Balancing your business processes and operational performance with shiny AI
It’s truly remarkable and daunting to witness the speed at which an AI engine can generate texts or images when prompted with the right question. This potential is not limited to creative tasks but extends to transforming tomorrow’s quality management systems (QMS). Imagine predictive analytics and using AI to analyze historical data to predict future quality issues or defects. Consider the efficiency of AI in assisting with Root Cause Analysis to identify the causes of quality issues by analyzing complex data sets and uncovering correlations between various factors. Or AI can automate risk-based decision-making to assess risks and prioritize actions swiftly and accurately.
However, before integrating AI or any other new technology into your business, it's crucial to understand how it impacts your business models and its associated risks. Is your company and QMS AI ready? What are your strategies and policies to integrate technology and AI? These are not just questions but the keys to unlocking the potential of AI in your quality management system. The more you understand, the better prepared you'll be to make informed decisions. Assessing you AI readiness can be a first good step to take on the possibilities and challenges in systematically implementing AI into your integrated management system. The all-new ISO standard ISO/IEC 42001 can be the foundation for such an assessment.
ISO/IEC 42001 is the world’s first AI management system standard, providing valuable guidance for this rapidly changing technology. It specifies requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an Artificial Intelligence Management System (AIMS). If you provide or use AI-based products or services, it ensures responsible development and use of AI systems. AI poses challenges, such as ethical questions, transparency, and continuous learning. This standard sets out a structured way to manage risks and opportunities associated with AI, balancing innovation with governance. 
Developing innovation within your management system
AI and other technologies also spark innovation in the business. Therefore, it is essential to have ways to guide, enhance, and manage the speed of innovation through your management system. Innovation and standardization do not have to be at odds. Standardization fosters innovation by striking a balance between structure and flexibility. ISO 56000 can help you find the vocabulary, share definitions, and understand what innovation means to your company. ISO 56002 provides guidance for building an innovation management system. ISO 56001, which is planned for 2024, covers the requirements for your innovation management system.
In our previous article about the roles of a quality leader, this is where a change agent can influence and champion a culture of change to foster innovation. By defining clear objectives and competencies while allowing teams the freedom to decide, organizations can cultivate a culture of creativity within a structured framework. Karl Hedman, Principal Consultant and Partner at CANEA summarizes it: “Innovation is created by smart people sitting in the same room, knowing what they should discuss.”
AI implications for information security
Another perspective is understanding how AI, or other future technologies, will impact your information security and the data involved. AI relies on vast amounts of data for training and analysis. If you use AI on your own data sets, data privacy and the risk of leakage of sensitive information should be considered. There are regulatory requirements and industry-specific standards to protect data and privacy.
AI algorithms are vulnerable to manipulation and cyber attacks by injecting false information and compromising the integrity and reliability of the QMS. Employees or insiders with access to AI-powered QMS platforms may intentionally or inadvertently misuse the technology, leading to data breaches, intellectual property theft, or other security incidents. Companies should implement robust security measures to mitigate these risks, such as encryption, access control, anomaly detection, and regular security assessments. It is now more important than ever to incorporate information security into the management system by implementing ISO 27001.
Balancing these elements in management systems promotes innovation through incremental improvements and adaptive processes, driving continuous advancement and growth.
Overall, rethinking your management system into an agile and flexible platform for innovation will be the key to adapting to new technologies.
