These days, many companies and organizations are striving to make data-informed decisions. While businesses have traditionally relied on instinct or gut-based decision-making to keep up with the competition, influencing stakeholders in these hyper-connected times requires a crystal clear rationale.
Ultimately, this is where a data- and evidence-based approach comes in, setting apart high-performance organizations from those languishing in the middle. And AI is the catalyst for decision-makers seeking to stand out from the herd.
Toronto AI expert Chinmaya Madan explains why and how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being leveraged to analyze data.
“Every company wants to make informed decisions,” Chinmaya Madan of Toronto notes. “In fast-changing circumstances, that’s not always possible. However, many business developments unfold slowly and the right data can help you chart your company’s success.”
Companies now have access to more data than ever before. Going back 30 years, before the Internet became widespread, collecting data on purchasing decisions, marketing campaigns, sales, and other business processes was difficult, time-consuming, and resource-intensive.
Currently, nearly 60% of the global population uses the internet on a regular basis. This widespread use and reliance offers a golden opportunity to understand human behavior at scale – and data and AI are the enabling technologies business professionals need to identify and solve unmet customer needs around the world.
“Computers, smartphones, and the Internet have had a profound impact on global society,” Chinmaya Madan from Toronto points out. “And these tools also make it easy to gather data, and lots of it.”
As customers interact with various websites, apps, and whatever else, it’s possible to gather data, such as sales numbers, on-page reading times, and the customer’s journey across several pages.
And while websites and apps certainly rank among the biggest data sources, there are plenty of other options as well. For example, the emerging Internet-of-Things (IoT) means more devices can gather data, including your car, video-door bell, appliances, and more. IoT devices can then collect that data and later it can be analyzed.
“Already, data is flooding in and as the Internet of Things grows, we’ll get even more data,” Toronto resident Chinmaya Madan says. “And yet, the amount of data can be overwhelming, which makes it harder to uncover actionable insights. That’s where AI comes in.”
Artificial intelligence allows machines to do the work that previously required a human mind, such as sifting through big data to find trends, analyze images, or recognizing speech. Rather than replacing people, however, AI often empowers employees, allowing them to skip performing menial tasks and instead focus on complex challenges, like analysis.
Often, analyzing big data is a time-consuming, arduous activity with a lot of manual work. For example, you may have to gather data from a number of sources and compile it before even starting your analysis. AI can do much of the above work for you.
“AI is going to be a game-changer for Big Data,” Chinmaya Madan from Toronto says. “Fact is, Big Data has gotten too big in some ways and is hard for people to handle. With AI, you can work with vast amounts of data even if your resources are limited.