Your AI Action Plan: Five Steps to Success

By Christopher Hession

We’ve been talking about AI quite a bit around Operative. We recently announced our new Adeline AI tool and wrote a detailed eBook diving into GenAI and Machine Learning use cases for the media world. We’ve written about how AI is revolutionizing ad sales and changing advertising. In this article, I’m sharing a high level action plan — things to consider — when kicking off an AI journey.


Media companies are increasingly turning to third-party AI/ML solutions to gain a competitive edge. Rather than building proprietary systems from scratch, partnering with specialized providers can offer a faster and more cost-effective path to harnessing the power of AI and Machine Learning (ML) across ad sales, operations, and billing/invoicing processes.

This article outlines an actionable plan for media companies to successfully integrate and maximize the value of third-party AI/ML solutions.

Step 1: Assess and Prioritize

Begin by conducting a thorough assessment of your current ad sales, operations, and billing/invoicing processes. Identify areas that are ripe for optimization, such as your sales processes, planning, audience targeting, campaign management, performance analysis, invoicing, and revenue recognition. Start with a defined function. Prioritize the areas with the most significant impact on your bottom line and customer satisfaction — think about the overall value that AI could deliver. For example, how valuable would it be if you could use AI to instantly automate & optimize the planning process?

Involve key stakeholders from various departments, including sales, marketing, finance, and IT, to develop a holistic understanding of the challenges and opportunities that AI/ML solutions can address.

Step 2: Evaluate and Select Providers

  1. Market Research: Conduct extensive research to identify AI/ML solution providers that specialize in the advertising industry. Look for providers with a proven track record, a strong technology foundation, and a deep understanding of the unique challenges faced by media companies.
  2. Capability Assessment: Evaluate each provider’s AI/ML capabilities and ensure they align with your specific needs and priorities. Consider factors such as the types of AI/ML models they offer, their domain expertise, data requirements, integration capabilities, and scalability. In Operative’s case, our Adeline AI tool is integrated into AOS, Operative.One, and IBMS. And paired with our CloudCore solution, it will easily unify data from across the business.
  3. Data Privacy and Security: Assess each provider’s data privacy and security measures to ensure compliance with relevant regulations and industry standards. Evaluate their data handling practices, encryption protocols, and access controls. Understand how backend LLM systems work within their solution — including understanding specific data that might be shared with the LLM engines.
  4. Cost Analysis: Conduct a thorough cost analysis, considering not only the upfront costs but also potential long-term savings and ROI. Compare pricing models, scalability options, and any additional fees or hidden costs.
  5. Proof of Concept: Before committing to a long-term partnership, consider requesting a proof of concept (PoC) or pilot project. This will allow you to evaluate the provider’s solutions in a controlled environment and ensure they meet your specific requirements.
Fostering a strong partnership with your third-party AI/ML provider is crucial for long-term success. 

Step 3: Implementation and Integration

  1. Data Preparation and Migration: Data is the lifeblood of AI. Work closely with the chosen AI/ML provider to prepare and connect your existing data sources to their AI platform. Ensure that your data is continuously organized and formatted correctly to optimize the performance of the AI/ML models.
  2. System Integration: Collaborate with the provider’s technical team to integrate their AI/ML solutions seamlessly with your existing systems and processes. This may involve developing custom APIs, data pipelines, or user interfaces to facilitate smooth communication and data exchange. Our recommended approach: use CloudCore to connect Adeline AI and unify your revenue data.
  3. Change Management: Implementing third-party AI/ML solutions will likely require changes to your existing workflows and processes. Develop a comprehensive change management strategy to ensure a smooth transition and minimize disruptions. Provide training, support, and clear communication to your staff to facilitate adoption and acceptance of the new AI/ML-driven processes.
  4. Ongoing Monitoring and Optimization: Establish processes for regularly monitoring the performance of the AI/ML solutions, identifying areas for improvement, and providing feedback to the provider. Work closely with them to optimize and fine-tune their models based on your specific needs and data.

Step 4: Leverage Advanced Capabilities

As you gain experience and confidence with the third-party AI/ML solutions, explore advanced capabilities to further enhance your ad operations:

  1. Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Generative AI: Leverage NLP and Generative AI capabilities offered by the provider to analyze and generate human-like text, such as ad copy, campaign descriptions, and customer communications. This can help you create more engaging and personalized content at scale.
  2. Computer Vision and Image Recognition: Utilize computer vision and image recognition technologies to analyze and understand visual content, such as images and videos. This can be particularly useful for contextual advertising, brand safety, and ad placement optimization.
  3. Predictive Analytics and Forecasting: Take advantage of the provider’s predictive analytics and forecasting capabilities to forecast advertising trends, consumer behavior, and campaign performance. This can help you make more informed decisions, optimize ad spend, and maximize return on investment (ROI). Operative’s OnTarget forecasting solution does just that, and can easily fit into any broadcaster or streamer tech stack.
  4. Intelligent Automation: Automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, such as ad trafficking, campaign setup, invoicing, and reporting, using the provider’s intelligent automation solutions. This can free up your team’s time and resources, allowing them to focus on more strategic and high-value activities.

Step 5: Continuous Collaboration and Improvement

Fostering a strong partnership with your third-party AI/ML provider is crucial for long-term success. Maintain open lines of communication and collaborate closely to:

By following this action plan, media companies can effectively leverage third-party AI/ML solutions to revolutionize their ad sales, operations, and billing/invoicing processes. This approach offers a faster and more cost-effective path to harnessing the power of AI/ML while benefiting from the specialized expertise and continuous innovation of dedicated solution providers.

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