The Future of AI in the Business World
- Global Data 365
When it comes to the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in an enterprise, the world is at a crossroads. Although the technology that allows computers to mimic human thinking has advanced steadily over the last half-century, the Future of AI looks particularly promising. The cost-effectiveness of deployment, convenient access to cloud computing, and realistic business use cases are all positioned to help AI make a major impact in the business world in the coming years.
With the future use cases for AI in the industry on the way, and the capital investments and speed of progress currently powering AI, one thing is for sure: To realize the benefits flowing to the business world, you’ll have to get your framework in place relatively soon. But how are you going to do it? Business intelligence (BI) tools can help with this. Businesses can plan for the future while still taking full advantage of today by laying the groundwork with this readily available, open, and inexpensive software. Businesses are starting to question if it makes sense to move through an expensive deployment that won’t produce meaningful results for two or three years after having unrealistic expectations for AI, which have yet to emerge. Instead, they should concentrate on implementing BI today to get some quick results, then layering AI on top of existing BI data to extract new insights and generate greater value as the technology advances.
So, how can BI apps assist in preparing the company for AI, and what potential use cases can be derived from the combination of AI and BI?
Future of AI and What BI Software Do for You?
Whichever side of the Artificial Intelligence and Business Intelligence discussion you are on, one aspect is certain: you’ll need data to support both. There is no intelligence in AI or BI without data to operate on. There will be nothing to analyse or to which a learning algorithm can be applied. When it comes to intelligence solutions, data is the cornerstone that must be laid.
Data has never been more accessible in today’s business world due to the wider acceptance of cloud computing and the Internet of Things. However, the massive amounts of data produced every day are posing a new challenge for businesses: What knowledge is crucial? What are the best practices for tagging, sorting, grouping, and analysing data? What concerns are answered by disparate data points? How can data collection through various touch points, from retail to supply chain to a factory, be seamlessly implemented?
Data Warehouse
This is where data warehousing comes in. Data warehouses are a way of optimizing data obtained from various touch points, like point-of-sale, CRM, inventory, and warehouse management systems), structuring it to obtain needed insights, and running research. Enterprise companies cannot thrive without efficient data warehousing; data silos consume capital and resources quickly, and any company still attempting to piece together “business intelligence” from numerous reports and fragmented data will quickly fall behind those with centralized data and reporting. The integrated data warehouse, on the other hand, isn’t just a set of relational databases thrown together; it’s based on modern data storage systems like Online Analytical Processing (or OLAP) cubes.
Cubes are multi-dimensional data sets designed for analytical processing applications like AI or BI. Cubes are superior to tables in that they can connect and sort data across several dimensions, enabling non-technical users to access a wider wide range of role-specific and highly contextual data points to discover new insights and make real-time adjustments to strategies and decisions. Most non-technical sales agents and buying associates will struggle to link several tables along with a standard report, but with Business Intelligence cubes, all they must do is drag and drop the metrics and dimensions that apply to their own customized dashboard.
So, how do you get the data? SQL is a language for manipulating and extracting data from cubes. SQL was created as a common language for interacting with databases, irrespective of the type of database being used, and is ultimately the tool for extracting, retrieving, deleting, modifying, and handling data in a table.
Other Methods to Address Data Demands: The Future of AI
Aside from data warehousing and OLAP cubes that provide the technological base, there are a few other components that can assist enterprise businesses in meeting their data needs:
Data Modelling
Data modelling is a technique for sorting out individual data sources within an organization and deciding how they should communicate to obtain the most useful business insights. Data Modelling can be done at the conceptual (high-level, linked to business objectives), logical (mapping to each business function), and physical (how the actual measurements, metrics, and structures are related inside a data cube).
Analytics and Reporting
The ability to capture, structure and store data is essential, but the ability to analyse and report on it is the ultimate objective. End users can find the valuable insights they need with little technological expertise due to business intelligence solutions that provide easy, open analytics and reporting functions. It also facilitates business processes in avoiding unnecessary data bottlenecks by providing them with immediate access to the data they need.