Looking to jump on the AI bandwagon?
AI and cognitive are already big in the Middle East. A March 2018 Forbes article details how the region is future-proofing its economy with AI, noting that “AI is expected to take the lead among transformative technologies for enterprises. More so because of high-growth startup scenes in the region, where annual investment is fast approaching $1 billion, and governments are prioritizing innovation.”
Experts worldwide agree AI is a key element in pushing technology and business value to the next level. In a recent IBM feature on what's next for AI, 30 visionaries highlighted how it will drive innovation, make services more personalized, and create new business models.
So you can see that AI is not just a buzzword, it can and does provide tangible business results. AI can support three important business needs; automating business processes, gaining insight through data analysis and engaging with customers and employees.
1. For example AI can help automate frequently occurring repetitive, data-driven tasks, often done by the back-office admins or finance departments.
2. With the help of algorithms, companies can analyze large amounts of data, quickly, to help identify trends and allow the company to have predictive power, enabling companies to personalize offers, ads, and predict buying behavior.
3. Chatbots, personalized FAQ’s, and sales summaries also help companies collect information to help provide a more personalized and engaging experience.
In short – excitement about AI’s business value keeps soaring. Everyone has a reason to get on board. But how can you ensure AI will give you the edge, so you aren’t just another company jumping on the bandwagon?
It starts with laying the right foundation, by overcoming obstacles that keep other businesses from AI success. In a recent look at the top barriers to AI adoption, TechRepublic found that lack of in-house data science skills is the biggest obstacle. However, by using machine learning and best-of-breed tools, astute organizations can remove the technicality from AI and empower employees to realize its value.
Successful AI programs must also be underpinned by solid infrastructure. A new term “AI-defined infrastructure”, describes an enterprise stack that is designed for learning, understanding and problem solving according to analysts at IDG. Having the right infrastructure is key to adopting AI now, and the right infrastructure strategy will lead you to a platform you can keep building on into the future.
Introducing POWER9, the AI processor
POWER9, the new-generation IBM POWER processor built for data-intensive workloads, is one of the answers to overcoming these obstacles. We’ll be taking a closer look at POWER9 in future posts, but for now let’s consider why it’s an excellent AI solution for businesses.
This new AI-focused architecture is a move away from the standard on-chip microprocessor, in favor of ultra-fast bandwidth across the system stack.
AI applications benefit greatly from this, because they leverage a combination of different processors – like GPUs and FPGAs – working in parallel to accelerate workloads.
As well as accelerated bandwidth, the POWER9 processor delivers blazing speed and compute options forming the foundation for your most advanced AI workloads. POWER9 is therefore ideal for powering AI-defined infrastructure providing the capacity to ingest and analyze large volumes of data.
New software unlocks POWER9’s AI potential
Of course, AI performance is only valuable where you can utilize it. As we noted earlier, skills gaps are a major obstacle to AI adoption. You must make AI less technical, and more accessible, to succeed.
That’s why IBM has also announced a new set of AI tools, based on the same software that runs the US Department of Energy’s POWER9-based CORAL supercomputers.
POWER9 – and the new IBM Power Systems servers it powers – are therefore looking like the complete AI and deep learning solution. In a video on how the new deep learning software achieves record performance, IBM research fellow Hillery Hunter notes:
“We are able to accelerate the time that it takes to get innovations from researchers’ hands into the hands of customers.”
AI can be a difficult concept to get one’s head around, because it conjures images of robots and complex machines. However, once we see past the hype, the potential to add business value with AI is now very real – and greater than ever before. In fact, every business process within your company can be improved using AI.
Whether you have started the AI journey or you’re wondering where to begin, GBM is your partner with the expertise, service offerings and technology partnerships to take you forward. GBM supports your success at every step of the journey, from providing consultancy services and planning your technical strategy, all the way to solution deployment, maintenance and support.
Please contact me if you would like to know more about deploying an industry-leading AI solution.