I couldn’t believe the timing this week. As I’m working through the course material for the Microsoft AI Engineer exam a post dropped from Rajani Janaki Ram with a Framework on Adopting AI on Azure – brilliant! I thought I’d review the framework this week and what it means.
What is it?
The Azure AI Adoption Framework is a structured guide to integrate AI on Azure into your organization. It’s seemingly designed for businesses of any size or industry and provides a step-by-step approach (including a maturity assessment) for both generative and non-generative AI use cases. At its core, the framework helps you decide on the right AI technologies, plan the skills and resources you need, and ensure your AI workloads are secure, compliant, and effectively managed.
Why should you care about frameworks like this? AI can be complex and daunting, especially when scaling up. A framework provides clarity, offering a reliable structure that helps you avoid pitfalls and stay aligned with best practices. It’s like having a roadmap – you can see the steps ahead, understand where to make critical decisions, and how to prepare for each stage.
What does it mean from a business perspective?
From a business standpoint, the Azure AI Adoption Framework is all about aligning AI initiatives with your strategic goals and scaling AI solutions in a sustainable way. The framework divides the AI adoption process into phases: creating an AI strategy, planning the skills and resources, getting your Azure environment ready, and continuously managing and securing your AI efforts.
The key takeaway here is flexibility. Frameworks are not rigid instructions (not just this framework, but any framework); they are toolkits. You don’t have to adopt every recommendation or follow every phase precisely. The Azure AI Adoption Framework allows you to take what fits your needs right now – it’s meant to guide you and help you make informed decisions as your needs evolve.
What do I do with it?
So, where do you start?
- Make sure that the people who would use this framework have it – Enterprise and Solution Architects who are responsible for IT strategy and systems design, Project Management Offices for use in their projects, Operations teams who are responsible for your Azure environment and Security teams to help assess and deal with security risks.
- Use the framework to create an AI strategy, develop a plan.
- Identify your goals? Where can AI add value in your operations? Then prioritize. Use AI in areas where you see the highest impact—automate repetitive tasks, enhance customer experiences, or analyze data to gain new insights.
- Make sure your Azure environment is prepared – think about governance, operations and security.
Remember though, this isn’t a one-and-done process. AI adoption is iterative. Revisit the framework as you grow, adding more advanced AI use cases or scaling your solutions.
Microsoft’s framework is there to support your organisation – use it to plan, refine, and expand how AI can work for you (use what you need when you need it). Adopting AI is not just about technology; it’s about making the most of the opportunities AI offers, and doing it sustainably and responsibly.
Further Reading
Microsoft – Adopting AI on Azure
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