Business Automation

As 2024 wraps up, I thought I would share a few thoughts on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the context of automating your business. It's been a really interesting year for AI and automation and I suspect 2025 will be more interesting yet.

• It's important to remember that AI > Generative AI. Focus on applying the right mix of technologies to any artificial intelligence problem - business rules and decision automation, statistical models and predictive analytics, neural networks and machine learning, AND generative AI. Few problems only need one of these technologies, most are efficiently solved using a mixture. All these technologies are improving and evolving, and all will have a role to play in 2025. Make sure they're all in your tech stack.
• Given you'll need a mixture of technologies to solve problems, make sure to adopt a way to define requirements and do design that isn't tied to a particular technology but let's you focus on your automation goals. Decision modeling and process modeling are both great places to start. Far too many organizations have great plans for using new technology next year but no matching plan to change the way they plan and design their systems. Make sure you do.
• Continuous improvement will always matter. You're not going to solve the whole problem with v1 so don't assume you will. Plan for change, evolution and improvement. And capture the data about what you did and how well it worked out so you can do this. Good business-centric design and transparent capture of execution logs will be important next year - more so as your systems get more complex.
• Don't let worries about generative AI stop you getting started now. These tools are getting really good at handling complex inputs (processing documents, supporting conversational interfaces) and explaining outcomes - you can't afford to wait. Combining IBM's models with good design lets you control how your AI is built and how it is used so you can ensure compliance and safety. Start soon.
• Plan for governance. Take advantage of IBM's great governance tools to manage your process, your decisions and the way ML and AI are being used to support both. Even if you are just getting started, you'll eventually get asked to prove you have everything under control so start early.

 Finally, I'm reminded of Amar's Law - we tend to overestimate the short-term impact of new technologies while underestimating their long-term effects. AI seems likely to follow this law - it's not going to upend your business tomorrow, but it is going to radically reshape in the coming years.

Have a wonderful holiday season.

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