As organisations climb the digital maturity curve from manual to automated, they must ensure that new AI tools are implemented with guidelines for fair and ethical decision-making. This adds a new layer of complexity—and opportunity.

The Australian Federal Government’s Digital Transformation Agency is a good example of how automation can build trust while delivering better user experiences. The agency enhanced productivity and efficiency with a new, automated procurement platform that was built to ensure compliance with record management and audit regulations. As a result, buyers and sellers are guided through all the relevant steps and get responses far faster.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” says Anthony Conway, product manager and director for digital sourcing platforms at the Digital Transformation Agency. “We have facilitated 5,000 transactions in the last financial year alone. We have seen an 82% increase in contract value, from AUD700 million to almost AUD3.9 billion in 2021. Before ServiceNow, these volumes would have been quite challenging to manage.”

Gone are the days when responsible AI was a problem for data scientists who were far removed from the customers and employees their decisions impacted. Today, responsible AI is rapidly joining other risk and compliance topics as a staple of board discussions.

As more firms adopt AI, putting people at the centre of digitisation conversations and carefully planning will improve experiences and reduce costs — all while building trust with stakeholders.