It's time to take a step back from the noise and hype surrounding artificial intelligence (AI). Businesses have been inundated with AI sales pitches promoting the technology's potential to automate tasks, increase speed and accuracy and cut costs. Most businesses lack a vision of how AI will transform their operations. Rather than the piecemeal adoption of AI systems, some believe businesses need to develop an overarching strategy for how to embed AI in their organisation over time. "The most important thing is having a comprehensive and holistic view of AI sourcing within the organisation," says Mohammed Chaara, a former Lenovo strategist who is now "an evangelist" for AI. Working out what kind of AI is needed for different processes and whether these will be carried out in-house, outsourced or in partnership is an important step to developing a strategy, he says.