Despite the pop culture fiction that artificial intelligence is a far-away puzzle just waiting to be unlocked, the truth is that
AI is already a tool that most use often, some of us even every day. Just think about it: every time you stop to ask Siri or Google Home or any of our friendly neighborhood pocket assistants for directions or help finding the nearest coffee spot, you’re interfacing with an elegant example of easy-to-use AI.
For businesses, using chatbots as the first line of defence against customer complaints is now common, providing a handy way to triage queries and customer needs. Again, AI is already an efficient solution to an everyday problem. And while it’s easy to imagine moments where the lives of everyday people intersect with artificial intelligence, and even find examples of our interactions with AI within smaller businesses, for global enterprises the reality of large-scale AI has yet to unfold. Enter Genpact. This global professional services firm looks to do just that: leverage artificial intelligence, at potentially massive scale, to ultimately bring us closer to making that future a reality. In this effort they’ve unveiled
Genpact Cora, an interconnected platform of best-in-class technologies that span from robotic automation to advanced data visualization to artificial intelligence. What global business hasn’t dreamed of a future where artificial intelligence can realistically help solve challenges, at a scale? Just think about it: in the same way that we use virtual assistants in our daily lives to help us navigate a busy schedule or find quick solutions to our everyday problems, there could be tech just on the horizon that helps businesses operate more smoothly, in much the same ways. There’s a key difference between Genpact Cora and the helpful virtual assistant in your pocket, however. Nitin Bhat, Senior Vice President at Genpact, explains that because Cora is built on AI and other advanced technologies, it can learn and prescribe what actions are needed for business clients
to improve their processes and improve their competitive position in the market. The implications of this are huge. For businesses eager to bring AI into the fold, it’s not about flashy new products and dazzling tech, but more importantly about using those tools work harder to meet businesses’ goals and prove out the value inherent to the tech itself. While AI continues to fundamentally change the way businesses at the enterprise level engage with both customers and other businesses, the truth is that it is largely an unmet need. Genpact estimates that more than
70 percent of enterprise processes can be can be automated, for example, by robotic process automation or through machine learning and intelligent automation. While this type of technology is readily available, adoption depends a lot on a company’s culture and DNA. So many functions may be ready for AI-driven automation, while others would benefit more greatly from robotic automation, for example. “With the explosion of new digital technologies and solution options, leaders are struggling to determine how to best exploit these disruptive digital innovations in a pragmatic, industrialized (at scale) and risk-mitigated manner,” Bhat says. Just like with the virtual assistants we use in our daily lives, businesses too must rely on the harmony between machine and humans to ensure that things run smoothly. “Math, science and data analytics will still have a huge role to play, but as machines do more of that work, it will have little value without the human connection of creativity, emotion, judgment, and relationships,” Bhat says. Ultimately, a command and control center that is led by humans and powered by AI can reduce risk of possible errors in how these tools are used. There’s still so much remaining to be discovered in the future of AI, but Genpact believes it is on the cutting edge of the industry, being the first to combine automation, analytics, and AI engines in one platform that is designed to bring humans and machine together. As with many new tech tools, there’s still a lot of hype and unrealistic expectations of what the technologies can do, but AI adoption at the large-scale enterprise level is now more real than ever, and Genpact is leading the charge in that effort. “Digitization, AI, and other emerging technologies are forcing companies to refresh the way they serve their customers. Just like what we’re seeing in the Twitter universe with real time, the most successful companies are the ones who adjust their strategies in real time to reflect current needs and upcoming trends,” Bhat says.
