Which organizational structure would enable Mastercard to most effectively deploy its artificial intelligence expertise, with a goal to becoming an AI powerhouse?
Which organizational structure would enable Mastercard to most effectively deploy its artificial intelligence expertise, with a goal to becoming an AI powerhouse?
Rohit Chauhan, Mastercard's executive vice president of Artificial Intelligence since 2018, was tasked to lead the organization on a path to become an AI powerhouse. Chauhan believed that in order to accomplish this goal, AI would need to be deployed in every part of the company. Mastercard had identified four areas where AI could generate the greatest value: customer acquisition, portfolio optimization, risk and fraud management, and customer servicing. But it was unclear what organizational structure would help Mastercard to achieve its goal. One was to centralize its AI efforts by creating a new division staffed with AI experts; an alternative was to seed existing divisions with AI staff. In this case, students will consider which organizational structure would serve to maximize AI's potential— a centralized approach, in which AI experts were assigned to collaborate with colleagues from other divisions on a project-by-project basis; or a decentralized approach, in which expertise and authority were dispersed across divisions.