Understanding and leveraging AI for business is essential for success. However, AI can only deliver its full potential with the right leadership and strategies.

We live in an exciting time—the era of AI. It’s clear to everyone that understanding and leveraging AI for business is essential for success. However, AI can only deliver its full potential with the right leadership and strategies.

Ranil Boteju, Chief Data and Analytics Officer (CDAO) at Lloyds Banking Group, is a firm believer in the power of AI, and he recently joined us on the Data & AI Mastery podcast to share his best insights.

Passionate about democratising AI, Ranil believes it’s crucial for everyone—leaders and teams alike—to grasp AI’s potential. In this episode, he shared the five most valuable lessons from his own experience with AI to help you make the most of it in your company.

Build Scalable Foundation

To maximise the potential of AI, it’s crucial to design systems that can scale effortlessly across various teams and departments. As Ranil explains in this episode, Lloyds has laid a strong foundation using generative AI, enabling solutions that can expand alongside the organisation’s evolving needs. This ensures their AI efforts go beyond isolated projects and create lasting value across the entire company. 

He explains, “Our approach at Lloyd's is to ensure that what we're doing is scalable. So, we've built our generative AI foundations, which means that we can start to scale capabilities in a consistent way. We also have really clear architectural principles around whether we build stuff ourselves on our own stack or whether we buy, and we have what we call a control tower mechanism, which is an organisational-wide approach to ensure that wherever you are at Lloyd's Bank, any of the brands, if you want to do an AI use case, it's funnelled through this control tower.”

Don’t Fear Change—Educate for It

When it comes to AI for business, the top priority should be investing in education and upskilling your team. For Ranil and Lloyds, this is a key focus.

He says, “One of the things that I feel quite strongly is, you've got to get your senior leadership to really understand that, to think ‘You know what? My job is to look at how I'm doing things and basically reimagine it in the context of these new technologies, or watch while someone else does that and watch my business shrink.’ And so we're putting in quite a lot of effort and focus on upskilling and training our senior leaders, our business leaders, on reimagine versus augment.”

Focus Your AI Efforts

Instead of trying to do everything at once, focus on the areas that will have the most impact on your business. Ranil and Lloyds have done it as well. They have pinpointed specific areas of focus, such as engineering, customer support tools, back-office automation, etc. This targeted approach helps align AI efforts with the company’s goals. You’ll see the best results when you focus on high-impact areas and prioritise what matters most to your company.

Make AI a Force for Good

AI is not just about making profits but also about making positive change. When AI is used thoughtfully, it can be used to improve customer experiences, automate tedious tasks for employees, and even support social causes. So, ask yourself: How can your company leverage AI to create growth and benefit your customers and community?

Ranil is deeply passionate about the thoughtful use of AI for business, as he believes it has the power to make a meaningful impact.

He says, “I think AI will transform society, but I think there is a role to ensure that we transform it for the better of everyone. And that's, that's what I want to do. The purpose of Lloyd's Bank Group is to help Britain prosper. I want to help Britain prosper with data and AI. What I don't want to do is automate all human work. I don't believe in that. I want to use AI to make our lives better and more enriched.”

Stay Curious and Keep Learning

Finally, if you’re wondering how to stay ahead in such a fast-evolving industry, the secret is to stay curious and keep your finger on the pulse. This is one of the many ways Ranil ensures Lloyds stays successful and continues to lead innovation. 

He says, “For the last 25 years, literally every couple of years, everything changes. And some people were stuck in old ways of doing things. Others kept on learning new things, and they just forced themselves to learn. Whether it's new coding languages, whether it's new techniques, whether it's understanding more data sets, new technologies, or new software packages, they've learned stuff a lot.”

Ultimately, the key to unlocking AI’s potential for business lies in combining innovation with thoughtful strategy. So, embrace AI with purpose, and watch it transform not only your business but also the way you make an impact on the world.