Imagine a future, in five to ten years time, where organisations have advanced, from today’s handful of AI proof of concepts and pilot projects, to that future where AI is fully embedded throughout the organisation. What will the new operating models look like? How will humans and machines interact? How should the COO prepare for this future? What will be the role of the COO and what skills will be needed? I offer some potential answers to these questions and propose some practical actions that the COO can take now.

1. Antony Turner
The role of the COO
in the age of AI

2. 25+ years managing change in financial services,
establishing effective ways of working
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© Antony Turner
Chief Operating Officer
Program Director
Startup Founder
Author of The COO Playbook
Guest lecturer to MBA students
(Warwick Business School)
Technology
Information Security
HR Transformation
Vendor Management
Mergers & Acquisitions
Electronic Trading
Digital Banking
AI / Machine Learning
Morgan Grenfell
UBS
Barclays Wealth
Credit Suisse
ABN Amro
BNP Paribas
HSBC
Bank of America
Articles and Papers:
Creating a startup. Lessons learnt
Banks, AI and Startups
David can learn from Goliath
SMEs. Getting started with AI
A two-sided market connecting
university researchers & solutions
to SMEs for AI projects and
services
Coefficiency Lab
Winner of an Innovate UK award, as part of
a consortium with Warwick Business School
and an FX aggregator
Proof of concept for an international capital
raising business with 1,500+ SME
corporate clients and 400+ advisers &
investors. Matching advisers and investors
to corporate clients’ needs
Featured in the World Economic Forum
report: A roadmap to responsible
innovation with AI in financial services.
We're focused on AI Market Design: a kind
of economic engineering with AI, balancing
demand and supply

3. © Antony Turner 3
Large organisations are starting to develop AI
expertise
The state of AI in the Enterprise, Deloitte (2020).
2,700 participants, all have adopted AI technologies
• 27% of enterprises (who have adopted
AI) are “just dipping their toes into AI”
• 26% have a number of AI systems in
production
• According to Mckinsey*, 22% say 5% of
profit can be attributable to AI
Health warning
*The state of AI in 2020, McKinsey (Nov 2020). 2,400 participants, full range of industries, regions & sizes. Profit = earnings before interest and tax

4. The COO manages connections and inter-
dependencies to execute strategy
OKRs/KPIs Milestones Risk
management
Dependency
management
Rewards &
recognition
Mission, vision &
values
Leadership Financial Plan
Organisation
Structure
Execution
Framework
Accountable
leads
Purpose and
mandate
Diversity of skills
Role clarity Team work
Resource
planning
Systems &
Infrastructure
Multi-
disciplinary
teams
Product
management
Legal,
Compliance, Risk Data analytics
Communication
plan
Collaboration
1-2-1 meetings
Culture
Marketing
Stakeholder
management
Teams
Strategy
Operating Model
Communication Performance
Keep it simple Focus, focus, focus Learn and adapt
Actions speak louder
than words
Governance
Constant
learning
Connection and
engagement
The COO Playbook © Antony Turner
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© Antony Turner

5. Imagine a future of machine-enabled networks of
people and machines
Augmented Collective Intelligence. Superminds@MIT
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Clients
AI
Product
Development
Ideas, Requirements
Delivery
M
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Distribution
© Antony Turner
• Put AI at the core and build a “human
plus AI” operating model (BCG)
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© Antony Turner

6. The COO establishes and runs the AI powered
decision making pipeline
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© Antony Turner
www
Internal and
external data
sources
Data Ingestion
Data Processing
Predictions
Visualisations
Decisions
Actions
Data AI People

7. For the “human plus AI” operating model, focus on key
elements of the COO playbook
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© Antony Turner
Teams
Operating
Model
Strategy
Communication Performance
The COO Playbook © Antony Turner
• Individual accountability
• Diversity of skills
• Systems and Infrastructure
• Multi-disciplinary teams
• Governance
• Constant learning
• Culture
• Collaboration

