CIO interview: AI at FTSE scale starts with strategy, not hype

People, process and technology – in that order

AI implementations don’t just depend on infrastructure, but an organisation’s ability to embed and adopt it into workflows.

How do you picture a tobacco company executive? Evasive? Defensive? Perhaps a moustache to twirl at dramatically appropriate moments?

Javed Iqbal, British American Tobacco’s director of digital and information, has none of that. The 30-year company veteran grew up in Pakistan and has worked all over the world, embracing society’s changing view of BAT’s core product.

“Anything I can do to bring reduced risk products to the consumer faster is a day which is well spent for me,” he says.

As Javed has previously talked candidly about the need for more regulation in the tobacco industry, we're inclined to believe him.

Reduced risk products include vapes, gums and pouches, and tech is at the heart of getting them to market quickly.

We've recently written about BAT’s cloud transformation, in which Javed leveraged the competition between cloud providers to garner the best value for his firm.

BAT now benefits from more agility, scalability and a smaller environmental footprint compared to the on-prem days. But on top of that, it can use modern tools like AI.

"If I hadn't moved 80%+ of my environment into cloud, I would have to spend a significant amount of money - which I probably don't have in this challenging environment - to be able to access AI.”

Putting BAT's data into the cloud has enabled advanced data analytics, AI and even the potential for quantum computing in the future.

But it’s not just a case of making your infrastructure ready for these tools: you need to make sure your staff are prepared as well.

“AI is as successful as the capability of the organisation is to embed and adopt it,” says Javed.

BAT has now rolled out “a few thousand” Microsoft Copilot licenses, but staff have to go through a full day of training before it’s enabled. That even applies at the C-level, though they have a slimmed down, half-day version.

Javed describes some of the training as “generic,” but most is focused on specific use cases.

“We create enough time so that they have a chance to test - in their environment, for their requirement - how they can better use Copilot.

“If you are working in a legal function, you will use it differently; if you are working in financial reporting and analysis, you will use it differently; if you are in HR, you will use it differently.”

There’s also a portion dedicated to prompt engineering, which is often left out of AI training.

“The answer is as good as the quality of the question,” says Javed, “so the quality of the prompt going into your Copilot or your agentic AI solutions has to be very well developed and learned.”

AI doesn’t start and end with Copilot

AI agents are the next step in enterprise AI, and is where Javed predicts the technology will have “significant impact.” BAT is already working with Microsoft on agentic solutions, which he thinks will help transform processes “faster, more effectively [and] with better accuracy.”

Javed’s approach to AI is best described as slow and steady, and he’s applying the same to agents. For now, BAT is mostly using the tools to “sweat digital assets globally” and create briefs for partners like advertising giant WPP (who, ironically, are also experimenting with AI to summarise briefs); but in the future, it could get a lot more ambitious.

AI could, for example, help address the challenge of onerous regulatory submissions to bring reduced risk products to market faster, as mentioned at the top of this article. It can analyse consumer insights, and even consider BAT’s company-specific advantages.

Javed has no interest in building AI for operational areas outside BAT’s core competencies. Why build something for accounts payable or cash flow forecasting, when someone developing those products can do it faster and better? Instead, his interest is in strategy:

“Our R&D, in terms of our intellectual property; understanding my consumer better; or fast-tracking my process of regulatory submissions - these are the strategic areas where I would like to employ technology more and more.”

That’s all in the future, though. Right now, he says, the industry is “going through the early phase... where sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work, sometimes we don't know the question, or we think it doesn't know the answer.

“The good thing is that the more you can create that interaction in a very controlled environment...the better you get yourself ready when it becomes more embedded in a wider organisational space.”

Javed’s grounded approach to AI may not grab headlines, but the clarity it provides makes it easier to cut through the noise and deliver change that stands the test of time.

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