Author: Bryanne Van de Kant

By Tim Beswick

We are often asked whether becoming an AI-driven enterprise requires something different than becoming a data-driven enterprise. In this series of blog posts Anderson MacGyver shares her point of view on this topic. 

Data-driven enterprise

It is good to start with looking at what a Data-driven or an AI-driven enterprise is. Anderson MacGyver takes a business value centric view and defines a Data-driven enterprise as an organization that unlocks the business value of data in any of the following three ways: 

1. Enabling digital systems with the exchange of data: Today’s society relies on systems exchanging data. The importance of the exchange of data between digital systems has superseded the importance of spoken and written words between humans. Without the timely exchange of the right data between digital systems, an organization and our society come to a standstill. Data-driven enterprises ensure that the digital systems in their organization and eco-system have the right data, of the right quality, at the right time. 

2. Deriving commercial value from data: Data on itself can have commercial value. Data-driven enterprises derive monetary value from their data by trading data either for a direct monetary reward or in exchange for other goods or services. 

3. Creating insights through analysis of data: Data analysis provides insights that can be used for improving customer intimacy, strengthening business control, driving operational efficiency and for the development or as part of new products & services. Data-driven enterprises unlock value from data by using data-driven insights to optimize their business processes and offerings. 

AI-driven enterprise 

So how does an AI-driven enterprise differ from a Data-driven enterprise? Let us first look at what an Artificial Intelligence is. Anderson MacGyver uses the following terms to define an AI. An AI is a digital system that: 

• Has the ability to learn and adapt. 

• Can generate output in the form of new data and content (video, image, text, sound, code). 

• Triggers or autonomously take actions. 

What does this mean in relation to the three types of value from data? 

1. Exchange of data between digital systems: An AI can be used to optimize the processes that drive the timely availability of data for digital systems. This does not result in new types of value in this domain. 

2. Commercial value: An AI can be used to generate new data and content that has commercial value. AI becomes the core production engine of your commercial goods that contain data, video, image, text, sound or code. 

3. Insights: AI can provide dynamic data-driven insights and if desired autonomously act. By autonomously acting an AI often improves process efficiency. The AI generated insights are used for improving customer intimacy, strengthening business control, driving operational efficiency and for the development or as part of new products & services. In these kinds of applications, AI is an extension of using data driven insights to optimize your business processes and offerings. 

An analogy to a smart car can help to make the point on dynamic insights and ability to act autonomously more tangible: 

• A route planner that calculates the best route to your destination based on a static map and ignoring current traffic situation is not an AI. 

• A route planner that dynamically recommends the best route based on the current and predicted traffic situation is not an AI if the recommendations are based on predefined rules (Note: rules can be defined using historic data-driven insights). 

• A route planner that dynamically recommends the best route based on the current and predicted traffic situation is an AI if the recommendations are based on predicted future traffic patterns, the system continually learns from historical data and optimizes the route based on multiple, complex factors. 

• A system that controls your autonomous vehicle taking the most advantageous route into account, must be an AI if you would want to safely make it past even the first junction. It would have to respond to the ever-changing circumstances on your route. 

Autonomously acting is not an absolute phenomenon. It comes in many forms. From a simple trigger in the form of a recommendation to operating and controlling systems without any human intervention. 

Summarizing the above, an AI-driven enterprise is an organization that leverages Artificial Intelligence to unlock business value by using digital systems that, based on data, learn and adapt and: 

• Generate new video, image, text, sound and code. 

• Trigger actions or autonomously act. 

Data analytics is typically used as part of an AI system. This implies that an AI-driven enterprise is an extension of a Data-driven enterprise. 

Data-to-AI-to-Value 

Becoming a Data-driven or and AI-driven enterprise is a journey. Anderson MacGyver uses the terms Data-to-Value and Data-to-AI-to-Value for an organization’s journey to become a Data-driven or an AI-driven enterprise. 

In the next blog post we share the good practices that we learnt to apply in these journeys: Data-to-AI-to-Value journey. 

Interested in further insights into this topic? Join our CIO Masterclass on becoming a scalable, AI driven enterprise on the 13^th of November. 

