more willing to do this, and do it earlier, saying there are CIOs taking more progressive strategies around AI.<\/p>\n
Does AI-first make sense?<\/p>\n
The highest probability and potential to go AI-first are the small, nimble companies that don\u2019t have baggage, says Muratovic. For larger enterprises, he adds, \u201cvery few are brave enough and can afford to go and burn the boats in the world of AI because they\u2019re responsible to shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n
And if the adoption of the internet taught us anything, it\u2019s that slow and steady is sometimes a perfectly fine approach. And not every company or business process that could be replaced by AI should. Or it might be too early for really big projects and large enterprises that can\u2019t turn on a dime.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea of a company on the scale of Insight and taking something like ERP or sales tools and replacing those with AI, that\u2019s a huge undertaking,\u201d says Hughes. \u201cThat\u2019s years and millions of dollars. I don\u2019t know whether the market is quite ready for that yet. You have to make some clear decisions about where you\u2019re going to introduce AI into your technology stack and draw boundaries. That\u2019s probably going to be the way a lot of organizations are able to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n