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Artificial intelligence can do amazing things. Microsoft’s Copilot can create leadership decks in seconds while concurrently synthesizing two leadership decks you forgot to read. Notebook LM can create custom podcasts from full books or articles. And ChatGPT… well, all of us know ChatGPT.
However, hype and guarantees often do not match, and artificial intelligence is no exception. John Werner, senior fellow at MIT and managing director at Link Ventures, he said“sometimes promotional language doesn’t match the results seen with new IT advancements. Experts talk about the “hype cycle” around new technologies, which influences how they are perceived and used when they are brand new. “AI is not immune and is currently going through its own hype cycle.”
In the midst of all this, you understand that you just need AI (or at least a strategy for it), but how will you stand out from the competition and make your vision a reality?
In this text, I’ll show you ways top entrepreneurs and executives are using fractional AI experts to show their strategies into reality.
Problem: Companies don’t know where to look for leadership-level AI talent
We all know that good leadership is crucial. A team without a strong leader is like a rowing boat without a captain. Anyone can row, but lack direction, alignment and motivation. In business, poor leadership results in wasted time, money and opportunities.
I’ve seen a similar problem with AI strategies. Instead of appointing a strong leader to administer, execute and cultivate AI success, firms often settle for the incorrect talent or simply hold back. When this happens, there are often claims of economic problems or simply being the incorrect person. When firms come to an agreement, they hire someone who falsely claims to be an AI expert without checking whether the person has experience in computer science, deep learning, statistical modeling or neural networks. Most often, this results in stagnation and waste of resources. This may cause people in management positions to lose trust in your company and doubt your faith in the use of artificial intelligence.
In the context of AI, each hesitation and resolution are just like algorithms without appropriate inputs. No matter how impressive a presentation, strategy, or press release could seem, desired results can rarely be achieved without the right data (similar to strong leadership). The problem is not a lack of talent or that talent is too expensive or difficult to search out. The real problem is that firms are looking in the incorrect places.
Solution: partial experts
There is a third strategy that bridges the gap between retention and billing: fractional AI experts. These executive-level freelancers can achieve the same results as top-level executives, but at a fraction of the cost. Rather than committing full-time to one company, fractional experts typically work with two to 5 clients, devoting 10-30 hours a week to each.
The concept of a fraction is not recent. Deadline “interim director” is widely understood and is experiencing strong growth. According to a Business Talent Group Report“The demand for interim leadership has increased by 116 percent year over year at all levels of the organization, and the need for interim leadership assistance has increased by 78 percent.” The distinction between fractional and transitional roles is often merely a matter of terminology.
Fractional work is one aspect of the flexible workforce, and the unique thing about today’s fractional work experts is that they choose and plan to remain in full-time employment. The latest data shows this clearly, as people choose full-time independence have doubled since 2020. During the difficult years of 2023 and 2024, economic growth continued to the point that 27.7 million Americans are now selecting to be independent, with a compound annual growth rate of individuals selecting to be more independent than the total non-farm labor force that is .5% higher.
Part managers can do every thing a full-time executive can do. They can discover problem areas that are ideal for AI, create roadmaps, go-to-market and workplans to maneuver from idea to product-market fit. They may even build and manage large teams. The one thing fractional experts cannot do is that they are technically employed solely by you. Often this is not mandatory.
Start by finding a fractional platform
Where flexible talent is available, there is a talent platform to allow you to find, deploy, manage, pay and scale your flexible workforce. There are 29 fractions-focused platforms in the Human Cloud industry landscape. Toptal is a well-known software platform, while Tribe.AI specializes in artificial intelligence in particular.
Platforms may focus on specific regions. For example, Malt, Europe’s largest freelance platform, adopts a country-specific strategy where each country offers customers a tailored service. Other platforms comparable to Flexer.AI specialize in factional marketing talent in Southeast Asia, Talent Alpha specializes in IT talent in Poland, and Dojo Talent focuses on gaming talent in Turkey.
Think beyond artificial intelligence
While AI is great, use cases may depend on your industry or skill set. For example, as an alternative of an AI expert, a supply chain expert on a supply chain-focused talent platform NatQuestcombined with an AI expert for Bow could also be best. Or potentially a part CFO on a finance-focused talent platform Steam the best solution could also be to work with an artificial intelligence expert.
Akhil Seth, SET The Freelance leader learned this by bringing together multiple freelancers to build a website, moderately than trying to search out a single Unicorn talent who understood each advanced math and a specific Python library. They found two freelancers. Advanced mathematics was understood. The other understood the Python library and could teach the internal UST team methods to develop with it. As a result, they accomplished the site in 3 weeks, saving $2 million in revenue.
Which experts are you able to hook up with take the first step towards realizing your AI potential?
Let your agile talent strategy unlock growth and innovation
Once you appreciate flexible talent, you may quickly realize that the best talent is at all times just a few days away. You will realize that this is greater than just a “fill the hole” HR solution. Flexible talent is a leadership strategy that drives growth and innovation across the company.
Take the next step and expand your flexible workforce. Don’t limit yourself to working with just one person. Build a group of 20 to 100 freelancers, then 1,000 freelancers, and watch your company transform from bureaucratic and slow to agile and effective.