In the past two years, investments in artificial intelligence (AI) have reached record heights, with companies from all sectors integrating AI solutions to optimize their operations. Faced with this digital transformation, several questions arise, particularly about the future of traditional IT companies: will AI replace these companies or will it simply lead to a necessary evolution? Our analysis reveals a nuanced reality.
Diversity of AI applications
Artificial intelligence encompasses various fields of application, each having a specific impact on businesses depending on their sector. We distinguish several types of AI:
- Assistance AI: such as chatbots and virtual assistants, which facilitate information retrieval and improve daily efficiency.
- Productivity AI: aimed at automating industrial processes, thus increasing productivity and reducing repetitive tasks.
- Creative AI: used in image generation and other content, stimulating innovation and creativity within companies.
There are many advantages to integrating AI into companies. They improve productivity by automating administrative and repetitive tasks, allowing their employees to focus on activities with higher added value. It also further pushes their creativity, offering new perspectives and tools to innovate.
AI is a powerful tool that needs to be mastered
Despite its advantages, integrating AI poses significant challenges, with the main ones being ethics, "prompt engineering", and cybersecurity. "AI is a powerful tool that must be mastered to fully harness its potential. It's precisely in terms of these challenges that well-prepared IT companies can stand out. They must really support their clients in integrating AI into their business", explains Audrey De Crem.
Prompt engineering
Prompt engineering is the ability to correctly formulate questions to obtain relevant answers. "We have already had clients who were skeptical about their experience with Copilot. In discussion with them, I quickly learned that the issue mainly lies in how they ask their questions to the AI. Sometimes they forget to provide the context and details that allow it to give a precise and contextualized answer. If you do not give enough elements to the AI, its response will indeed be vague, generalist, or even incorrect. So you must learn to ask the right questions and to do so in detail", says Audrey De Crem. Understanding how AI models work is therefore essential to exploit them effectively.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity remains a major theme in IT, and AI is no exception. The risks related to information confidentiality and security are significant. Some AI, like Microsoft Copilot, emphasize security by not learning from user-provided data, unlike other models such as ChatGPT. However, caution is needed because even when Microsoft secures interactions with AI, Copilot uses all the data it has access to in its environment. This means that if you do not protect certain files properly, it can extract information from them as well and pass it on to certain people who should not have access to it. "No AI is completely secure. A company wishing to integrate this new technology must necessarily strengthen the security of its environment and seek to regulate the internal use of AI. A simple example: many people copy-paste emails into ChatGPT or DeepL without removing names, surnames, and other sensitive information. It should be known that these tools are intelligent enough to decrypt and retain this content. Imagine doing this with financial reports, asking the AI to generate a graph. The problem with security then quickly becomes apparent", warns Audrey De Crem.
TRANSFORMATION OF IT COMPANIES
We are convinced that AI will not lead to the end of IT companies, except for those who missed the evolution train. To survive, companies must adapt and transform. "Whether it's Easi or other IT companies, we must embrace AI and stay at the forefront of technological innovations", adds Audrey De Crem.
AI also creates new opportunities for IT companies. It allows them to offer new services, especially in security, development and maintenance of IT solutions. "We are testing all the novelties internally. We seek to understand and master them before proposing them to our clients. We also integrate AI into our own tools and solutions to make them more efficient. Our objective remains the same: to offer our clients intelligent solutions that meet their needs and guide them through this integration while gaining productivity and efficiency," explains Audrey De Crem.
It is also necessary to rethink your business model. Strategic partnerships and the integration of AI specialized profiles are essential to remain competitive. "Moreover, universities and colleges are increasingly integrating this matter into their courses, which proves the importance of having staff who master these tools", concludes Audrey De Crem. It should also be noted that even with the rise of AI, human skills remain essential. The strategic aspect and maintenance and development of AI solutions require human intervention to ensure their relevance and effectiveness.
In short,
AI represents an opportunity for IT companies to evolve, rather than it is a threat. By strategically embracing and integrating this technology, these companies can not only survive, but further thrive in a constantly evolving digital landscape.