By its very nature, the world of digital transformation is fast-paced and ever evolving. This has been heightened in recent years, with AI systems and tools being developed and adopted at a rate so rapid, it’s little wonder businesses have struggled to keep up.
Faced with a bewildering range of options, and needing to find solutions which tackle their specific challenges whilst providing a return on their investment, de Novo’s clients have turned to us as their guides through not only the decision-making process, but onwards into implementation, maintenance and upgrading phases.
All of which means the de Novo technologists needed to get to grips with AI and its intricacies quickly and effectively. Principal Innovation Consultant Katie Quantrill was the specialist chosen to lead the AI Enablement roll-out, ably supported by a team including award-winning apprentice Marina Parry-Jones. Here, they discuss their approach to AI and how it’s benefitting clients:
Talk us through the process that’s been happening behind the scenes at de Novo?
Katie: “We knew that clients wanted to implement AI, but there was almost a fear of it, or at the very least concerns around how that process of choosing and then adopting works. The term AI covers such a broad range of technology, that it can be really difficult to discern what you need as a business and how to implement the applications available from Oracle. We knew the best way for us to be able to advise clients was to have tried it out ourselves first, so we began by adopting AI within our own systems.
“Through this process and the extensive research and internal training we’ve all undertaken, it’s given us a really good understanding of what’s available, how it works, and what challenges it can help to solve.”
Marina: “It’s important to be able to share the information in an easy to digest way, not only for the de Novo team but for our clients too. So, we created an inventory of resources, including training guides and handbooks, that are designed to share the information in an understandable way. The resources really focus on the benefits of each application, and what situations they’d be useful in, so that clients can easily see what would be helpful within their business.”
What’s the process when a client comes to you and says they’d like to implement AI in their HR, Payroll, Procurement or Finance functions?
Katie: “We never want to implement AI just because. There has to be a solid business case – so we’d work with them to understand their pain points, and then we can map out which applications would be best to help them overcome these challenges. Our resources will show them how the whole project will flow and ultimately what they can expect to gain from using the applications they decide to adopt.
“If clients come to us with a specific problem, because we’ve implemented the AI within our own systems, we already have that knowledge there to be able to advise them what route to go down, which helps us quickly and effectively identify the way forward.”
Marina: “When we created the resources including inventories and training videos, the focus was always around the actual benefit to the organisation. For example, there are some Oracle applications which may have been designed with bigger companies in mind, but we’d look at how it could be adapted to support a smaller client with a specific challenge. We needed to understand everything ourselves thoroughly to then pass that knowledge on to the clients.”
What are some of the biggest challenges around AI?
Katie: “The sheer pace at which everything is developing is of course a challenge for organisations, because they’re facing pressure to implement AI while also still having to complete all the other elements of their job. It’s not just about implementation either, there are the ongoing considerations around training, and the responsibility for the technical support going forward.”
Marina: “With some of the complex elements, it’s been important for us to learn all of it ourselves, but then present it to the clients in a way that’s easy to understand, highlighting the valuable information. We always want to be honest with clients about the benefits, limitations, and ongoing technical support needed for each aspect of AI, and that requires us to have all of that knowledge ourselves first. By implementing AI into our own processes, we’ve also been able to see first-hand how it works in practice.”
Click here to find out more about our AI Enablement services, which cover adoption of Generative and Conversational, Predictive, and Agentic Oracle AI.