1. C-Level, strategic priority
Machine learning is not just a technology; it is core to the business strategies that have led to the surging value of organizations that incorporate it into their operating models – think Amazon, Uber, and Airbnb.
Fast Learner organizations get this. They are benefiting from their senior-most management seeing the strategic value of machine learning.
“Such initiatives should definitely be managed at the most senior level,” says David Halliwell, director of knowledge and innovation at Pinsent Masons, a global law firm headquartered in London. “But it’s not just about good management. It’s also about understanding at a senior level what AI and ML can and cannot do.”
Fewer Fast Learners than other organizations suffer from a lack of strategic clarity about machine learning. And fewer are plagued by organizational resistance to change. The reason may be that machine learning is viewed as more than a tactical tool for simply automating away costs and people.

Some Fast Learners, for example, will certainly generate cost savings from workforce reductions: 30% strongly agree with a statement that productivity improvements will enable them to reduce headcount and another 31% “somewhat” agree that this will be the case. But 50% of Fast Learners firmly expect to retrain employees to perform more interesting and higher-value tasks and another 25% agree but with more moderate conviction. Most Fast Learners (76% altogether) also expect that some employees will be moved to other roles having similar skill requirements as their existing jobs.
Given Fast Learners’ far-ranging plans for integrating machine learning into the organization, it’s not surprising that cost savings is low on the list of benefits they are reaping from the use of machine learning.
Indeed, Fast Learners are seeing a broad range of benefits from ML, which signals that they are focusing on its transformational possibilities in both front and back office, revenues, and cost centers. Intel, for example, is using ML to improve cycle time and quality in its products and to refine its sales offers based on predictions about customers’ needs. Meanwhile, other Fast Learners report improved process accuracy (reduced frequency of errors) as well as increased speed across a range of processes. Indeed, speed has been more of a benefit than cost savings.
