tl;dr: Successful AI pilots turn ambition into real-world value by using a structured path that aligns technology plans and business objectives. Dell Services provides a turnkey approach to experiment with and validate AI use cases, helping you prove value to substantiate investments and quickly scale with confidence. Your guide to Dell AI Factory starts here.
Breaking down AI challenges that limit progress
Business leaders face increasing pressure to deliver on the potential of AI. Enterprise data plus innovative technology, successfully integrated, unlock unprecedented efficiency and innovation. But quickly moving from concept to solutions that deliver value in production requires more than technology; it demands a clear strategy, deep expertise, and a structured approach to AI projects. In a previous discussion, we explored why many AI pilots fail. Now, we define a clear, nimble path to turn AI ambitions into results.
Enterprise-wide AI that creates momentum for scaled impact requires a solid foundation. Pilots should provide more than an experimental playground for discovery, addressing how AI solutions meet the full spectrum of business needs and providing a clear plan for integration. AI workloads are complex, and most organizations are lacking in the specialized skills required to design, deploy and manage solutions, causing projects to stall from the start. Furthermore, a model may perform well in a controlled lab environment, but it could struggle when faced with real-world data streams, legacy systems, and complex security requirements. Organizations should seek ways to prove how technology and objectives come together in a way that easily ramps beyond initial testing.
A structured path propels results
Deliberate, structured initiatives are key to overcoming challenges and achieving results with speed. Dell Professional Services offers easy entry points, from facilitated workshops to turnkey interactive use cases, demonstrating and validating solution impacts. Building trust in the validity of what AI delivers is critical, especially in highly sensitive industries, and we address those concerns head-on. With proven solutions and vast expertise, we define what works for you, in your environment, with your data to move quickly beyond theoretical discussions and put technology to work. Additionally, we ensure every step of the process is measurable to substantiate expected outcomes so you advance AI with confidence.
Our collaborative partnership begins with a half-day fee-waived workshop to identify a high-impact use case, from code generation or digital assistants to image recognition or beyond. From there, we stand up the pilot that fits your needs, whether through a hosted engagement or an on-premises option. End to end we take you from idea to innovation in 8 weeks or less.
Bringing AI pilots to life—a practical example
Let’s illustrate this through a search assistant use case for a financial services organization. Keep in mind, these pilots apply to any industry or any use case. The underlying capabilities we are exploring here could work for any organization relying on deep data analysis, from accelerating drug discovery in biomedical research to streamlining legal discovery.
In our example, a financial services firm has massive amounts of data in reports, news articles, and filings. Analysts spend countless hours manually searching for relevant sources, an inefficient process that can lead to less reliable findings. The firm wants to improve analyst speed and accuracy to better inform customer investment strategies. Here’s how the project would work:
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- Design & Plan: Bringing business and IT leaders together with Dell consultants in a facilitated session, we identify the problem statement, pain points, and measures of success. A use case for automating analyst workflows through an AI-powered research assistant is decided, with a KPI of reducing research time by 90%. Solution experts define the requirements and plan for a secure, on-premises solution using the NVIDIA Agent IQ Enterprise Research Assistant that will run in a managed environment. Dell provides the hardware and software for testing, building the solution behind the customer’s firewall, ensuring proprietary data is securely integrated.
- Deploy and Test: The AI assistant uses powerful Retrieval Augmented Generation and multi-step reasoning. The pilot includes a representative subset of the firm’s data—over 50,000 data sources—in an expertly curated knowledge base for the AI to query. Using real data makes for a more tangible preview. A select group of analysts begins engaging with the goal of achieving financial reports and insights. They test and refine prompts and chat with the assistant to deep-dive into key questions. Additionally, they engage editable report features that enable personalization—adding a corporate logo, customized chart designs, and anecdotal input to deliver a satisfactory result.
- Measure and Validate: In minutes, the AI assistant returns a synthesized report, complete with charts, linked source documents and more. The pilot team tracks time saved and measures quality of search results. The transparency and auditability of the solution, where every step is recorded and explained, combined with Dell’s focus on measuring performance, drives confidence in the accuracy and relevancy of results. Research time hits their initial KPI, and analysts showcase new insights that were formerly missed, backed by cited proof points across numerous sources. Resulting value is clear: a detailed, actionable report that shortens data analysis time.
The firm now has a well-defined use case and validated solution. This forms the basis of how they will scale beyond this initial premise, applying to other functional areas, workstreams and even additional use cases.
From one use case to Enterprise-wide AI
AI is a strategic investment in your organization’s future and Dell is by your side every step of the way. Our highly skilled experts guide the right path, bringing focus and alignment that ties IT initiatives to core business priorities, driving progress at speed. Dell is committed to your success, giving you the ability to test with real infrastructure and integrate real data, whether hybrid or on-prem. We strive to de-risk your investment decisions by validating at a small scale, transforming AI from an abstract concept into a practical tool that delivers measurable results and builds organizational momentum for future growth.
These pilots create a proven roadmap to scale with confidence and ease. Let’s work together to turn your AI vision into a reality. Reach out to your Dell representative or visit our website to learn more.
