For Fast Company Executive Board member Ronnie Sheth and her team, AI implementation is a “cultural DNA transformation.”
Businesses are increasingly leveraging AI. According to McKinsey research, AI adoption saw growth throughout 2024, with 78% of respondents indicating that “their organizations use AI in at least one business function.” That’s higher than the 72% McKinsey uncovered in early 2024, and the 55% it uncovered in 2023.
Ronnie Sheth, the founder and CEO of SENEN Group, an international strategic advisory and implementation firm specializing in data and AI-driven transformation for businesses and governments, says that AI usage in the corporate world surged with the rise of GenAI.
“Initially, companies just didn’t want to miss out on the AI trend,” Sheth explains. “But now when companies talk to us, they are less concerned with which product to buy and more concerned with how to successfully, sustainably adopt technologies like AI to unlock value long-term.”
Sheth emphasizes that AI is here to stay, but many organizations in the public and private sectors are grappling with what constitutes “value” in terms of AI.
“A lot of organizations embarked on capitalizing on AI without a clear understanding and definition of value outcomes,” Sheth says. “Now, many of them are revisiting the very concept of value as it relates to AI initiatives.”
TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS FOR THE AI AND DATA SPACE
At SENEN Group, Sheth and her team have observed commonalities in what their clients are facing as they navigate the AI and data space.
Data quality and data diversity remain “at the forefront of the conversation,” according to Sheth.
“At SENEN, over the last few years, we have seen companies try to adopt AI and then backtrack into ‘fixing data,’” she notes. “When we talk to businesses, we find that even though there may be data density, data quality and diversity are lacking.”
That’s a problem, Sheth stresses, for both the private and public sectors.
“Today’s AI output affects tomorrow’s society,” Sheth says. “And data quality is one thing, but the lack of diversity in data has already led to a skewed global data set—the global societal landscape is not accurately represented in data sets across the world. When we talk to governments, this is made even more evident. Imagine governments trying to build healthier societies with imbalanced data—they are leaving out the already underrepresented and underserved cohorts and widening the existing gap that is so evident even today. Same with businesses. The bias in existing data sets has led to judgment errors in industries that have a significant impact on society.”
Additionally, Sheth says that she and her team expect to see companies focus more on generating value from unstructured data.
“AI developments are making it possible to start leveraging previously untapped pools of unstructured data, and we expect its utilization to grow from here on out,” Sheth says.
Another observation Sheth and her team have made is that traditionally, general-purpose AI models that work for a variety of use cases have been commonplace.
However, she notes that some newer players have started disrupting the market with “less computationally intensive, faster, and easier to deploy models for targeted, specific use cases.”
“We are also seeing a shift to open-source models,” Sheth says. “This will be transformational for businesses as they can start taking advantage of AI much faster with considerably lower investment.”
Finally, Sheth and her team are also seeing a trend of some leaders starting to question the ROI of AI initiatives.
“When generative AI was introduced to the market, there was a rush at companies to lead the adoption of AI,” Sheth says. “Now, after investing significant amounts of time and resources into trying to successfully implement enterprise-wide AI initiatives—and many of them failing—a growing number of executives are starting to question the real ROI from these projects.”
HOW SENEN GROUP IS GUIDING ORGANIZATIONS TOWARD STRATEGIC AI AND DATA USAGE
At SENEN Group, Sheth and her team work with organizations in the public and private sectors, guiding them toward strategic AI and data usage. Their differentiator? Their deep AI and data expertise.
“We are not management consultants who have learned data and AI—we are data and AI professionals who are passionate about helping companies turn data and AI into a strategic advantage,” Sheth explains.
Sheth and her team take a pragmatic approach to their work. They focus on helping organizations achieve their strategic goals more efficiently with data and AI.
“Companies already have a good idea of where they may be able to leverage data and AI, but what they lack is having an experienced perspective on which goals are truly achievable,” Sheth says. “If a company is implementing AI, what they really need is for someone to bring in a healthy perspective not only on what can be done with AI but what is the ideal way to implement AI, what are the risks, how do you navigate those risks, and how do you get to the maximum value in the shortest time.”
She points to a client her team worked with that wanted to improve its overall customer satisfaction scores. The client had implemented chatbots in the hopes that they would save customers time. But it didn’t go as planned.
“The client’s customer satisfaction scores dropped even more,” Sheth says.
Sheth and her team stepped in—and got the company on the right track.
LOOKING AHEAD
Sheth stresses that AI implementation is more than an “IT project.”
“It is a cultural DNA transformation; it is a political and emotional dance where harmony is demanded,” Sheth says. “So while we can rattle off amazing metrics such as improving data quality or helping clients achieve data and AI literacy, our greatest impact doesn’t shout, it whispers. The pivotal impact moment for us is when we can get everyone aligned and working toward the same goals—because for almost every organization, this, by far, is the hardest thing.”
Sheth explains that the data and AI space is rapidly evolving, and that ultimately, organizations need expertise that helps them keep up with changes while remaining rooted in the fundamentals.
“Organizations shouldn’t be getting lost in the chaos of constant change and disruption,” Sheth says. “Real, sustainable transformation with data and AI comes from homing in on what the business needs to gain a long-term strategic advantage. That’s what SENEN focuses on, and that’s where our clients’ success comes from. If we can continue to help global enterprises and governments unlock the power of data and AI in a human-centric fashion, we are doing right by our clients, by our partners, and by society.”