The ongoing conversation that artificial intelligence (AI) will replace our jobs has caused much concern and speculation. Workers are wondering which skills are replaceable, which will be automated, and what they can do to ensure their skills remain competitive. As an architect working on AI, machine learning and bot technologies, however, the way I see it is this: technology is going to replace tasks, not jobs.
Category: AI
Do you have what it takes to be a successful self-disruptor?
Entrepreneurs have disrupted nearly every industry, developing start-ups that transform the way business is done. Airbnb for example has changed the world of travel forever. Today, this company enjoys a value of more than $31 billion. Lyft comes in at a cool $7.5 billion, after turning the taxi service industry on its head. FinTech firms like Stripe have created mobile payment solutions that are used by leading financial services companies like Visa. Even specialized services such as computer security are dominated by disruptors like Synack.
In a Service Economy People Matter. How Helpful Are Your Enterprise Systems?
ERP systems transform, integrate and scale businesses better today than they ever have. It’s the only system that tackles all the processes that are essential to running a business and eliminates those that aren’t. And cloud has made ERP solutions more affordable, and easier to implement and manage.
Bots at Work: No Longer Restricted to the World of Science Fiction
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.
Can you have a relationship with your digital assistant?
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.
Could machine learning help to combat expenses fraud?
Consider the following expenses claims: registration fees for a cancelled seminar, two separate claims for mileage when the employees travelled together, and a sandwich-and-coffee dinner claimed as the full per diem.
While it’s easy to believe that a few dishonest claims won’t hurt, for individual victims, expenses fraud can be costly. Research conducted by the National Fraud Authority suggests that exaggerated expenses claims cost the British economy around £100 million annually; the private sector alone lost £80 million in 2013. Imagine if 20 per cent of your staff added 10 per cent to each mileage claim; the cumulative loss for the company would quickly become significant.
Five Minutes with a Chief Architect: Claus Jepsen of Unit4
Claus Jepsen has spent the last few decades developing and architecting software solutions, most recently at Unit4 , where he is the chief architect leading the ERP vendor’s focus on enabling the post-modern enterprise. At Unit4, Claus is building cloud-based, super-scalable solutions and bringing innovative technologies such as AI, chatbots, and predictive analytics to ERP.
Machine learning: The new way to combat expenses fraud?
Consider the following expenses claims: registration fees for a cancelled seminar, two separate claims for mileage when the employees travelled together, and a sandwich-and-coffee dinner claimed as the full per diem.
While it’s easy to believe that a few dishonest claims won’t hurt, for individual victims, expenses fraud can be costly. Research conducted by the National Fraud Authority suggests that exaggerated expenses claims cost the British economy around £100 million annually; the private sector alone lost £80 million in 2013. Imagine if 20 per cent of your staff added 10 per cent to each mileage claim; the cumulative loss for the company would quickly become significant.
ERP and the A.I. Factor
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here. Once a topic of conversation, news, and science fiction, AI has finally entered our technology landscape. We are only beginning to see the impact it will have on our businesses, our jobs, and our enterprise software, but we already know that impact is profound and growing.
Until very recently advanced AI functionality was extremely expensive due to the limited and immature tooling available. Constructing the algorithms required highly skilled and very specialized employees, not available to most software vendors. In addition, these new and complex algorithms required immense amounts of additional data storage for pattern recognition and required CPU-intensive computing power for pattern recognition.
All this has changed. We will see it often. Current ERP software will incorporate AI capabilities more and more, and here is why.
Today, all major cloud vendors offer both PaaS and IaaS that specifically address computing and storage issues. Fierce competition between major cloud players has resulted in decreasing prices for both cloud storage and computing power, literally democratized machine learning functionality and AI capabilities. It is allowing software vendors to incorporate more-complex algorithms that crunch bigger and bigger datasets.
The result is ERP with AI for all. It is leading to ever-more-advanced solutions. It has given birth to a whole new range of systems capable of making decisions based on historic data. Data collection is becoming pervasive, automatic and non-intrusive, instead of spotty, manual, and requiring high levels of interaction. Natural language input will soon decrease the need for manually intensive UI. Increasingly, computers will proactively support decision making.
We recently announced our new digital assistant, Wanda. Wanda and its functional agents epitomize the evolution to semi-intelligent and self-driving solutions. They liberate people from their tedious manual interactions with enterprise software and allow them to focus on running their business and serving their customers.
Should we fear AI?
Human beings all share an important trait – the ability to devise tooling that simplifies tasks and drives our species forward. Our tools liberate us from mundane day-to-day chores, so we can focus on more abstract challenges, solving more problems – problems we solve, ironically, by devising even more tools. This has made us the most successful and adaptable animal on the planet.
Every new technology invented gave rise to a backlash. Change is difficult. Many people will prefer the status quo.
Despite resistance to change, advances in technology always prevail. In time we learn to trust and use our new tools with enthusiasm. The introduction of AI into enterprise applications will follow the same path. It’s only human. Initially there will be lots of resistance because AI will fundamentally change how users interact with software. Large amounts of structured and unstructured new data will enter the ERP system invisibly, through mobile, UI improvements and IoT. Knowledge systems will employ agents – computer programs that decide and act independently on behalf of an employee. Many users will feel threatened. Despite this, technology will prevail. It always does because companies will always strive to operate more efficiently and focus on their primary objective, serving their customers.
Should we then fear it? No, not at all. New technology brings us better living standards, safer working conditions, more goods, better services, and endless benefits. AI will do likewise. It will remove tedious, repetitious work. It will empower employees to improve their performance. It will enable companies to provide more goods and better services. A new era is upon us. Embrace it. The impact of AI on ERP will be enormous and wonderful.
Claus Jepsen 