Getting digital-led change through any organisation is tough.

Whether you’re a leader making the case for sustaining innovation, recommending a digital-first strategy, or embedding AI into an organisation’s operating model, it can seem like a battle to get to “yes” at board level.

And once that board battle is won, it’s easy to lose the war in the business, as that executive “yes” in principle becomes a flat “no” in practice.   Compliance, policy alignment, and the dead weight of status quo can all too often combine to defeat new, and potentially transformative, initiatives.

At Digital Works Group, we have seen this scenario many times, especially in regulated industries.  Real or imagined risk of falling foul of the regulators can have a paralysing effect, preventing even so much as discussion of new initiatives.

We believe there is another way.

We believe that digital, AI and data initiatives need to be set up to succeed from day one – and good governance is essential to that success.

That’s why we’re taking a novel approach, intentionally embedding governance into the thinking and decision making around AI- and digital-led change.

As part of a wider move to better anticipate our clients’ needs, Digital Works Group has created a dedicated Strategy, Innovation and Governance practice.  This new unit will serve as an “advance party” for clients who need to flex their strategy and innovate with AI and other mature technologies.

For our clients, having this dedicated practice means we can address topics such as ethics, privacy, explainability – and new approaches to managing them – early in the thinking and planning stages. We can apply the governance lens at the same time as defining innovation approaches, new business models, value propositions and operating models.

The Strategy, Innovation and Governance Practice is led by Senior Partner, Dominic Pride. Dominic has over 20 years’ experience of supporting leaders with digital change, in settings as diverse as highly regulated pharma, medical devices, telecoms and government, as well as entertainment and media.

“AI is transforming every aspect of how organisations behave” says Dominic, “and nowhere is that more evident than in the governance and stewardship of change. “Because AI models are updating with an almost daily cadence, leaders need to radically rethink how, where – and crucially how often – AI is supervised.”

Joining Dominic as Partners in the Strategy, Innovation & Governance practice are Rafael Bloom and Rob Kerner.

Rafael leads governance within the practice, and brings with him deep experience of product and innovation within regulated financial markets at Bloomberg, as well as a practical hands-on approach for applying AI to real world problems. Comments Rafael:

“In the rush to innovate with AI, effective governance can sometimes get overlooked. The AI projects which are now succeeding where other are foundering are the ones where elements such as ethics, safety and regulatory compliance have been addressed in advance. “

Rob leads innovation within the new practice, building on deep experience of initiatives in financial services at RBS/NatWest and Santander. Says Rob:

“A key component of success with innovation is fast and effective decision-making. To set projects up for positive outcomes, you need to enable teams to take the right decisions at the most appropriate level. and provide the data to support objective decisions.”

Right now, a heady mix of competitive pressures and a rapidly changing external technology landscape are creating the perception that organisations must adopt AI at speed. We also know this can drive short-term thinking, which means governance, including concerns around ethics, harms, and explainability, can be at best postponed, or at worst overlooked.

If you’d like to find out more about how our Strategy, Innovation & Governance team can help you, then reach out to Dominic for a friendly chat.