How will AI benefit SMEs in the near-future?
What does artificial intelligence mean? How is it going to change business? And really, how do we avoid the situation where we all lose our jobs because we’re all too busy trying to sell stuff faster?
These are the questions that Jeremy Waite in his capacity as Global Leader of CMO Programs for IBM Watson hears all the time. At the IoD’s recent Digital Strategy Summit, Waite gave delegates a sneak preview of some of the ways that IBM Watson is innovating with AI technology with the view to helping businesses with acquisitions, strategic change, email marketing campaigns, or even diagnostic medicine.
But it’s not all about the technology, he warns. “The best companies spend 7-10 times more on people than they do on tech. The ones that fail put all the money on tech, and don’t know why it falls over, because they didn’t train people and they didn’t understand what people need from it.”
After his talk, Waite offered the IoD some quick insights into what SMEs can expect from AI in the near future. From cognitive systems to intelligent assistants, and prioritising perfecting what you already know over rushing to innovate, watch his back-stage advice: