Introducing Artificial Intelligence to Company X (group 23)

We have analysed the information strategy of Company X. They are a venture capital firm based in The Hague.  The firm invests mainly in companies within the early to mid-growth stages and they are not focused on a specific industry.
To get a better view of the environment of Company X, we conducted a SWOT analysis, where we analysed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. One of the strengths of Company X is that due to internal funding, they do not depend on any investment partners. A weakness, however, is the time to reach confirmed deals with ventures takes 4 – 12 months, which implies a too slow. An opportunity is that they could invest in other markets such as China and India, as they currently only have investments across Europe and Southeast Asia. The largest threat to Company X is the intensity of competitive rivalry in the venture capital market, as this is growing rapidly.
After analysing the current use of information technology in Company X, we found that they are using three kinds of information technologies. They are using Microsoft Office 365 for the day-to-day operations and tasks, social media to raise their company’s presence and awareness and Exact Online for their financial operations, such as preparing the balance sheet. These are all very basic technologies.

The problem Company X faces is the processing time to evaluate and select business plans needs to be optimized. Our solution to this problem is artificial intelligence (AI). AI is about developing search algorithms, machine learning algorithms, data mining and using statistical analysis in daily business operations. Company X is now using subjective and intuitive methods to review business plans, when data science could make a huge difference in their decision making.
We propose an expert system based on machine learning, algorithms, databases and available industry data, to automate the business plan evaluation and selection process. For a successful implementation and usage of AI, we have identified several of the most important recommendations. First, we assume that the user is not an expert in the AI technology, but rather an expert in the decision making field. Therefore, it is important that the employees of Company X learn to use the technology. Secondly, Company X needs to change how they make decisions into a more data driven way. Lastly, they have to expand the current team with an IT specialist who can support and maintain the AI technology, and can respond immediately to problems that occur within the system.

To conclude, when we evaluate how AI could have a positive impact on the daily business, we believe that it will contribute to the further growth of Company X, as it will reduce the business plan evaluation and selection process time. It also gives Company X the opportunity to actively look for interesting companies in which they can invest, instead of only reviewing business plans they receive.