AI doesn’t work…until it does!

The big news this week is that oil prices have surged and that Tesla stock is up again, or was it down? It’s hard to keep up.

But the REALLY big news is that IBM has withdrawn its Artificial Intelligence ambitions in the field of healthcare diagnosis. [Dr?] Watson Health has been laid to rest. Phew! Hope exists for those of us that cling to the idea that humans have a role to play in the ‘new world’, right?

Well, yes and no. Let me explain what I mean…

I always feel that the media is dominated by a handful of mega-corporates trying to create mega-achievements. And mostly failing but – critically – sometimes eventually succeeding. Remember the Top Gear episode when the Tesla famously ran out of charge on a test drive, or Space X’s ‘One’s fantastic explosion on landing back on earth, or the Nokia Communicator – whilst a failed product, surely the harbinger of the smartphone?

The point I’m making is, big companies dream big things; and this is great for humanity as a whole. Their innovations will eventually trickle down to the rest of us. But is that it? If we are not IBM or Tesla is our role in life to sit idly by waiting for such technology to become proven and affordable for the rest of us?

The reality is that whilst a handful of organizations might be on super-fast fibre optic broadband, most of us aren’t even on any kind of broadband at all. To keep with my analogy, we don’t even have telephones (the terrestrial kind). For us, it is quite intimidating to read about these leaders that are doing amazing things and it’s tempting to bury our heads in the sand or write off such innovations as fleeting ideas that won’t stand the test of time.

But to ignore such trends is hazardous, just ask Kodak. I think the answer lies somewhere in between. Take a few baby steps, try fast and fail faster.

In a procurement context you might hear about guided buying, predictive analytics, invoice automation and it all sounds lovely but also very far away. My advice is that you don’t get put off by the idea of running before you can walk.

The traditional approach would be to take the giant leap (financially and operationally) into buying a full suite solution and hope that your organization can get to grips with the magnitude change. History tells us that it simply doesn’t work that way. Change management is gradual and time consuming. That’s why at Simfoni we propose a more COMPOSABLE approach. Invest in a solution that is accessible and modular…think IKEA. Inexpensive to get started, easy to swap out if the circumstances change and expandable if the experience is positive. It’s what we call 'Composable Procurement' and it’s the answer for those wishing to start the journey toward AI-driven procurement.

At Simfoni, we focus on the basics like process automation and data management, and then gradually build on that over time with more and more sophistication. We won’t turn your business into a Tesla (that’s your job!), but we will ensure that you are making meaningful strides toward the business environment of the future, whilst achieving a meaningful ROI at each stage of the journey.