Since 2019, Anderson MacGyver has been supporting top rower Lisa Bruijnincx on her road to success. She recently competed for the first time at the European Championships in Hungary with the Dutch National Talent Team, and with the Olympic Games just around the corner, now is a good time to give an update on her achievements.

After winning the Junior World Championships, Lisa was looking for the next step in her sporting career. With this in mind, she signed up with Anderson MacGyver five years ago. A huge development followed on the sporting front, but in 2022 she ran into the ‘have to’. It was a big step and the Olympic team didn’t work out. Meanwhile, Lisa is back and has joined the talent squad to play her way into the spotlight of the Dutch senior team.

The European Championships

“It was very educational,” says Lisa of her first ‘real’ senior tournament last month. “So far I have been to two World Cups. You realize that these are senior teams are tough, but at a European Championship like this you realize that all the Olympic teams come prepared and well-oiled. They’re really at the top of their game and it’s impressive to suddenly be one of them.

The build-up to the European Championships was certainly not ideal. A teammate suffered an injury that prevented him from completing the final training sessions. “As a team we were able to deal with it and mentally we were able to handle it well. But in a first race it is important to be in sync and this was the first time we were in the boat together. Then you notice, on the field it goes hard, the opponents don’t wait. It was quite a reality check.

There is a lot to learn on the standard two-kilometre distance, and the subsequent races at the European Championships showed a lot of progress in the Dutch talent pool. “It was very brave to see that we could do it with this team. We made up seven seconds per race. On Thursday we were 14 seconds behind the Polish team and in our last race we beat them. These margins are not normal, but that was our growth in the tournament.

While the Dutch senior team is working on a different programme for the Olympic Games, the junior team has been in action. Among the other countries, it was the Olympic teams that were making the final preparations for Paris. “It is very cool to be able to compete with them. The Netherlands have actually decided that no competition is important except the one they are training for and that is the Olympics. The European Championships didn’t come out during that period. For us as a talented team, it’s just a learning tournament.

Olympic Games

Lisa will therefore not be able to participate in her original goal, as she does not have a place in the boat for this summer’s Olympic Games. “This summer I don’t find it ‘painful’ to follow. There are a lot of girls I look up to who can sail very hard. It has certainly been confrontational, because of course there is a little voice of ‘imagine if you had been there’, but I also appreciate all the effort and commitment the athletes have put in. I can only hope for a lot of medals for them.

Slow down and connect

The 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles are circled on Lisa’s calendar. But she had to take a step back to see if that was still her goal. “It’s still a goal. Over the past year I’ve taken a hard look at myself to see if this is really what I want. By distancing myself from rowing, I have actually found the joy again and decided that this is something I really want to devote time to in the coming years. It is difficult to look at an Olympic cycle in four years, but I am sure I will be in the team next year.

From May 1^st, Gerrit Schipper (66) joined Anderson MacGyver’s Advisory Board. With the establishment of the Advisory Board, the consultancy firm aims to strengthen the outside-in perspective to continue operating in line with the spirit of times and client’s needs. “Moreover, the advisory board helps reflect on its own leadership and the organisation as a whole,” said Benelux managing director David Jongste.

As an executive and entrepreneur, Gerrit Schipper has gained treasures of experience in the international technology domain. His career started at Philips in 1981 and included top positions at ABZ, ADP, RDC and Geodan NEXT International, among others, until 2017. “At 60, I thought it was time for a new phase of life. From learn and earn to return. I wanted to give something back to the profession and society with my knowledge and experience.”

Pragmatic approach

Until this year, Gerrit Schipper was Executive Director of the Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics (ECDA) before moving to the Advisory Board. Since 2020, he has also been involved on behalf of Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) as part-time programme director in the Data, AI & Digitalization Convergence Alliance, in which EUR collaborates with ErasmusMC and TU Delft. Since 2017, Schipper has been a supervisor at NEMO Science Museum, among others, an advisor to Recharge Earth and chairman of the BDR Project Foundation, which works to educate especially girls and women in technical professions.

“In my new roles, there is a strong focus on the public and civil society domain,” says the experienced former executive. “Anderson MacGyver is an interesting exception in several areas. The firm combines a strongly personal, substantive and pragmatic approach in consultancy projects. Just like the television hero MacGyver, who had an intelligent solution for everything.”

