Harnessing the Power of AI – Part 1: Strategy

Artificial intelligence holds great potential for organisations of all kinds. 84 per cent of companies worldwide are convinced of this. And a report by the Office for Technology Assessment noted, even before the release of ChatGPT, that: AI in public administration can help to save time and money, facilitate new forms of interaction between public authorities, citizens and businesses, and support the planning of administrative processes. No organisation can afford to forego these benefits in the long term. Materna has therefore made AI a central component of its corporate strategy. As part of our AI@Materna programme, we systematically introduce all our staff to AI in order to integrate it into the workflows across the entire organisation. And as a trusted adviser to our clients, we provide pioneering support to businesses and public authorities in adapting AI across all specialist areas.

AI as part of the strategy

When Materna places artificial intelligence at the heart of its GRIP2 strategy, this is meant quite literally: the ‘I’ in GRIP2 stands for innovation through the application of AI.

G: AI is relevant as a key technology for substantial growth. AI is set to become an indispensable component of all future business and specialist applications. This is also evidenced by the numerous enquiries from our clients regarding AI-based solutions for all areas of application: the automated generation of personalised quotes with AI support promotes growth, as does improved accessibility to customer service through the use of intelligent chatbots.

R: Retention – that is, retaining skilled staff in the long term – is an increasingly challenging task for businesses and public authorities. Demographic change is reducing the pool of personnel across all specialist areas. Artificial intelligence can relieve employees of monotonous, routine tasks. This gives them more time for meaningful and value-adding tasks, which in turn aligns with the self-image of young professionals in particular and thus also helps to counteract staff shortages.

I: Innovation is the driving force behind economic and social development. And AI is the fuel that accelerates progress towards sustainable solutions for internal and external challenges. Whether it be autonomous driving, smart cities, lifelong learning or digital government: testing AI technologies and building up the associated expertise form the basis for this.

P: Given the shortage of skilled workers and global competition, further growth can only be achieved through increased productivity. The numerous chatbots already in use by companies and public authorities provide an example of increased productivity and more efficient processes through AI. Materna thus enables its staff to search for internal information quickly and easily and provides its developers with AI assistants.

P: This allows us to achieve more for our clients in the same amount of time. Using resources more efficiently saves costs and increases profit. This applies to AI just as it has to many other technological leaps before it. Nevertheless, AI is not always the most cost-effective solution. As an experienced adviser to businesses and public authorities, Materna therefore always looks very closely at where the use of AI is truly worthwhile – both internally and externally.

Once the strategy is clear and AI has been established as a fundamental component of it, the next step is to roll out AI across the organisation. You can find out how to do this and exactly what to bear in mind in the second part of this blog post.

All posts from the blog series “Harnessing the Power of AI”:

Part 1 – Harnessing the Power of AI – Part 1: Strategy
Part 2 – Harnessing the Power of AI – Part 2: Implementation
Part 3 – Harnessing the Power of AI – Part 3: Application Scenarios