The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution that commenced several years ago is finally making its way into mainstream decision-making and in our lives as a whole. The way we think and make decisions is completely changing and many professions are changing the way they work as a result. Insights, analytics and intelligence professionals may find vast opportunities based on these changing market dynamics but not without the critical need to change the way they work and the way they provide analytics support to their organizations. Strategic Competitive Intelligence Professionals and the American Institute of Artificial Intelligence have teamed up to redefine the way that these professionals do their work and ensure that their companies have a competitive advantage. When it comes to competitive intelligence, artificial intelligence-based technologies are emerging as game changing applications for decision support capabilities.
Changing times
How is the artificial intelligence revolution addressing the area of integrated insights analytics and intelligence to help make decisions? Let’s first address the five basic elements to decision support. These elements are as follows; knowing, analyzing, deciding, acting and managing. Knowing is about collecting data. Analyzing is about situational awareness and proving theories and concepts based on data. Deciding is about building systems that help us meet our strategy and goals. Acting is how we influence the environment. Managing includes accumulating experiences.
It is through these five basic elements that insights, analytics and intelligence professionals have conducted the work for the past 30 years. In the past, we used automated systems and machine learning to collect and analyze but stopped short of the other three elements. In this age of applied artificial intelligence, all five elements are employed using machine learning. Now decision-support systems are being built via the use what we call “autonomous agents.” These autonomous agents or intelligent systems not only collect and analyze, they have the capability and learning capacity to decide and act upon information and intelligence they collect and analyze. Companies employing these systems in their businesses to help make decisions will have an advantage. In fact, many already are.
Organizations must pay attention because these autonomous agents will affect all of our value driver areas in the way we make decisions. So the change is monumental, and companies, organizations and the insights, analytics and intelligence professionals that work within their organizations must recognize the need to address the following questions: Does your organization have a business strategy for the incorporation of artificial intelligence into your organizational decision processes? Does your organization possess a body of knowledge related to how to develop an autonomous agent centric set of strategies? Does your organization maintain the skills to develop an applied artificial intelligence strategy for your organization?
Moving machine learning past simple collection and analysis to the ability to make decisions and to learn from those decisions creates not only a whole new environment, but a whole new set of issues as well. Traditional predictive analytics and business intelligence tools can only go so far. When it comes to competitive intelligence, artificial intelligence-based technologies are emerging as game changing applications. This is truly the age of intelligence and insights convergence and the automation of it through artificial intelligence. Insights, analytics and intelligence professionals sit in the sweet spot of this paradigm shift by leading their organizations through these changes and by implementing intelligent systems that help their companies enable a competitive advantage. So now is the time to address these strategic organizational questions and to recognize that your organization’s insights, analytics and intelligence professional is well-positioned to lead the charge.
