Artificial Intelligence (AI) is all around us. The technology is evolving rapidly and is playing an increasingly important role in business. At NEDCON, we are also exploring the opportunities this technology offers. Bram te Woerd, Digitalization Lead, is involved in the digital transformation of our organization and investigates how AI can contribute to it. In this blog, Bram shares his perspective on this development.
AI as an enabler
When people think of AI, they often immediately think of chatbots. However, the technology goes far beyond that. “To me, AI is a collective term for technologies that analyze information, recognize patterns, make predictions, generate content and support people in performing tasks and processes more efficiently,” Bram explains.
This broad applicability is what makes AI interesting for organizations. At the same time, Bram does not see the technology as a replacement for people. “I primarily see and experience it as a technology that supports people in their work.”
For employees, this does not mean their role becomes less important. On the contrary, by completing certain tasks faster and smarter, more time becomes available for work where human expertise truly makes the difference.
Learning by doing
According to Bram, one thing is certain: AI will have a major impact on the way we work. However, NEDCON is still largely in an exploratory phase, with experimentation, learning and research at its core. The goal is not to apply AI everywhere, but to understand where the technology can genuinely add value to our business processes.
Within the AI community, you often hear the statement: “The AI you use today is the worst AI you will ever use.” It highlights how quickly the technology is developing. What seems impressive today may become standard practice within a few months. This is why it is important not to wait, but to gain experience now. Capabilities that seemed impossible only a short time ago are now available to almost everyone.
At NEDCON, we are therefore exploring step by step where AI can create value. The technology itself is not the focus; the added value for employees, customers and the organization is. By experimenting and gaining practical experience, we are building knowledge for the future.
From experience to insight
One of the greatest opportunities Bram sees in AI is making the knowledge available within NEDCON more accessible. Many colleagues have worked here for decades and have accumulated a tremendous amount of experience in projects, engineering and technical decision-making. “AI offers the opportunity to make that knowledge available faster, reuse it more effectively and better support both employees and customers,” he says.
According to Bram, successful AI adoption is not only about technology. By bringing together knowledge, experience and data in the right way, insights can become available more quickly, enabling NEDCON to respond better to the challenges of tomorrow.
Shaping the future together
While AI’s future remains uncertain, Bram expects it to become a natural part of our daily work. Eventually, AI will no longer be viewed as something special but as an integral part of how we collaborate and make use of knowledge.
Still, according to Bram, one message remains the most important: “The organizations that will be successful in the future are not necessarily those with the most AI tools, but those that succeed in bringing people, processes, knowledge and technology together effectively.”
This is also where NEDCON’s greatest opportunity lies: not in AI itself, but in what we can achieve with it together.
