Answers
Understanding Emerging Technologies Before Adoption
Quick answer
Financial-services leaders can start by separating technology headlines from the questions their organization needs answered. Research the trend, analyze its current and possible future effects on financial services and the enterprise, educate decision-makers, and evaluate the technology in context. This reflects Rohan Hall’s emerging-technology work at Capital Group / American Funds from November 2017 to June 2019.
Begin with the decision, not the headline
Identify what leaders need to understand before considering adoption: how a technology may affect financial services, where it could affect the wider enterprise, and which questions remain open. Research and analysis can then give decision-makers more useful context than a stream of announcements.
Examine technologies and their interactions
Hall’s research at Capital Group covered blockchain, cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, neuromorphic technologies and cognitive intelligence, among other emerging technologies. Looking at each technology individually is useful, but so is asking how technologies may reinforce one another. Hall’s book thesis describes AI as increasingly integrating with other emerging technologies rather than evolving in isolation.
Turn research into shared understanding
From November 2017 to June 2019, Hall was Intrapreneur / Senior Architect in Capital Group’s Emerging Technology Group. His work combined research, analysis, education and technology evaluation to inform organizational understanding and decision-making. For leaders, that sequence offers a way to discuss potential impact before deciding whether adoption makes sense.
Include trust in the evaluation
Alongside potential uses, examine the evidence, transparency, governance, assurance and standards relevant to a technology. These questions help leaders assess whether an emerging approach is suitable for their organization, not simply whether it is attracting attention.
Frequently asked questions
- Does this approach focus only on AI?
- No. Hall’s Capital Group research also covered blockchain, cryptocurrencies, neuromorphic technologies and cognitive intelligence, as well as other emerging technologies.
- How does this relate to enterprise AI adoption?
- Hall’s enterprise AI and transformation work addresses adoption, enterprise architecture, operating models, education and workflow transformation, including the move from experimentation to durable capability.
- Is this a recommendation to adopt a particular technology?
- No. The starting point is research, education and evaluation that help an organization understand a technology before making an adoption decision.
Read more about how enterprise architecture supports AI adoption and how emerging technologies can interact.