8. Beyond operational excellence, AI skills and knowledge
will become essential for tomorrow’s COO
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© Antony Turner
Today
• Extensive experience in operations
management.
• Significant experience of the industry.
• Significant managerial experience.
• Excellent inter-personal and negotiating
skills.
• Thorough knowledge of the company and its
products and processes.
• Excellent organisational skills.
• Excellent time management skills.
• Excellent decision making skills.
Institute of Directors, Sept 2019
COO skills and
experience, IOD
• A degree or equivalent and
relevant professional
qualifications.
Tomorrow
• Empathy and inter-personal communication
• Complex problem-solving
• Critical thinking and analysis
• Creativity, originality and initiative
• Leadership and social influence
AI Savvy
• Opportunities and
limitations of AI
Data Analytics
• Types of analytics, data
management, bias,
statistical techniques
Risk Management
• AI governance (model
explainability, data quality…)
Active learning
• Learning from results of
human & AI interactions
(projects, experiments…)

9. Start now to prepare for pervasive AI
The state of AI in the Enterprise, Deloitte (2020). 2,700 participants, all have adopted AI technologies
What is needed to compete and win in a
future where AI is ubiquitous?
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© Antony Turner
Understand the
limitations of AI:
Access to data
Bias
Computing power and
cost
Shallow. No real
intelligence
Narrow focus
Safety, ethics and
privacy concerns
Identify new products and
services
• Leverage AI insights
• AI powered products and services
Develop tools and
partnerships to build data
infrastructure
• Develop ability to evaluate and
integrate AI tools and vendors
Focus on education, skills
development and talent
acquisition
• Data analytics, software engineers…
Establish governance
for trustworthy AI

10. As AI expands, risks increase, so establishing
trustworthy AI is critical
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© Antony Turner
Assessment list for
trustworthy AI
Expert Group on AI, set up by the European
Commission
• human agency and
oversight
• technical robustness and
safety
• privacy and data
governance
• transparency
• diversity, non-
discrimination and
fairness
• environmental and
societal well-being
• accountability
AI Review Board
To systematically and
comprehensively manage risks
Diverse team of experts
• Technical, legal, customer,
product, domain experts…
• Independent members
Authority
• Review of new proposals
• Monitoring on-going deployments
Policies and standards
• Development, procurement,
testing, privacy, explainability…
Accountable
Individual

11. As AI driven companies can outstrip traditional firms,
define/advance/accelerate your action plan
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© Antony Turner
✓ Secure leadership commitment and sponsorship
✓ Promote education (understanding AI’s capabilities and limitations)
✓ Develop data driven culture (data is an asset, break silos…)
✓ Develop data architecture and infrastructure
✓ Develop the “human plus AI” operating model
✓ Establish capability to evaluate and integrate AI tools and vendors
✓ Identify real problems suitable for AI to solve (ROI / Value vs. “Cool”)
✓ Establish AI governance
Contact: antony.c.turner@icloud.com
Competing in the Age of AI, by Marco Iansiti
and Karim R Lakhani, Jan - Feb 2020

12. References
The State of AI in 2020 McKinsey, Nov 2020
Deloitte’s State of AI in the Enterprise. July 2020
Augmented Collective Intelligence. Superminds@MIT
The Rise of the AI-Powered Company in the Postcrisis World, Boston Consulting Group, April 2020
Competing in the Age of AI, by Marco Iansiti and Karim R Lakhani, Jan - Feb 2020
Scaling AI: The 4 challenges you’ll face. VentureBeat, Feb 2021
Scaling AI: 5 Reasons Why It’s Difficult. Towards Data Science, July 2020
PwC’s Global Artificial Intelligence Study: Exploiting the AI Revolution, PWC
How the Coronavirus Is Already Rewriting the Future of Business, Havard Business School, March 2020
Resetting the Future of Work Agenda, World Economic Forum. Oct 2020
Micro-battles and the Journey to Scale Insurgency, Bain. Oct 2018
Top 10 job skills of tomorrow, World Economic Forum. Oct 2020
The technical and soft skills needed to succeed with AI in 2020 and beyond, Microsoft. Oct 2020
The role of the Chief Operating Officer, Institute of Directors. Sept 2019
6 Biggest Limitations of AI Technology, Hackernoon. Aug 2020
If Your Company Uses AI, It Needs an Internal Review Board, Harvard Business Review. Apr 2021
The Assessment List for Trustworthy AI, Highl-Level Expert Group on AI (European Commission). July 2020
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© Antony Turner