The rapid pace of AI is causing a measurement crisis.

 

If you work directly with boards and CEO’s, answering reasonable-sounding questions are getting even more complex.

 

I was working with a board on balanced scorecard when one member asked the CIO and CEO – What’s the ROI on this specific AI project?

 

Both the CIO and CEO are brilliant guys. The answer was not readily available, though. Not because the metrics were not there, enough were there.

 

The challenge? The benchmarks that the leadership started the project with are already obsolete. The AI models have literally outgrown them. And that is amazing.

 

A recent Sky News report confirmed what many of us already know: AI is doubling in capability every 7 months. And that pace is accelerating.

 

It’s like trying to measure a rocket ship with a yardstick.

 

The experts are getting nervous with this rapid pace, though. It seems that control is with very few companies, and no active external governance exists as of now.

 

After 22 years in enterprise development, I know from my experience that when technology outpaces our ability to measure it, there is indeed a governance crisis.

 

A governance crisis means flying superfast. That is when the speedometer is no longer the focus; rather, the destination becomes the focus.

 

So, then how to approach this?

 

Stop chasing capability metrics. It’s a losing game. At Mind IT Systems, we guide our clients to focus on 3 simple, outcome-based metrics:

We had a healthcare client, obsessed with which AI model was smarter. They were literally paralysed due to this in their decision-making.

 

We shifted their focus from the AI’s IQ to the hospital’s operational efficiency. They stopped comparing benchmarks and started measuring patient discharge times. Within a few months, they cut discharge process time by 30%.

 

That’s an ROI the board understands. And that is what we build for.

 

So, how are you measuring success when the yardstick changes every 7 months?

Shailendra Gupta
(Co-Founder and CEO of Mind IT Systems)

 

Shailendra is Co-Founder and CEO of Mind IT Systems and is responsible for strategy and business relations.

With around two decades of experience in getting things done in marketing, sales, strategy, delivery, or technology, he has a successful track record of leading startups and mid-size companies and being a prime contributor to stakeholder management, growth, and value creation. A thought leader in the geo-social space, he is highly respected for realizing new paradigms in marketing, solutions, and approaches.