The Age of Robots. Or is it?

I went to a HUGE conference for a rather large software platform a few years ago and was blown away by the scale of it. The conference itself was around a few city blocks and was bustling with developers, architects, salespeople, and even legal teams - everyone who performed a different function for their organizations but yet, still had a use for a piece of the overall system. I was there as the Head of Sales for my organization, but also a system admin so attended a little of everything based on our requirements yet I still missed a TON. The most useful time I spent was one on one with an Admin I ran into who showed me some of the tips and tricks to do exactly what I needed and I realized I needed to go to a smaller event to get the expertise and interaction I wanted.

There were sessions on everything you wanted to know, but also, there was an overwhelming theme. That you could access the system from anywhere in the world via your phone, tablet, computer - even in your car. They all spoke to each other and worked seamlessly. On top of that, you could employ predictive analytics and artificial intelligence to better predict outcomes, increase efficiency and operability, and, perhaps save time, money and energy.

I had just seen Terminator, Genisys a few weeks before. (SPOILER ALERT) The movie was entertaining, but scary at the same time. So, as I sat at this conference, watched as we could easily go from our computers to phones to tablet and watch the machine come up with results that a sales director could only dream of, via artificial intelligence or machine learning, I couldn't help but thinking that this was the plot of the movie. Everything is connected and this technology will become smarter than we are. This is the beginning of the takeover of robots. This is the beginning of the end.

In reality, this is a ridiculous thought. This platform isn't a robot - and there are lots of other systems out there there that are like it. Not everyone works on the same platform and humans still need to develop the intelligence that make these machines intelligent. There is still an off-button and while we're all connected all the time, I can still turn my phone off when I go to the beach.

It does beg the question though, "how smart can these systems get?" and "will they replace humans?"

I think we're a long way off from the world falling into destruction like in the movie, but I do wonder about our reliance on these systems and the ethics involved as they evolve. One thing is abundantly clear, though they are making our lives easier and providing value we once would have only dreamed of ten years ago.

For those companies who are just starting on their journey through artificial intelligence and analytics, where do you start? There are tons of resources out there, but what are the tools you need to get started and what is the best place to start? Sales, operations, supply chain, manufacturing?

For this, you need the experts. For this, you need to talk to people who have successfully implemented AI in their business already. For this, you need a road map and a proven journey to success.

I'd love to talk to you about your journey and if you're getting started - OR if you're one of these system or software providers that can improve the lives of developers, architects, salespeople, supply chain, manufacturing and even legal teams.

For more info or to chat about your journey, send me a note on LinkedIn. Also, check out Corinium's events which feature full focus days on Machine Learning & AI in an intimate setting where you can learn from the experts. Check out www.coriniumintelligence.com for full details or message me if you want to find out which ones are the best fit for you.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to seeing whether this really is the dawn of the "Age of Robots."