Avid Larizadeh Duggan OBE, European Head of Teachers’ Venture Growth (TVG), was a featured panelist at the recent Sifted Summit in London. Below, Avid shares her insights from the event on AI’s pivotal role in redefining enterprise technology stacks and the four areas AI solutions must address to succeed in enterprise. Avid also joined Amy Lewin for an interview on the Sifted podcast, discussing how some startups are navigating this disruptive technology and where it will make the biggest difference. Listen to the full podcast: https://lnkd.in/gR8hcPHS
A couple of weeks ago, John Thornhill asked me about my thesis on AI as part of a Sifted panel, with Steffen Tjerrild from Synthesia, Marie Ekeland from 2050 and Cameron McLain from Giant Ventures. Here's my response where I focused on AI for enterprise: AI is set to redefine both consumer and enterprise landscapes over the next decade. For consumers, AI promises to boost personal productivity, enhance user interfaces, and create more personalized experiences in healthcare, education, and beyond. Meanwhile, in the enterprise world, AI is driving productivity through automation, accelerating data-driven decision-making, unlocking new business models, and importantly changing the tech stack, skills, workflows and processes that enterprises have become used to. At Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan's TVG, we see this as a pivotal moment, similar to the early days of cloud adoption in the 2000s. We're currently in Phase I of AI adoption, marked by early experimentation, excitement, and cautious optimism. But for AI to succeed in enterprises, solutions need to deliver: ✅ Fast time to value with clear ROI ✅ Customizability to meet unique needs ✅ Strong performance, safety, and compliance ✅ Effective change management tools for seamless integration This is a critical land grab phase and one where selling seats won't cut it. Companies that help enterprises tackle adoption barriers—ranging from accuracy concerns to complex workflows—will become trusted partners during this technological shift. We see a vertical sector focus as key, as it allows for deeper customer understanding, faster go-to-market strategies, and defensible solutions. Drawing lessons from enterprise giants like Salesforce, SAP and Workday, who overcame adoption challenges and established long-term defensibility, today’s AI leaders must focus on: 🔑 Proprietary data assets 🔑 Network effects and integration depth 🔑 Customization and continuous improvement AI is forming a new enterprise tech stack—one with the potential to create billion-dollar companies. As we move through this transformative period, those who stay agile, prioritize customer-centricity, and drive meaningful change will emerge as the lasting winners. The marathon is on🚀 #AI #EnterpriseAI #Innovation #DigitalTransformation #TVG #FutureOfWork #Tech