How to AI the Amazon Way
Do you ever wonder how much we're obsessed with predicting the future and figuring out the unknown?
For example, almost every day, there's a new article or research paper prognosticating AI's impact across sectors. Our intrigue with technological trends and "shiny object syndrome" transcends the here-and-now in favor of what could be next.
But is this future-gazing a sustainable approach to building stakeholder value? Should organizations be so eager to redesign their core products, services and operating models around still-emerging AI capabilities? There are risks in chasing what will change, before fully understanding the adoption patterns and value potential.
Consider an alternate approach, championed by business luminaries like Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett. Rather than fixating on predictions and hype cycles, they advocated doubling down on what will not change for customers. As Bezos said, "Focus on things that will always remain the same for your customers...and keep getting better and better at it. I can't imagine a customer saying 'I wish your prices were higher' or 'I love Amazon, just wish you delivered a little more slowly."
For Amazon, that meant relentlessly improving ecommerce fundamentals like selection, price, and speedy delivery that delight customers year after year. Bezos aimed to reduce "points of friction" through innovations like 1-Click purchasing.
Amazon has deployed AI in service of these unchanging customer needs - optimizing areas like product recommendations, predictive forecasting, inventory management, dynamic price and delivery route optimization to name a few, to continually enhance selection, price and delivery experience.
A recent post about Andy Jassy’s recent shareholder letter emphasizes this message as well.
This philosophy - leveraging new technologies to deliver sustained value around an organization's established core competencies and customer promises - may be the wisest approach as AI capabilities rapidly evolve.
Rather than attempting wholesale AI-driven transformation, organizations should:
Identify the key customer needs and sources of value that will remain constant over time
Explore how AI can reduce friction and radically improve efficiencies in these areas
Develop a robust, long-term AI strategy and roadmap for this targeted value creation
And now, Amazon is now applying these same principles to its Pharmacy business. The advanced AI powering Amazon Pharmacy's same-day delivery streamlines processes like verifying handwritten prescriptions, accelerating a process that historically took hours down to seconds. As Kelvin Downes, Pharmacy director shares in this blog post on Amazon, "AI doesn't replace pharmacists; it allows them to operate at the top of their license" by automating rote tasks.
This tech integration, like AI models that clinically evaluate and dispense medications for fast drone delivery within 53 minutes, which outperforms the industry standard of up to two weeks, is squarely focused on enhancing the customer experience.
For Amazon, continuing to reduce friction for its customers is a game changer!
While exploring AI's future potential is intriguing, one way to gain sustained value from AI investments would be to prioritize applying AI to double down on their existing customer value drivers. Find what delights customers today and continually optimize those areas.
Make AI an extension of your strengths rather than chasing disruption.