Manish Kumar on Leveraging AI to Propel Business Agility

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In today’s dynamic business environment, change is the new constant. Global shifts, evolving policies, and new market forces are opening fresh opportunities for innovation and growth. To stay ahead, businesses must embrace agility—adapting quickly and confidently to navigate challenges and seize emerging possibilities.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is emerging as a critical tool to drive agility, empowering companies to make faster, smarter decisions, uncover inefficiencies, and foster innovation across various levels of operation. From early design ideation to executive-level strategic planning, AI’s potential to transform workflows is immense.

Let’s explore how AI enhances this much-needed business agility by enabling early problem detection, knowledge retention, real-time data-driven decisions, and predictive analytics.

The Power of Early Problem Detection

One of the core challenges in product development is identifying potential issues as early as possible. The earlier a problem is detected in the design cycle, the cheaper and quicker it is to resolve. For instance, during ideation and design phases, simulation tools powered by AI allow teams to foresee potential flaws in their designs before production even begins.

By integrating AI-driven systems such as the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, which spans from ideation through to manufacturing, businesses can leverage data to identify errors that could otherwise escalate in complexity and cost. AI mines existing data to predict potential pitfalls, saving money and critical development time. This capability ensures product quality while accelerating time-to-market, a crucial advantage for any company navigating volatile market conditions.

Preserving and Leveraging Knowledge

Companies today face a pressing challenge with an aging workforce. Knowledge and expertise accumulated over decades risk being lost when experienced employees retire. AI offers a way to preserve and utilize this intellectual capital effectively.

Imagine an experienced worker’s unique insights being captured into a centralized system. With AI-powered tools like virtual companions, companies can unlock that stored expertise, making it accessible to other employees regardless of their experience levels in real time. Instead of manually sifting through countless documents, designers or engineers can interact with AI systems that contextualize stored knowledge and provide actionable insights on demand.

For example, a new design engineer might query whether a given material is suitable for a product. AI can interpret that question, tap into the company’s knowledge base and material databases, and almost instantly deliver a relevant, informed answer. This seamless access to institutional knowledge ensures continuity and builds organizational agility.

Smarter Decision-Making for Executives

AI’s ability to synthesize large amounts of complex information into actionable insights is a game-changer for business leaders. Executives often need clarity in making high-stakes decisions, from navigating supply chain risks to assessing investments in new machinery or materials.

With predictive analytics and real-time data insights, AI enables leaders to run detailed “what-if” scenarios. For example, AI systems can simulate the potential impacts of rising material costs, changes in customer demand, or supply chain disruptions. This foresight helps CEOs and other decision-makers confidently steer their companies through uncertainty.

Additionally, AI tools can aggregate data across the organization into concise, human-readable formats, empowering executives with accurate, timely information. These tools effectively act as virtual advisors, delivering insights that might otherwise be buried in silos of unstructured data.

Enhancing Real-Time Collaboration and Agility

Another significant advantage AI brings is the ability to streamline processes and accelerate collaboration. For design teams, AI tools simplify the creation of photorealistic renderings or virtual environments. For example, using prompts, designers can generate advanced visuals or environmental maps for their models within seconds, such as situating a camper van in an ultra-detailed lakeside scene complete with accurate lighting.

On a broader scale, AI systems can integrate seamlessly into existing workflows, offering recommendations and insights based on an individual user’s context. Whether it’s a design engineer fine-tuning a model or an executive assessing high-level strategy, AI adapts to the specific needs of different user personas, keeping operations aligned and efficient.

Turning Data into Predictive Power

The real crux of AI-driven agility lies in its ability to harness and analyze data in real time. A company can use AI to predict machinery breakdowns, forecast material usage, or propose new maintenance schedules based on runtime data. This predictive power enables businesses to shift from reactive to proactive strategies, allowing them to optimize resources and reduce downtime.

With AI, companies can also innovate business models tailored to long-term customer needs. For instance, a manufacturer with access to client runtime data can predict service intervals and offer preemptive maintenance agreements. AI’s ability to connect these dots creates opportunities for companies to strengthen customer loyalty while improving operational efficiency.

AI Is the Future of Agile Businesses

AI is no longer limited to narrow technical tasks; it’s a comprehensive enabler of agility for modern companies, which is vital in today’s volatile business climate. By identifying problems early, preserving critical knowledge, driving smarter decisions, and leveraging predictive analytics, AI transforms the way businesses operate.

For companies ready to compete in a fast-evolving marketplace, integrating AI isn’t just an option; it’s a necessity. Whether you’re a design engineer looking for insights or an executive shaping strategic goals, AI offers the clarity, efficiency, and adaptability needed to thrive in an uncertain world.

The ability to pivot quickly, remain resilient, and unlock innovative opportunities has never been more critical. Companies equipped with AI will not only survive the shifts ahead, but will define the benchmarks for success in the years to come.

Manish Kumar

Manish Kumar

From day dreaming designs at IIT, Delhi lecture halls to building his own furniture, this avid woodwork artist knows design like the back of his hand. In his more than two decades at SOLIDWORKS, Manish has led early development of translators, surfacing, modelling, sketcher, assembly, weldments, sheet metal, drawings, and more. In his current role as CEO, Manish spearheads the synergy between R&D and the brand’s vibrant community of users and helps in accelerating the adoption of the expanding SOLIDWORKS portfolio. As the Vice President of SOLIDWORKS R&D, he has played a key role in the development of SOLIDWORKS product and technology strategies.