CIO Playbook: Show-me-the-money AI,
machine learning
Machine learning and artificial intelligence must show quantifiable value
"The days of 'everything machine learning is cool and worthwhile' will be over soon and they will be replaced with the need to 'shift left' and prove the customer value, cost reduction or speed increase that ML/AI brings. It remains true that every discipline in development, operations and business can benefit tremendously from ML/AI, but to make this happen, organizations must show the same discipline in terms of applying metrics, as they are currently showing when pushing hard for DevOps value chain management.
"Successful ML/AI vendors in 2018 will focus as much on showing the limits of their solutions as they will push to show its immediate value. At the same time, this means that we will see more ambitious and broader approaches, with less manual input needed. As long as we are open about the obviously needed holes in these solutions, we will jointly find innovative solutions to gradually close these holes while preserving the universal character of these software solutions."
-- TORSTEN VOLK, analyst with Enterprise Management Associates
Torsten Volk
Take practical steps with RPA
"Robotic Process Automation (RPA) will add 500,000 US digital workers. In many enterprises, from corporate offices to back-office administration to the contact center, humans toil with low-value repetitive tasks and rote work, filling gaps between one legacy app and another. RPA automates these activities and tasks, improving productivity and freeing up worker time for higher-value work.
"In 2018, RPA-based digital workers (i.e., bots) will replace and/or augment 311,000 office and administrative positions and 260,000 sales and related positions. As a result, the RPA software market will remain heated and exceed $500 million by the end of 2017 and double to $1.06 billion by the end of 2018.
"View RPA as a practical step in your automation journey. Don't get carried away by the euphoria of RPA successes; always check whether a non-AI or less complex solution can solve your problem first. By the end of 2018, RPA will embed AI building blocks that tackle unstructured content and make dynamic decisions. These capabilities will allow you to apply RPA to even more use cases."
-- CRAIG LE CLAIR, principal analyst at Forrester
Craig Le Clair
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