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ChatGPT and the Enterprise

By Tammy Pinter, Rizwan Imtiazi, and Ron Exler

April 25, 2023

Season 4, Episode 15

In this episode of the Business Excelleration^® Podcast, what are the actual opportunities and limitations for the use of ChatGPT in today’s enterprise? On this episode of The Hackett Group’s Business Excelleration Podcast we’ll be separating the hype from the reality, with the help of Global IT Advisory Practice Leader Tammy Pinter, Senior Manager Rizwan Imtiazi and Senior Research Director, Enterprise IT Ron Exler.

Welcome to The Hackett Group’s “Business Excelleration Podcast,” where week after week we hear from experts on how to avoid obstacles, manage detours and celebrate milestones on the journey to world-class performance. This episode is hosted by Gary Baker, Group Global Communications director at The Hackett Group. Today’s episode will discuss the use of ChatGPT in today’s enterprise. He is joined by The Hackett Group’s Senior Manager Rizwan Imtiazi, Global IT Advisory Practice Leader Tammy Pinter, and Senior Research Director Enterprise IT Ron Exler.

To begin, Rizwan explains what ChatGPT is from an enterprise and corporate perspective. It has been around for some time, but really came into the spotlight at the beginning of the year. It utilizes machine learning algorithms to understand and generate human-like responses to questions. It can do this because it has been trained by hundreds of gigabytes of data and 300 billion words gathered from the internet to create a vast data lake to learn and draw from. It can also correct itself over time if it gives a user information that isn’t correct. ChatGPT is already being used for enterprise integration with Bing search capabilities. And, it is now available as an Azure open artificial intelligence (AI) service with over 100 million users currently. It’s growing, and it is likely here to stay.

Then, Ron explains why we can’t rely on ChatGPT 100% since it is completely reliant on data sets. ChatGPT’s knowledge cuts off in 2021, so anything more recent would not be included in its memory. He advises users to check what comes from a ChatGPT to ensure its accuracy and timeliness. In addition, it doesn’t retain information to build on top of previously held knowledge or disclose its source for information. Enterprises should do extensive testing for their particular scenarios to make sure the information proved by ChatGPT has been verified by humans.

A large portion of The Hackett Group’s clients have been asking questions around how to responsibly build an AI plan or strategy. They also want to know how to leverage this kind of technology to do so. For the majority of organizations, the question is more whether they can afford not to control the application of generative AI. Everyone agrees that this kind of innovative technology cannot be ignored for an enterprise to thrive. Thus, they need to change the way they are thinking about it, and invest time and money into keeping an eye on it. There is a lot of uncertainty around when is the right time to jump into a technology that is not yet mature. Part of the challenge is making sure that the leaders are educated and trained on how to use ChatGPT themselves. Microsoft is helping in this area by offering recap and educational services for leaders to review along their journey.

With so much changing so quickly, enterprises need to stay up to date on what is happening. The Hackett Group is available to help in this realm. Also, users are encouraged to seek expert advice to help their own enterprises. The Hackett Group will be doing a series of podcasts that address how each one of the functions of human resources, information technology and procurement see clients leveraging AI within the business function and enterprise.

Before wrapping up, hear how much enterprises can realistically rely on ChatGPT today. To understand the dynamics of where we are versus where we’re headed is important, but you can’t do this until you immerse yourself in the current offerings in your own environment. Finally, hear how AI is being incorporated into the enterprise framework in the long term. Many industries – like transportation, health care and agriculture – are already heavily reliant on AI today for a number of uses.

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