His added value is in the area of governance and business. “I still have a large network and know that there is a growing need for hands-on support and more learning than lecturing consultancy – also abroad. From the Advisory Board, I am mainly focused on the direction and development in the Benelux organisation, but I like to help translate that to the other regions.”

International experience

“We are very impressed by Gerrit Schipper’s international experience and perspective,” says Benelux managing director David Jongste of Anderson MacGyver. “He knows how to set up and develop an organisation in a global context. That fits well with our current position of international scale-up. Gerrit also has great substantive knowledge of data, artificial intelligence and digitalisation. He can also provide input and feedback from those competences and experience.”

The latter the Advisory Board member prefers to do by asking questions. To then let the other person make the right decisions themselves. “The advantage is that I also learn something from this myself, because I am still very eager to learn. Humour, fun and putting things into perspective are also very important to me.”

As advisor and ambassador, Gerrit Schipper, like Mario der Weduwen, who also joined the Advisory Board, will help think about the productisation of the range of services, which will include a standardised online consultancy process in addition to tailor-made advice. Jongste: “That, in combination with Generative AI, will become an increasingly important part of the strategy.”

Get to know our other Advisory Board member, Mario der Weduwen! Read it here.

From May 1st, Mario der Weduwen (65) joined the Advisory Board of Anderson MacGyver. With the establishment of the Advisory Board, the consultancy firm aims to strengthen its outside-in perspective to continue operating in line with the spirit of the times and clients’ needs. “Moreover, the advisory board helps reflect on its own leadership and the organisation as a whole,” said Benelux managing director David Jongste.

After a sabbatical, during which he travelled around Asia with his wife Farida, Mario der Weduwen decided to change tack in 2022. “In almost ten years as CIO of Holland Casino and in the 30 years before that at ANWB, Air France-KLM and Ahold, among others, I have experienced virtually all major trends and developments at close quarters,” he says. “I was keen to use all my knowledge, experience and network as widely as possible.”

In-depth experience

Mario der Weduwen founded CIO-nxt in July 2023 together with several peers: an association of entrepreneurs with in-depth experience as Chief Information Officer and/or Chief Digital Officer at large, nationally or internationally operating organisations. “Objectives are to boost the digital maturity of companies and society based on service and knowledge sharing. In addition, CIO-nxt keeps us as members relevant and substantively engaged.”

About a year ago, he came into contact with the management of Anderson MacGyver. Der Weduwen: “A personal and substantive click soon emerged. Gradually, we came up with the idea of setting up an Advisory Board, with members who can critically reflect on Anderson MacGyver’s current and future activities from their seniority, experience, competences and network.”

According to the former CIO, the consulting industry is on the eve of a major upheaval due to changing client-side needs and requirements. “Technology is and will continue to be a driver of digital innovation and change. But instead of a push from vendors and consultancy, timing and directing this transformation is becoming increasingly important for companies and their leaders. This requires adaptation.”

Versatile and colourful

Benelux managing director David Jongste of Anderson MacGyver is impressed with the new Advisory Board member. “Besides his widely recognised stature as a technology leader, Mario der Weduwen is a very versatile and colourful personality: flamboyant, open, extroverted, energetic and with a huge amount of knowledge and experience as CIO. That critical outside view, partly based on his market knowledge and vast network, can help us think outside our own vision and frameworks when necessary. In this way, we as Anderson MacGyver are even better able to empathise with our clients’ opportunities and challenges.”

Besides being a supervisor at Roba Metals, Mario der Weduwen is a member of the advisory board of Network C. He is also active for EVG Start. This organisation selects, supervises and develops top digital talent.

“On the basis of a personal traineeship, we train promising young people together with partner companies. This allows them to develop at lightning speed to help companies with their digital transformation.” Besides Mario der Weduwen, Gerrit Schipper has also joined the newly established Advisory Board. Both will help think about the productisation of the service offering, in which a standardised online consultancy process can be purchased in addition to customised advice. Jongste: “That, in combination with Generative AI, will become an increasingly important part of the strategy.”

Get to know our other Advisory Board Member Gerrit Schipper! Read it here.