Moving from “Why AI” to “How to AI” — A Playbook for Governments Procuring AI and GenAI

At Microsoft, we have been committed to helping customers with the “Why AI” conversation for some time. However, as we move from the theoretical assessment to the practical application of the technology at scale, we are mindful that we need to do more to help our customers with how to procure and deploy AI.

In that spirit, we have partnered with IDC on this exciting research project, involving 330 key government procurement decision makers across ten markets. The resulting paper, Moving from “Why AI” to “How to AI” — A Playbook for Governments Procuring AI and GenAI, is our contribution to helping advance the considered procurement of AI by the world’s public-sector community. Knowing and understanding the challenges procurement teams face, in the context of AI, enables us all to develop solutions to address the challenges and realize opportunities. The paper applies lessons learned during the public sector’s hyperscale cloud journey, draws inspiration from the private sector (which takes a flexible approach to procurement), and provides some practical guidance in the form of a checklist for AI procurement in government.

We look forward to continuing the “Why AI” and “How to AI” conversations with you.