Business Technology Roundtable

The Applied-AI Requirement, Seen from My Own Desk A few months ago, I began evaluating a paid license from some of the leading AI providers on the assumption that my advisory work would eventually outgrow the free AI app tiers. It has not happened yet. Each time I approached the point of subscribing, a new free or entry-level release arrived that adequately covered what I actually needed: drafting, research synthesis, and editorial refinement.  My requirements were never exotic. They were representative of a large share of knowledge work, which is precisely the point. This is not a story about frugality. It is a story about an AI capability moving target. The capability that once justified a premium license a year ago is now embedded in the free tier of the same provider, or matched by a competitor's low-cost model. Independent benchmark trackers have shown the performance gap between open and proprietary models narrowing from double digits to less than one percentage point within ...

Is your leadership team ready to move beyond the consideration phase and harness the transformative power of Generative AI (GenAI), or are you trapped in analysis paralysis? Deloitte's latest quarterly report on "The State of Generative AI in the Enterprise" provides a comprehensive look at how organizations are navigating the GenAI adoption call to action.  The Q3 2024 survey of 2,770 leaders across 14 countries offers valuable insights into the current state of GenAI implementation, challenges, and future outlook. It's insightful reading. Building on Initial GenAI Success Organizations are seeing early value from their strategic GenAI initiatives, with 67 percent increasing investments due to strong business outcome results. While improved efficiency, productivity, and cost reduction remain top priorities (cited by 42 percent as the most important benefit), a majority (58 percent) report diverse benefits such as increased innovation, improved products, and enhanced...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption is accelerating globally, transforming business and government. However, a new study by Cisco Systems reveals that while intentions to adopt AI are rising sharply, actual abilities to effectively leverage these technologies continue to lag. An overwhelming 97 percent of business leaders state that the urgency to deploy AI technologies has increased significantly or somewhat at their organizations in just the past six months. This mounting urgency is coming from the top-down, with over 50 percent saying it is being driven by their CEO and board of directors. Meanwhile, the C-suite is being tasked to prepare for action. As a result of this mounting pressure, 95 percent of organizations now have an AI strategy in place or under development. Looking ahead, 84 percent believe AI will have a major impact on their business operations. New AI Deployments Underway Many organizations have already started an AI deployment, prioritizing IT infrastructure and d...

A comprehensive enterprise mobile device and application strategy, if executed correctly, can become a significant competitive advantage. But, there's a growing need for answers to the questions troubling many IT executives -- with regard to their mobile device policies, the adoption of media tablets, and mobile application development costs and practices. According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), corporate-liable devices still prevail with 77 percent of survey respondent organizations providing smartphones to their employees and 49 percent providing media tablets in 2011. Of these corporate-liable devices, 70 percent were purchased by the organization and issued to the employees while only 7 percent were purchased by the employee with full or partial reimbursement. The goal of the study, based on responses from CIOs and IT professionals in the U.S. and Europe, is to provide IT organizations with insight into how their peers have addresse...

Social media tools are entering the workplace, either by thoughtful intent or purely by accident. To date, for those organizations that actually have a plan of action, most tend to focus more on "damage containment" policies for their employees. Is a protection-centric strategy the prudent approach for concerned -- but otherwise uninformed -- business leaders, or is it shortsighted thinking that undervalues the upside opportunity ? Cisco released the results of a third-party global market study designed to assess how organizations use consumer social networking tools to collaborate externally. The use of these tools, such as Facebook and Twitter, are connecting organizations with their external stakeholders. On the upside, the tools connect people and information, establish potential new routes to market, and enhance customer intimacy and brand awareness. According to the third-party researcher , the study findings indicate that we're at the early stages of adoption and ...