Leveraging data – getting the foundations in place

Liam Cotter, KPMG’s technology practice lead, charts the road ahead as Irish organisations prepare for the AI revolution.

Right now very many organisations are experiencing caution, confusion - or both - in relation AI.

For a start, they are unsure about generative AI (GenAI), how it differs from previous AI, and whether it can add value for them.

With the first milestones of the EU AI Act due to come into force in February 2025, focused on its prohibition of unacceptable risk AI systems, they are also concerned about falling foul of regulation.

They are keen to ensure that any AI model introduced to help their business undergoes adequately rigorous testing, to make sure that it is fair and doesn’t have bias baked in.

But there are also more generalised fears too, around the cost of moving too quickly and developing the wrong solutions, as well as the opportunity cost of moving too slowly and not capturing the benefits of the right ones.

The only way to ensure quality outputs in AI is to ensure quality inputs. If your data capture and entry systems are not robust, you are already at a major competitive disadvantage.

Liam Cotter

Data-based decisions

Regardless of where an organisation is in relation to AI and GenAI, one thing holds true. The key to success is data.

The only way to ensure quality outputs in AI is to ensure quality inputs. If your data capture and entry systems are not robust, you are already at a major competitive disadvantage.

That’s because the way we manage and store data for the AI age is different than the way we did so previously, even though the same fundamentals rules apply.

Part of the problem with readying your data for the digital transformation ahead is that doing so is hard work and appears not to have huge value. That’s because it involves the run of the mill data generated from day-to-day operations.

But the key to successful adoption of AI tomorrow is making sure everybody in your organisation is assiduous about data management today.

It’s about ensuring everybody is measuring the quality of their data, right across the organisation, so that they can stand over what it presents.

For organisations that previously placed little value on the data they generate, that will require a change in culture. It may also require different parts of the organisation to pool data, such as combining sales and stock databases rather than keeping them siloed, for example.

In companies involved in mergers and acquisitions, it means ensuring you fully understand the lineage of the data being acquired.

The time to act is now

The past 12 months have seen a growing realisation among organisations of the potential importance of AI as a lever for competitiveness.

It is increasingly understood as a valuable tool with which to drive their digital transformation, one that enables them to become more flexible, be faster to market, provide a better customer experience, or more.

Indeed most of what AI will do has yet to be dreamed up. But to put the scale of it in context, somewhere in the world a data centre – the building block that powers the AI revolution - opens every two days.

To keep up, organisations need to act. The first step is to understand the regulations and timeframes being rolled out as part of the EU AI Act.

Next, identify use cases and develop them. Experiment and, if you are going to fail, fail fast. Get involved and discover the value in it, all of which KPMG Ireland can help with.

Everyone in your organisation must be able to stand over the accuracy of their data, which means good data practices must be baked into all your business processes.

Liam Cotter

People-powered data

Understand the behavioural risks too. A lot of the work involved isn’t about technology at all. It’s about people.

You can introduce the best technology in the world but if staff don’t collect, curate and manage their data properly, it’s useless.

Everyone in your organisation must be able to stand over the accuracy of their data, which means good data practices must be baked into all your business processes.

In many organisations that means investing in data capabilities, including staff training, and appointing a chief data officer whose role it is to drive data literacy and good data management practices throughout the entire organisation, from the bottom to the top.

To succeed, the management of data must be seen as a core, valuable component of what everyone does, regardless of what they do.

Break down the barriers

Barriers to achieving this include an organisational culture that hasn’t yet caught up with the importance of data, allied to poor systems and processes that ensure people don’t understand the implications of getting it wrong.

But the real barrier is that this all takes work.

Readying your data systems for AI is a pain, and sometimes people can see no value in it. But support is available. At KPMG Ireland we walk clients through a step-by-step framework to help them identify and address the issues as they arise.

Once you can stand over your data, knowing it is of good quality and understanding its lineage, your organisation is in pretty good shape because then you can move on and digitise your key business processes with confidence.

The AI revolution starts and ends with data. Just don’t underestimate the level of effort required to get good quality, well managed data in place. It is the foundational work that cannot be avoided.

But equally, don’t underestimate the impact. Once you have good data systems in place, you can move forward with confidence and capture the AI benefits that await.

Get in touch

At KPMG we understand the pressure business leaders are under to get it right on tech and AI.

To find out more about how KPMG perspectives and fresh thinking can help your business please contact Liam Cotter of our AI team. We’d be delighted to hear from you.