Top 10 AI predictions by enterprise leaders for 2019

AI may replace human in enterprise decision making

“As AI continues to be more prevalent, it is undeniable that automated decisioning will replace traditional white-collar workers. This means AI systems will be making the decisions instead of humans for anything from approving loans or deciding whether a customer should be on boarded to identifying corruption and financial crime. This is distinct from Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which simply emulates human decisioning. Instead, true AI systems will go beyond human capability. We can also expect to see greater understanding in the boardroom about what AI really means—including hard-nosed figures around competitive advance, reducing costs of operations and removing headcount. Expect to see this C-suite understanding trigger issues around unions and job security as a result of significant operational changes”—Imam Hoque, COO & Head of Product, Quantexa

AI for business insights discovery

“AI will add an extra layer of predictability, allowing organizations to see patterns and gain insights from IoT devices and past customer behaviors—ultimately making supply chains smarter, leading to faster, more efficient production and fulfillment, and happier customers. In 2019 and beyond, we can expect AI to take supply chains from reactive in nature to prescriptive levels, helping companies get one step ahead of consumers’ rising expectations”—Hala Zeine, President of Digital Supply Chain, SAP

2019 will differentiate between laggards and leaders

“2019 is the year where we have everything in our hands to use digital technology; it will be the year that will differentiate the laggards and the leaders, providing competitive advantage to the forward-thinking organizations. The laggards still believe there is time, and will keep developing solutions in silos, making small progress, without realizing the pace of change is accelerating faster than in the last 20 years. The leaders are the ones that are set for digital transformation across their organizations, and who will leverage Big Data and AI to deploy solutions that fundamentally affect the full drug development life cycle; they will reverse the current trend—growth of drug development timelines by 25%, reaching a startling 12 years on average—and bring much-needed therapies to the market sooner”—Isabelle deZegher, Vice President, Integrated Solutions, PAREXEL

A new breed of security data scientists will emerge

“As AI and ML become mainstream, a new breed of security data scientists will emerge in 2019. Preparing, processing, and interpreting data require data scientists to be polymath. They need to know computer science, data science, and above all, need to have domain expertise to be able to tell bad data from good data and bad results from good results. What we have already begun seeing is the need for security experts who understand data science and computer science to be able to first make sense of the security data available to us today. Once this data is prepared, processed and interpreted, it can then be used by AI and ML techniques to automate security in real time”—Setu Kulkarni, Vice President of Corporate Strategy, WhiteHat Security

Shop-for-data marketplace

“Centralized data will be replaced by a single view of all data. Data is coming at us from different directions, at different speeds, and in different formats, and controlling this tsunami is one of the key markers of empowerment and success in the information age. Two massive trends are changing the landscape. First, different vendors are coming together to standardize data models. Second, and more important, is the emergence of enterprise data catalogs. These catalogs are accessible in a hub, with one view of the entire federated data estate, and deliver a shop-for-data marketplace experience. The more you share, collaborate, and use the hub, the more valuable it becomes to the business. Furthermore, it links your analytics strategy with your enterprise data management strategy, as the data becomes analysis-ready”—Dan Sommer, Senior Director, Qlik

AI to satisfy the demand of consumers

“We are still far from having a bonafide ‘smart home’ and the primary roadblock is the lack of the essential link between sensing and action. Currently, we have a variety of technologies that offer a compelling vision of the future, but that vision is impeded by the fact that the devices are isolated, lacking context, and are thus unable to act autonomously: the consumer must still supply the intelligence for the ‘smart home.’ The mating of RF sensing technology with mesh and other networking schemes will amplify the value of network hardware, enabling them to provide powerful communications infrastructure and sensory feedback—the necessary convergence of control and communications needed to create cognitive systems. We will see this convergence entering the market in 2019, led by forward-thinking tech players who will build out this visionary ecosystem to satisfy the demands of consumers who want to see a Jetson—esqe future, now.”—Nebu Mathai, EVP Product Engineering, Cognitive Systems Corp.

Trust credibly across user communities

“In 2019, the value statement of every vendor that builds AI systems should focus on BOTH the value they wish to create AND the underlying moral foundation of their service. How they collect data, with whom they share that data, and what they end up doing with that data will increasingly need a litmus test for what is acceptable and not. That litmus test needs to be part of the culture of the vendor—it needs to come from the inside out. While this will feel too ‘touchy-feely’ and constraining to some vendors, it is absolutely necessary for long-term business viability to establish trust credibly across their user communities. Without transparency, there is no trust. Without trust, there is no data. Withoutdata, there is no AI”—Ojas Rege, Chief Strategy Officer, MobileIron

AI is making its impact across industries

“Multi-trillion-dollar markets such as commercial real estate are comprised of an intricate web of interactions that affect every decision, and AI technology is now mature enough to tackle these highly complex transactions. As industry leaders are opening up to the potential of integrating advanced technology into core operations, AI is making its impact felt across new industries that were previously off limits. We see asset managers looking to develop new investment vehicles defined by AI that will enable enhanced performance in uncertain economic conditions, adding value throughout the entire investment lifecycle”—Guy Zipori, CEO, Skyline AI

Need of third party data

“The future of third-party data is critical for marketers to stay actionable and competitive in a fast-moving technology landscape. The culmination of high-profile corporate privacy scandals and new wide-sweeping data legislation has forced consumers to get to grips with their digital footprints and has caused them to be more critical over how they are targeted. Moving forward, third party data will help marketers gather more insights surrounding how consumers use emerging technologies such as voice, location-based search and AI, so they can target them in a way that is compliant and drives ROI. This data will remain key to informing the bulk of marketing strategy for years to come"—Chase Buckle, Senior Trends Analyst, GlobalWebIndex

Impacts of AI on productivity and engagement

“As automated technologies shape the workplace in 2019, it’s important for companies to think about how the onslaught of technology will impact their company culture in the short and long-term. Many organizations are already using AI to search for talent, but when it comes to other areas of the workplace where employees will be encountering AI on a daily basis, companies need to understand employee perceptions from the start. Before rolling out any new technology platforms, businesses need to be prepared to communicate the value the product will bring to the organization, how it will affect employees for the better, and the positive impact it will have on productivity and engagement. In doing this, companies will set their organizations up for success when implementing new technologies”—Andee Harris, President, HighGround/YouEarnedIt