Slowly but surely ai use is rising across industries

Slowly but surely ai use is rising across industries

But post-haste, we need data analysts in huge numbers.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been subject to a fair share of debates including concerns around machines overtaking, or even replacing, the human workforce.

However, ground realities suggest the main concern should be the acute shortage of skills.

Need for talent

One of the biggest roadblocks in the active adoption of AI is the sheer scarcity of skilled professionals. There are simply not enough data scientists to interpret massive amounts of data that are generated every day, a service that cognitive computing can offer. Further, since the skillset of a data scientist needs to constantly evolve along with technology, the demand-supply gap is only growing further.

In countries such as India, AI adoption is driven by the evolution of the IT infrastructure. According to the IDC Cognitive User Adoption Survey (2017), an overwhelming majority of Indian organisations (nearly 70%) — have either adopted or have plans to leverage cognitive capabilities in the next 18 months. This includes a combination of pilot and enterprise-wide deployments. Currently, one in five organisations has already deployed cognitive systems, pointing to higher maturity levels as compared with Asia-Pacific counterparts (where one in 10 has achieved the same level of implementation).

In India, the telecom, technology and banking industries are frontrunners in adoption. State Bank of India recently announced plans to leverage AI for its integrated platform, YONO (You Only Need One). This digital banking platform gives users access to banking as well as a host of lifestyle services through a single sign-on.

Then there is the healthcare industry that relies on AI to finetune the accuracy of medical predictions, and accordingly choose a fitting line of treatment.

Retail is another, and more obvious industry, where AI has found a strong foothold. E-commerce firms depend on AI tools to detect malpractices, improve conversion ratios and foresee consumer buying patterns. In fact, Indian e-tailers are increasingly using AI for personalised recommendations and better optimisation of their supply chain networks.

For instance, Tata Cliq, and The Label Life are working with Mad Street Den that offers visual search technology, product recommendations and personalised homepages based on the tastes of individual shoppers. This helps improve customer experience considerably and leads to greater conversions.

Since the CEO of a consumer company has to look after thousands of markets and stores, Manthan Analytics, based in Bengaluru, is constructing a $100-million, voice-based AI platform called Maya. With Maya, a CEO gets access to statistics on a specific market at any time and can deduce the response of sales, day-wise. The system not only records social feeds but also tallies it with market performance.

Companies such as Starbucks and Pizza Hut are working to execute chatbots to help accelerate customer purchases. As chatbot technology becomes more advanced, virtual agents will enhance a more personal relationship with each customer. While they do so, they can also track customer purchases, behaviour and preferences. This data can then be integrated into a conversation to recommend products or services.

Rising budgets

Successful companies regularly process high volumes of data to extract meaningful insights. Particularly in retail, businesses are deploying AI analytics to make sure the right product is in the right place at the right time.

Using AI, retailers are expanding their boundaries to capture, manage, assess, and derive value out of the data residing in their systems. Adopting AI helps organisations present actionable insights, drive revenues, boost efficiencies, help think through complex problem areas and transform customer experiences.

Overall, industries are expected to experience more AI use cases in the near future — from digital shopping assistants in retail to carefully curated teams in sports, and factory automation systems in manufacturing. Courtesy-The Hindu (Business)