How company culture drives AI strategy success

Many organizations are racing to build AI strategies, but too often they focus on adopting the latest tech, rather than creating the environment to support it. The reality is that lasting transformation is fueled by people, which requires companies to take a good look at their culture.

At Architech, that’s exactly what we did. By prioritizing and rewarding innovation, we aligned our culture with our AI strategy—and it worked. This year, we are proud to be recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Workplaces. We are one of 10 companies globally recognized by Fast Company for excellence in AI, automation, and machine learning.

Here’s how we built an award-winning culture.

MAKE INNOVATION REPEATABLE

Innovation comes from people. At Architech, we operationalized that idea by creating an Innovation Lab, a dedicated R&D space where curiosity thrives and exceptional geeks are celebrated as heroes.

Backed by a 10% reinvestment of revenue, our Innovation Lab provides the time and tools to tackle real problems. One of our standout successes: an intelligent collections application that earned a spotlight in Microsoft’s AI Lunch and Learn series. Infrastructure and investment create a foundation for continuous innovation, enabling organizations to tackle its top priorities. 

INNOVATION THRIVES WHEN EVERYONE PARTICIPATES

We launched a company-wide AI Innovation Challenge in September, 2024 inviting every employee to identify their own workplace challenge to solve and to tackle organizational inefficiencies using AI.

Over three months, cross-functional teams reimagined workflows and built automation tools that reduced friction, accelerated delivery, and inspired new client offerings. The challenge sparked experimentation and breakthroughs from the bottom-up. Among the most impactful was an automated quality assurance testing system that improved consistency and freed our teams to focus on creativity. We celebrated winning ideas at the town hall and they became a badge of honor for employees. We continue to spotlight the most creative employee-led breakthroughs with a monthly AI Innovation Award.

Innovation happens when people are given the tools, trust, and time to experiment.  

LEARNING FUELS INNOVATION

With AI knowledge scarce across tech companies, upskilling and mentorship have become the real differentiators.

At Architech, internal knowledge-sharing sets the pace: We offer project showcases, AI Bytes Learning Series, and real-time experimentation to create a culture of continuous growth.

We launched Elevate, a four-week technical bootcamp for interns led by Architech experts in product, design, data, AI, and engineering. Mentees solve real business challenges using cutting-edge tools and are encouraged to explore what inspired them the most. One finalist team built an AI-powered customer support platform and graduated knowing the AI fundamentals, and with the confidence for the next step in their tech careers. 

Today, our internal expertise in emerging technologies is pushing us further than external experts ever could. Our mentors are emerging as leaders, armed with new courage and bold ideas. We endeavor to empower our people and build a culture where learning drives innovation forward and grows innovators from within.

EMBED INNOVATION INTO CULTURE

We also created an AI Incubator to drive technology forward and a Responsible AI Governance Committee to ensure guardrails are in place to safeguard our company and clients.

Nearly 50% of our workforce participates in the incubator, with active workstreams exploring real-world applications of AI: code review, test automation, developer productivity, and data enablement.

AI experimentation is embedded into the daily flow of work on all our teams, from engineering to operations. Our CEO hosts training sessions, leads open discussions, and reinforces the expectation that everyone experiments with AI, every day.

This is what transformation looks like: It’s fueled by inspiration, grounded in discipline, and powered by people.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There’s no app for transformation. There’s something better: culture. That’s what powers our AI strategy and our people are leading the way.

To transform your AI strategy into culture, make it:    

• Inclusive: Invite every employee to contribute and celebrate progress.
• A habit: Bring change into the daily rhythm of work. 
• A growth engine: Teach, mentor, and invest in skills development across the organization.
• Repeatable: Build systems that last.

If your people aren’t part of your AI strategy, you don’t have one.

Lara Shewchuk is COO and CFO of Architech.

View the full article