Early AI Technology Adoption: Launch of Q's AI R&D Vertical

Long before the hype about the AI technology revolution, we had made a foundational decision: converting our business into a data-driven company. This guideline, therefore, gave birth to our Data Warehouse (DWH) project, an initiative to centrally consolidate our varied sets of business data. This mechanism of data collection partially prepared us for the AI wave waiting across industries.

As AI technology has evolved from a curiosity to a mainstream necessity, we found ourselves standing taller with our foresight and foundational work. This blog will take you through our journey—from laying down a solid data framework to implementing sophisticated AI tools for bolstering our operational efficiency and competitive edge.

From Data Centralization to AI Readiness

Our journey started with the establishment of a Data Warehouse — a repository consolidating data from various business processes into a structured and available-for-access format. Such a strategic move was not only about organizing what was already available in terms of data; it literally laid the core and indispensable groundwork for any future AI-driven initiatives. At the time we felt that this required one place because our data needed to be housed for efficient use.

Only now, after AI has gone mainstream, do we actually know how important that initiative was.

Cross-Departmental engagement

With that data poised and waiting, AI technologies came as an opportunity to further enable business processes. Our engineers and IT specialists did not sit in their own departments; they reached out to every other department in order to understand the uniqueness of the challenges they face and what their needs are like.

Areas being enhanced by AI

One of the results of our efforts was our ChatBot tool. Developed using Flutter, the mobile and web application supports organizational units from developers to business analysts, solution architects, and project managers.

Q ChatBot Flutter application

Realizing the potential impact from AI, the company rolled out an educational campaign across the company describing what could be offered through our AI technologies, including a detailed tutorial for the ChatBot. It didn’t just tell but excited our team to the possibilities and encouraged them to think how AI could be put to further use in their respective work areas.

Continuous learning and development

Our commitment to AI technology takes the form not just of direct applications but also through continuous learning and adjustment. We learn and modify continually, not from the press releases about our latest widgets or PR quotes at our website but from actively publishing blogs, case studies and taking part in discussions when it comes to AI. That guarantees our staff is at the top of advancements in technology.

AI-Powered Tools

One of the big efforts that we have is an Estimation Tool built with the power of AI, enabling automation right from backlog generation to estimates and proposals. This particularly impacts our presales process by fast-tracking it tenfold.

High level representation of Estimation Tool’s flow

Second, we have built an in-house chatbot that uses our current knowledge base located in Confluence. This is an AI chatbot that responds to employee inquiries instantly. This is on the various company policies and procedures, thus ensuring that the organizational information required by its staff is accessed instantly.

Three-Tier AI Strategy

Our AI strategy is built along three levels: using AI tools for daily operations, enhancing in-house tools meeting organizational needs, and producing AI-powered products and services for our customers.

AI R&D Vertical

Realizing the major impact that AI could have on our business, we decided to set up a dedicated AI Research and Development (R&D) vertical.

We were not just keeping pace with trends but setting trends. With the setting up of a dedicated AI R&D vertical, we have put substantial time, budget, and focus to deep dive into AI. This commitment has ensured that the initiatives around AI get undivided focus, free from the hiccups of several other operational priorities. We assigned several critical functions to our R&D team.

Innovation and Exploration

The R&D vertical works at the cutting-edge of AI technology, exploring new advancements and applications. This has to include not only taking up existing technologies but rather innovating proprietary AI solutions, catering to our specific needs.

Cross-Departmental Integration

The other very important responsibility of this vertical is the mandate to ensure that the developed AI tools and systems are transferable to the departments without any hiccups. This also helps in ensuring that every area within the firm benefits from the advancements taking place in AI, hence creating a holistic environment for growth.

Delivering AI-Driven Solutions to Clients

Our AI R&D vertical is playing a very pivotal role in translating in-house developed innovations into feasible offerings for our clients. This is through building the products and services with thorough testing and customization, ensuring that they fit perfectly into the exact needs of a given client. In doing so, we not only serve them better but also empower them toward the use of AI for their competitive advantage. We design these solutions, client-focused, to smoothen operations, reduce costs, and enhance decision-making processes.

Fostering an AI Culture Within the Company

One of the most transformational roles that our AI R&D vertical arguably plays a significant part in our mission is AI-centric culture across the organization. This includes:

Education and Training

The staff is exposed to regular workshops, seminars, and training sections to ensure that all staff of whatever department or position they hold are aware of what AI fundamentally is and how it can be used in their areas.

Collaborative Innovation

Inspire cross-department collaboration in bringing forward and developing new AI ideas not limited in the tech-only corners of the company but integrated across the whole fabric of the business.

Promoting AI Literacy

We aim to demystify and increase AI literacy across all our employees with the provision of resources and tools. It will help remove the mystique from AI and help foster a more innovative mindset among all.

Recognition and Incentives

This will also help in keeping the motivation of our teams at very high levels through recognizing and rewarding AI-driven initiatives and innovations within the company.

Conclusion

The above additional responsibilities of our AI R&D vertical are important to ensure that our AI technology does not remain a part of our internal tools only but rather grows, improves our market offering, and changes organizational culture. We are building this dual focus of both our internal learning and giving the best innovative AI-driven solution to our clients in their context.

In doing so, through embedding AI deep into both our product lines and corporate culture, we make sure our dedication to AI overarches the promise of operational efficiency to become a core part of who we are and where we are going.