The future is XaaS – Everything-as-a-Service. While XaaS stems from cloud computing, it has quickly evolved to something that embraces anything that can be delivered via the Internet that used to be delivered only physically. The benefits include lower costs, massive scalability and flexibility, low maintenance overheads, and simple access to new technologies. This means organizations can focus on their core business and value – and most importantly, serving customers well.
As early as the ’90s, businesses and analysts alike have foretold the death of the ERP system. Over 20 years later, however, ERP is still alive and well. Globalization, digitalization, the internet and a whole host of other technologies have made it virtually impossible for businesses to move away from ERP. There’s simply too much critical data housed in the underlying databases for elimination to ever be a viable option.
For almost a decade, we’ve talked about wanting to modernize enterprise software user interfaces (UI) to match consumer software, but we’ve gone about it the wrong way. The modernization of UIwas proposed as a solution to meet the increased expectations that enterprise software should be as simple to use and nice to navigate as the applications we use at home from any device. But investing in software UI that merely looks beautiful is a waste of time and resources.
Users and developers agree on one thing in relation to enterprise resource planning (ERP) software: it’s boring.
For users, ERP means a lot of data entry added to their daily workload. While ERP is becoming more sophisticated with support for mobile devices and cloud functionality now commonplace, most users would prefer to use systems that are quicker and more responsive.
Developers can see this is a pain point and are trying to innovate past it, but that’s not always possible with the kind of monolithic architecture that can be found in contemporary ERP installations. ERP is a challenge to developers because ERP systems communicate with so many other systems on the network and each ERP installation is so massively configurable. Each individual instance of an ERP can feel like a unique piece of software in itself.
In the 1980s, the television program Knight Rider gave a glimpse into a world where artificial intelligence could learn, communicate, and make independent decisions. The star of the show, a self-aware computer, was housed in a 1982 Pontiac Trans Am, and it intrigued viewers. They imagined how the technology could change lives, handling dull or dangerous tasks with a simple spoken command. At the time, such software sounded like a creation of science fiction. Now, less than four decades later, artificial intelligence and machine learning technology are our reality, communicating with users through natural language interfaces.
When the average person thinks of bots entering the workforce, scenes from X-Men: Days of Future Pastleap to mind, but actually, bots are not the future, they are already adopted and deployed among us. The reality of bots in day-to-day life is less “dominating Sentinel” and more “helpful and productive assistant.”
A bot is a piece of software that is designed and created to automate the kinds of tasks we would usually do on our own. Powered by a set of simple rules and varying degrees of artificial intelligence (AI), we can now create bots that can hold natural-sounding conversations with human beings with the aim of accomplishing tasks, such as answering questions or enabling product purchases.
In the 1980s, the television program Knight Ridergave a glimpse into a world where artificial intelligence could learn, communicate and make independent decisions. The star of the show, a self-aware computer called KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand), was housed in a 1982 Pontiac Trans Am, and it intrigued viewers. They imagined how the technology could change lives, handling dull or dangerous tasks with a simple spoken command. At the time, such software sounded like a creation of science fiction. Now, less than four decades later, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology is a reality, communicating with users through natural language interfaces. Everyday jobs will soon be transformed as this technology advances.
It has been a dream of science fiction authors since the advent of computers: hands-free interfaces that can respond to our every whim — without the need to strike a single key.
That future is now closer than ever, with engineers across dozens of industries hard at work designing both computers and mobile devices that can interact through simple conversation. Known as natural language Interfaces (NLI), expectations are that this form of communication will spread from talking programs such as Siri, Alexa, and Cortana — and most recently, Samsung’s Bixby — to a multitude of interactive apps and programs in the coming months. And, in many cases, it already has.
As it gets easier to connect with one another, the lines become increasingly blurred between our physical reality and the digital world. The million-dollar question is whether the enterprise will be able to effectively manage both their intelligent machines and their human talent, an expert in the field of innovation says.
The power of voice controlled intelligence systems like Alexa is no longer reserved for the home. We have enhanced Alexa with enterprise skills allowing for a seamless integration between Alexa and our Digital Assistant, Wanda. The video below presented by myself and Thomas Staven from Unit4’s Innovation Labs team, demonstrates what happened when Wanda met Alexa for the first time, and what it means for enterprise computing in the future.
Claus Jepsen 