It’s 2024 and 82% of businesses are exploring AI tools. But just 12% of companies have reached an AI maturity model that drives significant business growth, or achieves digital marketing transformation. So, how can your business move beyond the experimental stage and start achieving AI maturity? We spend a little bit of time today figuring it out for you.
What is AI maturity?
First things first, let’s set out a few definitions.
Adolescent AI
Most businesses are dabbling with AI. They might be using ChatGPT, or a chatbot for their customer service. Let’s call this stage adolescent AI use. AI is being applied in relatively simple ways without fully integrating it into their operations. It’s not mature or deeply embedded yet, but they’re testing its potential, learning as they go. It’s like the early stages of growth, where businesses are just beginning to understand how to harness AI, with a lot of room for development.
Mature AI
AI maturity, on the other hand, means AI isn’t just a tool on the side—it’s woven into the core of how a business runs. It’s used to automate complex tasks, improve decision-making, predict trends, and drive innovation. Companies at this stage rely on AI for more than just basic functions. It’s a part of their strategy, helping them to optimise operations, personalise customer experiences, and create new products or services. Instead of experimenting, they’re using AI as a competitive advantage, with systems that learn and evolve over time.
How can I achieve AI maturity?
As you can see from the above definitions, AI maturity isn’t about plugging in new AI software and using it. It’s about reinventing your business processes and integrating AI tools into each stage of business operations. Let’s look at how you can do that to transform your marketing operations.
Step 1 – AI audit
Your team needs to audit its current processes (like customer service workflows, data analytics, sales forecasting, etc.) and assess which can be improved with AI integration. The audit will resemble something like this:
- Customer service workflows: An evaluation of customer service workflows would involve analysing how customer queries are currently handled. This includes looking at response times, the efficiency of support teams, and the effectiveness of existing tools like chatbots or help desks. You’d assess how AI could improve interactions, automate repetitive tasks, and provide personalised support. The goal is to identify bottlenecks, gaps in customer satisfaction, and opportunities for AI to streamline communication and improve the overall experience.
- Data analytics: Examine how your data is collected, processed, and analysed. Are there manual data entry tasks that AI could automate? Could AI help identify patterns, trends, or insights that are being missed? Evaluate how AI could enhance your ability to make data-driven decisions, speed up reporting, and improve the accuracy of your analysis.
- Sales forecasting: Review your current sales forecasting methods. Are you relying on manual inputs or outdated models? Could AI improve accuracy by analysing historical data and identifying trends or patterns? Evaluate how AI could automate forecasting, predict future sales more reliably, and help adjust strategies based on real-time insights.
Other process might include:
- Marketing automation systems
- Supply chain management
- Product development cycles
- Inventory management
- Employee onboarding
- Risk assessment
- Financial reporting
Want help with your AI process audit? Find out how we can help.
Step 2 – AI prioritisation
After auditing, you want to prioritise the areas where AI can have the most immediate or significant impact. This ensures that the business focuses its resources on the highest-value opportunities first.
Chatbots to enhance customer service, and ChatGPT to generate content, tend to be the low-hanging fruit. But – thinking more strategically – consider which processes are critical to your business’ success.
Look at areas where AI can improve efficiency, reduce costs, or drive innovation. Prioritise tasks that, if automated or optimised, would free up resources or create a competitive advantage. Think about scalability too—processes where AI can continue to add value as your business grows.
For example, your marketing team might benefit from AI-driven processes like:
- AI brainstorming (or brainstorming), using tools like Visily for website prototyping or Midjourney for visual concepts
- Automated content creation, using tools like ChatGPT for repetitive tasks like social media posts or short news updates.
- AI for ABM, using tools like Compass for personalised ABM campaigns at scale
- AI-driven video editing, using tools like Pictory for creating short-form video content.
- Predictive lead scoring, using AI tools like Hubspot’s predictive scoring to identify warm leads.
Step 3 – Achieving AI maturity
Implementing and integrating AI tools is where all your groundwork comes to life.
When undertaking AI integration, it’s important to consider:
1. Creating tools tailored to your business, rather than relying on generic solutions, is key. For example, Compass integrates your company’s specific brand guidelines, allowing it to generate content that’s more customised and aligned with your voice than a general tool like ChatGPT. Tailored AI solutions ensure that outputs are not just functional, but truly reflective of your business identity and goals.
2. Integrating AI with existing systems, rather than using it in isolation, is crucial for maximising its value. When AI is fully integrated, it can access and use data from across different platforms—whether it’s your CRM, marketing tools, or financial systems. This allows AI to make more informed decisions, provide deeper insights, and automate processes that span multiple departments. By ensuring that company data flows smoothly across systems, AI can help create a more cohesive, efficient operation, where insights and actions are connected.
3. Promoting a culture of AI adoption goes beyond just implementing the technology—it’s about fostering an environment where employees are encouraged to embrace AI as a valuable tool. Hosting workshops and discovery sessions helps demystify AI, providing teams with hands-on experience and a deeper understanding of its capabilities.
This ensures employees feel confident using AI tools in their day-to-day tasks, seeing them as enablers rather than disruptors. It’s also important to ensure new team members are trained on these tools from the start, embedding AI into the company culture. This proactive approach leads to smoother adoption, higher engagement, and a workforce that’s aligned with the company’s AI-driven vision.
Our expert consultancy helps you transform your marketing with AI-powered operations and achieve tangible business outcomes.
Benefits of an AI maturity model
Achieving AI maturity will transform your organisation from the ground up—for the better.
Strategic integration of AI tools means a few things for your business:
- Projects move faster, especially when AI is used in cross-department workflows (e.g. marketing, sales, customer success).
- Decision-making is sharper, with AI tools making sense of your data. AI can analyse vast amounts of information in real time, uncovering patterns and insights that would be missed by traditional methods.
- AI can be a driving force for your business creatively. It can empower you to create entirely new solutions—like spinning up a fully customised app in days, something that would have been impossible before due to time or resource constraints. It’s not just about efficiency; AI opens up new possibilities, helping your business break through limitations and create offerings that set you apart from the competition.
Here are some key insights you might be interested to learn:
- Business leaders who discuss AI integration on their earnings calls are 40% more likely to see their firm’s share prices increase.
- Nearly a third (30%) of pilot AI integrations are subsequently scaled.
- 63% of businesses are in the experimental (or adolescent) phase of AI, dabbling with the tools and without capabilities to operationalise. But those that achieve maturity unlock new revenue streams and operational efficiencies, setting them apart from competitors.
Start early, scale fast
Just 12% of companies have reached an AI maturity model that drives significant growth. Which means adopters of mature AI are in the minority.
There is incentive to act very quickly – and deeply implement AI solutions to gain a quick ROI. And not just this, but to reinvent processes and operations in your business, and anticipate new ways of doing things, all driven by mature AI.
Like any adolescent, AI is still figuring out its full potential. But it’s getting there. Fast.
Whether you’re just starting to explore AI or aiming to achieve full maturity, our team of experts can guide you through the process, from auditing your current systems to unlocking innovative new solutions. What are you waiting for?
Looking to transform your marketing operations?
At Fifty Five and Five we can help you transform your digital marketing operations with AI.