As of March 2023, the CSIRO found that 68% of Australian businesses had adopted AI and 23% planned to implement it within 12 months. In December last year, the Australian Government announced a $17 million initiative to help SMEs adopt artificial intelligence (AI). The initiative aims to kickstart Australian SMEs towards leveraging AI's benefits and competitive advantages.

However, adopting AI requires more than just financial backing. The Government's initiative acknowledges this by emphasising that it will support SMEs in adopting AI responsibly and efficiently.

Before 'switching on' AI in your business, you need a clear AI business strategy that aligns adoption with the business goals. Critical to this strategy is a strong focus on data integration. Why? Because AI needs comprehensive and reliable information for it to produce reliable results. (Remember the old saying, ‘Garbage in, garbage out’). The best way to ensure that is to automate data flow between systems and into the AI service. Effectively using AI depends on access to well-organised, clean business information to produce reliable insights. Without consistent data sources, your organisation will struggle to get the results you were hoping for in your AI experimentation.

Cloud adoption has steadily risen in recent years, with many of us experiencing first-hand the flexibility and agility required to accommodate hybrid workforces and changing business needs. Australian enterprises continue investing in cloud computing. A Gartner survey reveals that 62% of Australian CIOs plan to boost their cloud spending this year, with goals to improve operational costs and efficiencies. What are the trends influencing cloud adoption?

Traditional business models have relied on monthly, quarterly, or yearly planning to set strategic goals and define the next steps. Today, we live in a world where technology continues evolving, and customer expectations keep changing along with the market.

Gone are the days of five-year plans. The pace of disruption has reached an intensity such that any business model today could be unviable in five years.

An agile business plan is the key to success. You must be able to pivot quickly and make changes on the fly to stay ahead of the competition. One way to achieve this agility is through systems integration. Integrated systems bring together the data you need to make informed business decisions and find cut-through in the market.

The success of your business relies on your ability to make the right strategic bets. It feels like a tenuous line to walk with failure one wrong decision away. So how can you increase your chances of making the right decisions and ensuring you do not steer your company in the wrong direction?

Right now, technology companies worldwide churn out innovation at a rapid pace. Recent years have seen a sharp acceleration in the capabilities of Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Each new technology and solution promises a compelling, unique benefit.

I frequently speak with clients that leverage disparate systems across their business. They might have CRM and ERP systems that do not talk to each other, inventories for online and physical stores that lack alignment, or branch offices without access to the same information. The list goes on.

I saw disconnects like this with a customer of ours. They reached out to Creative Folks as they lacked alignment across their platforms and struggled with consolidating product information between their stores. Their large stores stocked a broad range of items, whereas their smaller ones only stocked a fraction of items. There was no way of knowing which stores stocked what in their systems. An online store added to the disconnect.

How did we help them consolidate these systems to bring consistency and accuracy to their business? With systems integration.

Systems integration brings together every platform across your company. It can change how you meet new customer demands, make decisions about your business strategy, and present new opportunities for innovation.

Integration is the key to unlocking profitability, differentiation, and separation from your competition. In fact, integration in today’s business world is far more important than any solitary application in your entire architecture.