Want to Make your Data-driven Business Truly Intelligent?

If you haven’t already, maybe now is a good time to start thinking of your artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms as employees, and train them to uphold your company values. Why? Because you’ll then be ready to handle the inevitable challenges.

This is one of the many key points of global consulting firm Accenture’s recent Technology Vision report for Oracle 2018 (which can be considered a subset of the overarching, annual Accenture Technology Vision report) to show how companies can tap into emerging technologies. The report advises organizations to keep a close watch on howthey ‘nurture’ their AI. Once your algorithm has the right principles, make sure the data used to train and inform your AI is relevant and verifiably true. Companies need data that’s well documented, organized, and labelled; only then will an organization be able to create the most capable and useful AI systems, per the report.

Of the five trends highlighted in the report, the “Citizen AI” bit is the first. Here are four more trends you need to keep in mind to successfully transform yours into a more data-driven and truly intelligent business:

Enhance Trust in your Data

According to the Technology Vision companion survey of over 6300 global business and IT leaders, 79% of executives highlighted that the most critical systems and strategies are based on data; in the same breath, it’s important to note that many of these executives haven’t invested enough when it comes to capabilities to verify the accuracy/truth within that data, a trend that Accenture terms as “Data Veracity,” and it’s the core of every decision.

Per Accenture, focusing on three key tenets can help build confidence levels in your data:

1. Provenance: verifying the history of data (from origin throughout the life cycle)
2. Context: always considering the situations around the use of this data
3. Integrity:Safeguarding the data at all times

Any data management process which can provide a clear view into the above areas will serve you well irrespective of your data source, which could vary from someone creating a data trail via online shopping to a sensor network capturing temperature readings of an industrial system. The process should work, because of the known behaviour at play - around the way you’re ingesting, storing and using the data.

Envision New Opportunities for the Business via Extended Reality (XR)

Extended Reality, which includes augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) as well as immersive experiences, is expected to unlocknew growth opportunities for those who learn how to harness it, according to Accenture. Around 27% of respondents agreed the necessity for their companies to take the lead in XR.

Let’s take healthcare as an example, where we can avail a more intuitive view of medical conditions thanks to interactive 3D builds of traditionally 2D medical imaging: CT scans or MRIs for instance, or new VR models of genetic data to better visualize the dynamics of a cell.

If we now extrapolate this into other immersive experiencesthat do away with the distance factor, VR systems can enable 3D remote access to underperforming or problematic machines from a control room that’s in a different time zone. In healthcare education, VR can provide remote support or remote training, empowering students to virtually travel to an instructor. Further, in the ambit of emergency care, with VR, military and first responders can be trained using more lifelike simulations to be better prepared for managing dangerous situations.

Organizations need to begin their forays into immersive experiences today to build capabilities that can transform entire industries tomorrow.

Transform your IT Engine to Support Scale and Partnerships

Strategic partnerships are known to often lead to better competitive advantages. With the right partnerships in place, companies canenhance their bouquet of offerings, scale faster, andexpand their footprint into new industries. More and more businesses would do better if only they expand their partnership network and embrace the ‘partners for profit’ mind-set.

Push Intelligent Features into the Physical World

To push intelligence into the physical world beyond what we see today - smart toasters, refrigerators, or door locks, businesses need to open up their minds to the possibilities of tomorrow; IoT could fast become table stakes, with the “Internet of Thinking” emerging as the next frontier in innovation.

At the heart of this journey into the future will be the efficient storage, movement, and analysis of data. Per IDC, businesses are betting big on data-intensive technologies, with AI investments in 2017 over $12.5 billion and investments in IoTover $800 billion.

Are you ready to give your business the intelligence edge?

By Kiran Pradhan, Head-Business Intelligence and Analytics, Oracle India