The AI Advantage

Is creating an entirely new job position for your systemisation project excessive, or even a luxury? Well, consider that the alternative is to perform the role yourself – a role that is, for most businesses, a full-time position. Hopefully, by this stage, you recognise that this project is too important and too involved to be performed in the tiny pockets of spare time you have available alongside running your business.

And let’s not forget that one of your goals with this process is to eventually remove yourself from the day-to-day running of your business. This isn’t going to happen by giving yourself more work to do creating and managing systems. Ultimately, the cost of hiring a new team member (or moving an existing team member away from some or all of their current responsibilities) is a small price to pay to achieve the goal.

Keep in mind that as the power of systems takes hold, the improved efficiency your business enjoys will translate into additional profits, which will eventually more than cover the costs of a new hire. And while we’re considering the long view, here’s another major benefit of having a Systems Champion in your business …

A Systems Champion is uniquely positioned to also become your AI Champion.

Depending on when you read this, integrating AI into your workflows may not be on your radar just yet. But it’s only a matter of time before you either need to consider it to stay at the forefront of your industry, or it will naturally find its way in through upgrades to software and systems that you’re already using.

AI has already moved past the period of gimmick and has become a core tool for many professions. SYSTEMology is one of them.

As you’ll see, AI is a valuable tool with which your Systems Champion is going to become very familiar. But this is only the beginning. As AI starts to creep its way into more areas of your business, you’ll need someone on your team who understands its benefit, can help your departments implement it effectively and also become a champion for its use among your team, who may still be suspicious or nervous about the technology.

But your Systems Champion eventually becoming your AI Champion is more than just convenience. There’s a natural overlap in the skills required, and their eventual mastery of systems is going to give them a natural affinity for AI.

If you’ve played around with any general AI tools, such as ChatGPT or Gemini, you’ll likely have noticed that much of AI is built around “prompts”¹. Getting AI to perform optimally and produce awesome results is about understanding how to construct prompts in a way that the technology can understand. Some savvy individuals are giving themselves the title of prompt engineer, and there are already training courses in the skill, and pre-written prompt libraries, available for sale.

This is really interesting to me because a prompt is simply a system that you’re using to instruct the AI. And a system, in the world of SYSTEMology, is a series of steps that when followed create a consistent outcome. Can you see the connection?

As a Systems Champion develops their skills in identifying, documenting and optimising processes, they’re also becoming familiar with the language of systems, including the details and the logical flow. This translates perfectly to prompt engineering. If someone can break down a complex process into a clear, replicable set of steps that humans can follow, it’s only a small lateral step into doing the same in a way that AI can follow.

This is only the beginning of the overlap. Your Systems Champion is going to become very familiar with your business’s pain points and the areas in which efficiency gains would have the biggest impact. This is exactly the knowledge that is required to identify areas in which AI can help.

Last, but not least, a great Systems Champion is a natural optimiser. Over time they become attuned to the “music” of systems, and when they spot a step that is unnecessary or that can be streamlined, it jumps out at them like a singer hitting a wrong note. Their natural drive for continuous improvement will lead them right into the world of AI opportunities that are available, and they’ll soon start coming to you with recommendations for areas in which AI should be considered.

Like it or not, the companies that will lead the way in their industries over the next few decades will be the ones that integrate AI. Not as a distraction, or as a PR stunt, but as a genuine means for creating a more optimised business that can reduce costs, speed up work processes and deliver additional value to the customer. As AI technology continues evolving, the role of AI Champion is going to become increasingly popular and valuable across all industries. Hiring a Systems and AI Champion now is essentially futureproofing your business – you’ll have someone who is naturally immersed in the technology and can help you use it to best effect sooner rather than later.

These are all points to keep in mind when seeking your Systems Champion. What I really want you to think about here is that this is a valuable role for a whole range of reasons. Don’t make the mistake of thinking of it as a glorified administrative role or a project that just anyone can take on and make a success of. This is an important role that can transform your business over the next few years, so treat the hiring process with the level of care and consideration it deserves.

Footnotes¶

1. In the context of AI, a “prompt” is a set of instructions that a human gives to an AI system to achieve a desired outcome. ↩