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Crystal Ball 2021: A Push Towards Holistic Artificial Intelligence

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), a premier global market research company, “Artificial Intelligence and machine learning are top of mind for most organizations today, and IDC expects that AI will be the disrupting influence changing entire industries over the next decade.” Given the important role that Artificial Intelligence will play in digital disruption in the coming decade, it’s important to define what AI really is.

There are many buzzwords in the AI space leading to confusion in the marketplace and a deep misunderstanding of what AI is and what it is capable of achieving. AI is not one thing, it’s a generalized term for software or a platform that can imitate human intelligence and can be applied in a virtually limitless number of ways. Buzzwords like, neural networks, deep learning, natural language processing and machine learning can all roll up into the tight little bow of Artificial Intelligence and they are the building blocks which an AI platform uses to “learn” for itself.

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A snapshot at how embedded AI already is in our day-to-day lives
Source

AI can be applied in many different ways. We see AI being applied in our everyday lives if we have a smartphone that uses facial recognition to unlock, an Amazon Alexa to tell us the news and through social media, take TikTok’s notoriously smart algorithms that make the platform so addictive. AI is all around us, even commercially, though the commercial space has been slower to adopt AI technologies.

The commercial space has predominantly taken a more ‘piecemeal’ approach to adopting digital technologies, yet to fully capture the benefits of true artificial intelligence due to the use of discreet solutions, like advanced analytics or automation only to target a piece of their full process. There are many use cases of automation on manufacturing lines or chatbots in the customer services department but what about a holistic end-end approach?

Enter the first AI prediction for 2021

Holistic, end-end Artificial Intelligence, like Elutions’ Maestro, will replace the currently isolated approach to adoption of discreet digital technologies.

Crystal Ball Predictions 2021: This Article Emphasizes Holistic AI

Leaving behind solutions, touted as AI, that only addresses one piece of the process, like predictive maintenance, and adopting true AI that is self-learning, self-adapting and applied in an end-end approach to drive and even automate actionable intelligence across the entire value chain is the way of the future. The piecemeal approach may have worked in the past but with the new normal we are living in businesses need to begin thinking about their processes as if they were living, breathing beings.

Let’s think about it this way, if an overweight patient goes to the doctor and they are experiencing knee pain, a pain killer or a cortisol shot might address the pain right away and in the short term, but what about addressing the root cause? The doctor can see the full picture and knows that for sustained change, the patient will have to lose weight to rid themselves of their knee pain.

Now, let’s apply this analogy to a manufacturing plant, the plant is the patient and Holistic Artificial Intelligence is the doctor. A discreet solution, one that perhaps only addresses maintenance, is only able to impact one specific point in the manufacturing process, this solution can only prescribe a painkiller. However, an end-end solution is capable not only of detecting the root cause of a maintenance issue, but also addressing the pain point, it’s chain effect on the process, prescribing and in the case of Maestro, automatically implementing a holistic solution.

A great approach for businesses to best take advantage of AI, whether they are a University, Manufacturer or an Oil and Gas corporation is to focus on outcomes and addressing pain points. Businesses must focus deeply on their individual challenges and use Artificial Intelligence to address them as a whole. For example, many manufacturers experience asset downtime and plant failure as a major site challenge, a challenge that can be addressed and significantly reduced, if not eliminated entirely, with a holistic end-end AI approach.

In 2021 we will see a rapid increase of AI adoption to address a host of challenges across the entire value chain. Let 2021 be a year of digital transformation with Elutions as your partner. To learn more about specific case studies of Maestro Artificial Intelligence applied, please contact us.

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College and University Campuses can Combat COVID-19

It’s graduation season around the world and for what seems like the first time, graduation will not commence per usual. The celebratory hustle and bustle of college campuses at this time of year is now replaced with empty classrooms, haunted hallways and desperate hopes that students will return in the Fall. The truth is, nobody knows what will happen in the Fall semester, but students aren’t the only ones feeling the immediate impacts of campus closures. Colleges and Universities are now scrambling to address not only the concerns of parents, students, and staff but also the significant impacts on endowments, revenues and their budgets going forward.

An Inside Higher Ed survey of 172 campus leaders shows that the number one concern remains bringing the students back to campus safely and continuing their high standards for education off campus. However, the financial focus is right up there, “more presidents citing a desire for financial health and operational planning support (60 percent) than for anything else.” Artificial Intelligence can address operational concerns while freeing up financial resources for other concerns such as faculty training and instructional technology.

