Enterprise AI programs rarely fail because of bad ideas. More often, they get stuck in ungoverned pilot mode and never reach production. At a recent VentureBeat event, technology leaders from MassMutual and Mass General Brigham explained how they avoided that trap — and what the results look like when discipline replaces sprawl.At MassMutual, the results are concrete: 30% developer productivity gains, IT help desk resolution times reduced from 11 minutes to one, and customer service calls cut from 15 minutes to just one or two.“We’re always starting with why do we care about this problem?” Sears Merritt, MassMutual’s head of enterprise technology and experience, said at the event. “If we solve the problem, how are we gonna know we solved it? And, how much value is associated with doing that?”Defining metrics, establishing strong feedback loopsMassMutual, a 175-year-old company serving millions of policy owners and customers, has pushed AI into production across the business — customer support, IT, customer acquisition, underwriting, servicing, claims, and other areas. Merritt said his team follows the scientific method, beginning with a hypothesis and testing whether it has an outcome that will tangibly drive the business forward. Some ideas are great, but they may be “intractable in the business” due to factors like lack of data or access, or regulatory constraint. “We won’t go any further with an idea until we get crystal clear on how we’re going to measure, and how we’re going to define success.” Ultimately, it’s up to different de …
