Every CRO needs an AI strategy

@Kevin Knieriem, Clari's CRO, recently wrote a column in Selling Power magazine* about the importance of every CRO needing to formulate an AI strategy that delivers scale and growth while improving employee satisfaction and job satisfaction. In the article, he describe 5 key principles CROs need to consider when formulating their AI strategy

1. Companies will differentiate and win based on proprietary data and workflow integration. AI models have become widely accessible to competitors. For Chief Revenue Officers (CROs) aiming to transform revenue processes and achieve significant results, the key is understanding that the success of AI models depends on the quality of the data they receive and how effectively that data is integrated into specific revenue workflows. In other words, achieving breakthrough results in revenue generation requires careful consideration of data quality and its integration into tailored workflows.
2. Keep your eye on these two key outcomes. First, CROs need to focus on predictably hitting their revenue numbers every time. Secondly, they need to focus on boosting the productivity of revenue-impacting employees. Note that these employees are not just sales reps. They include marketing, revops, customer success, and anyone who contributes to revenue and retention in the organization. Both of these concepts should be used to formulate your strategy.
3. You own the technology stack. CROs should be responsible for the revenue tech stack. Take personal responsibility for this!
4. You don’t have to be an AI expert, but be clear about the workflows you want to improve and the critical success factors you want to focus on. Generative AI is a hot topic, but there are other types of AI that can be leveraged to reinvent your revenue process, such Predictive AI for highly accurate forecasting or natural language processing AI for analyzing large volumes of conversations with speed and scale 
5. Balance human intelligence with AI while thinking about big new possibilities. Salesforce research shows reps only spend 30% of their time selling. Leveraging AI can enable your sales team to spend more time selling by reducing monotonous and time-consuming tasks.

CRO is the right person in the org to think about how AI can be used to manage revenue-generating processes. The impact can be game-changing. A McKinsey study found that Fortune 100 companies that have a CRO in place show 1.8 x higher revenue. This number will increase as AI matures and organizations learn how to harness AI more.

Bottom line: Developing an AI strategy should be your number one priority. 

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