Source: Inside Higher Ed

While revenues are experiencing immediate impact, the need to protect buildings and assets, ensure environmental compliance is met, and reduce building baseloads becomes more critical as staff and services are less present. After all, students need a campus to return to. Artificial Intelligence, and Maestro specifically, is primed to not only address these impacts in the immediate term but provide long-term stability and digital transformation.

At an operational level, buildings have been closed but the need to maintain them to prevent asset degradation and compliance requirements still need to be met. With fewer people onsite to identify and manage issues and IT stretched with online learning, now more than ever AI and autonomous or remote adoption of solutions need to be applied. At this point, it is likely that there are already significant maintenance backlogs, which AI can address and mitigate future negative impacts of.

The short-term, mid-term and long-term impacts can all be addressed through Maestro artificial intelligence in the following ways:

Short Term: Reduce costs, ensure compliance and protect assets through improved approach to managing assets with limited onsite staff. Optimize baseloads. Identify and prioritize critical failures. Iron out inconsistencies in data. Move to PPM.

Mid Term: Significant cost savings in resource efficiency, maintenance, increase asset life use, reduced capital expenditure.

Long Term: Enhanced scenario modelling for space optimization and asset acquisition ROI assessments.

Benefits like this can be achieved through Maestro’s artificial intelligence and neural network computing capabilities to target significant energy and maintenance cost reduction opportunities through automated, no-cost measures across the campus, eliminating the need for direct human interaction with the on campus assets. A run-rate to deliver a benefit of >$20m annually could easily be achieved in as little as 60 days through a rapid deployment of the technology and the prioritization of the highest energy cost consuming facilities.

In an effort to focus on creating a stable environment for students to come back to, Higher Education Institutions must turn to AI as a remedy for immediate negative financial and operational impacts caused by COVID-19. To learn more about how AI can turn your business operations around, stay tuned for our COVID-19 & AI series or contact our team today to learn more.

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AI & COVID-19

Throughout modern history, several infectious diseases have spread with sufficient speed, scale and severity to be considered pandemics. Malaria, Smallpox, H1N1, and HIV/AIDS, which remains active, made the list. COVID-19, however, is in a league of its own. The last pandemic of comparable economic impact, if not on human life, was the Spanish Flu, which directly followed WWI and wrought havoc in a significantly less interconnected world than the one in which we live today.

The Global Impacts of COVID-19 have already been unprecedented. “Stay-at-home,” “social-distancing” and travel and trade restrictions imposed to protect public health have had devastating impacts on the global economy, supply chain and employment. How and when this pandemic will end remains unclear. What is certain is that businesses now face an existential threat, and their leaders must take immediate action to set and execute strategies to weather the storm and ensure they are prepared for future economic, operational or human crisis.

In a time when “non-essential” businesses have been forced to shutter operations or shift to remote collaboration, and “essential” businesses face unparalleled demand alongside novel operational and supply chain challenges, how can manufacturers, O&G companies, airports, utilities, universities and other major businesses survive?

If they adapt quickly, can they thrive?

The answer to this question for industry lies in the adoption of end-end Artificial Intelligence.

Over the next few weeks, we will dive into the major business impacts of COVID-19 and how Elutions‘ Artificial Intelligence platform, Maestro, is addressing them across multiple verticals.  We strongly believe that businesses that successfully and swiftly adopt automated, autonomous applications of AI and rethink their business models will be the ones realizing a competitive advantage once we return to a “new normal”.

Inspired by industrial trends a multitude of sources, reports by McKinsey and many others, Elutions’ AI & COVID-19 Series will specifically address the themes of Survival, Optimization, and Transformation. 

Survival: Artificial Intelligence applied immediately to stabilize business operations.

Optimization: Artificial Intelligence’s intermediary impacts, growing and preparing for a “new normal.”

Transformation: Artificial Intelligence’s long-term impacts in a post-pandemic landscape.

Check back in with us weekly for new content on how to address the business impacts of COVID-19 through the strategic application of end-end Artificial Intelligence.

Up Next for NCW: Digitization and Chemical Manufacturing

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Facial Recognition, Literally?

