Abstract
<jats:p>Against the backdrop of a dynamic emerging business environment powered by data-driven & digitally connected business processes, AI-empowered emergent technologies have graduated from being mere accessories to the role of strategic thinking machines. This chapter looks at how businesses in various industries can unlock the game-changing capabilities of smart technologies, and use AI to identify expansion & growth niches and come up with unique product solutions while maintaining scalability, and long-term competitive edge. In this chapter, the authors purport to analyze essential decision-making practices, governance structures, and innovation paradigms that would have room to integrate AI-enabled technologies towards diversifying and enriching the core business operations with strategic underpinnings. It delves into the interface of technology and human intervention generally mediated by decision-making tradition, organizational culture, digital literacy, infrastructure preparedness, and ethical practices to identify key enablers and inhibitors of technology uptake.</jats:p>