Artificial Intelligence is transforming the way consumers purchase, the way business is conducted across industries, and the multi-billion dollar beauty industry is not getting left behind. In fact, there are a multitude of companies using AI to personalize and revolutionize skincare, haircare and everything in between.  Using AI to personalize the experience may prove to be one of the best ways to differentiate in a heavily saturated market.

Is AI the answer to not only changing how consumers interact with beauty product, but also the answer to future product development?

In a market as personal as cosmetics, specifically skincare, where everyone has unique concerns and desires, the ability to use Artificial Intelligence to personalize could be truly revolutionary. Is it possible that the key to ageless, flawless skin is Artificial Intelligence? The women behind PROVEN skincare believe that it is. PROVEN uses AI, aggregating data into the world’s largest skincare database, The Skin Genome Project, 8 million consumer reviews, 100,000 skincare products, 20,000 ingredients and 4,000 academic journals, to tailor skincare products to consumers’ specific needs. Consumers go to PROVEN’s website, take a three-minute skincare quiz and are provided with a skincare routine, taking the guesswork out of which products will deliver the best results.

“Using your answers to our Skintelligence QuizTM, our database instantly sifts through this incredible amount of information to select the best ingredients for your skin. This means you won’t waste time and money trying out products that may or may not work. And if your skin changes, your skincare can evolve right along with you.”

Proven

Taking the concept of Facial Recognition quite literally, FOREO, a tech-enabled skincare and oral care corporation, has recently launched a product that uses facial mapping and artificial intelligence to up your skincare routine. The Luna Fofo analyzes your skin and produces real-time readings that in turn customize your smart facial massage and cleansing routine. The Luna Fofo doesn’t do a one time analysis, rather it continuously analyzes your skin and constantly customizes your routine to your skincare concerns, even tracking your skin’s hydration levels. All of this is stored in a user friendly app so you can track your daily skin health with ease.

These are just a few consumer product-enhanced forms of AI that are transforming the beauty industry and the way consumers interact with AI daily. Beyond customer interaction, could AI enable advanced data capture and analysis to drive product development?  Manufacturing?  Sourcing?

Where is the limit of expansion for AI technology in business?

Challenge SolvetheUnsolvable to change your industry with AI.

Challenge

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Artificial Intelligence… A Buzz Word?

It’s a super-computer. It’s technology.  It’s a Computer Brain.  It’s a….Buzz Word?

Artificial Intelligence or “AI” is all the rage in consumer goods and services, and analysts say it will change the face of business forever, but what exactly is “Artificial Intelligence”. The market has failed to define what this ambiguous buzz word means, but yet investors are readily throwing billions of dollars at companies that claim to be “AI- Focused”.  According to the Financial Times,

“Companies branded as AI businesses have historically raised larger funding rounds and secured higher valuations than other software businesses. The median funding round for an AI start-up last year was about 15 per cent higher than for a software start-up.”

Financial Times

And yet investors struggle to understand what Artificial Intelligence means.  Is it the technology?  Is it the application?  Is it the result?

Artificial Intelligence has become a catch-all phrase for various types of computer and data science technologies and applications aimed at automating work and aiding in decision making.   Articles on the proliferation of AI in the enterprise market speak to the vast potential use cases, the efficiencies, the streamlined customer experience, but fail to define the technology. Instead, authors caveat their prophecies with statements which undermine the entire industry, “Granted, not all AI systems are alike. Some of them are relatively ‘dumb,’ because they use pre-determined inputs and outputs”.  Enterprise organizations have been leveraging “If/Then” logic programming for decades to optimize their operations, from PLCs on the manufacturing floor, to excel sheets in the board room or sales office.  Is a simple system that has pre-determined inputs and outputs anything more than a logic sequence? 

In truth, Artificial Intelligence is a combination of complex technologies which together have the power to change the way we do business, but how many companies have successfully developed the advanced integrated technology to deliver this seismic shift in enterprise value?  True Artificial Intelligence requires much more than a logic sequence – from system agnostic data connectivity, neural networking, autonomous data-cleansing, to machine learning, automated root cause analysis and continuously learning autonomous decision making and self-scripting technologies – the technology that will transform enterprise operations and ultimately, organizational value, has arrived, but true Artificial Intelligence is far less prevalent than a market summary would lead you to believe…