CTO Straight Talk - Issue 4 - 58

call centers to interact with customers

successfully applied machine learning in

calling to ask about their balance in their

six areas: Demand prediction, sourcing

pre-paid accounts or to make sure they

and inventory management, scheduling

have international service-mundane but

optimization, production optimization,

useful-to-automate kind of activities.

predictive maintenance, and outbound
transportation optimization.

What about internal
functions and activities?
IT is the most active user of AI. In the
surveys I've done with Deloitte, there is
a higher percentage of IT departments
using AI than any other function. Now
people call it " AIOps, " automating
activities such as rebooting servers,
supplying people with their passwords,
even software testing. It's really just
more RPA being applied to IT, but RPA
that is slowly getting smarter.

Most promising for Big River-and for
other companies-is the signiﬁcant
business beneﬁt that comes from
integrating these applications of machine
learning, creating an " end to end "
optimization of the performance and
proﬁtability of the ﬁrm.

Have you seen any
surprising use of AI by
an internal function?
Yes, in Human Resources. A function that

RPA, which used to be the dumbest form

might have been considered a laggard in

of AI, is getting more intelligent mostly

terms of the use of technology, especially

when it's integrated with automated

a technology like AI that is just emerging,

machine learning. This combination of

is doing a lot of interesting things with it.

technologies is ushering in an era of
many intelligent automation applications.

Looking at the results of a survey I

It's particularly useful for structured,

conducted with Oracle, I was most

information-intensive " swivel-chair "

surprised by how much usage of AI

tasks, such as pulling information out of

there is in HR. When asked which types

one system and putting it in another.

of analytics they were using, 31% made
" artiﬁcial intelligence " their ﬁrst choice,

Improving and optimizing
internal processes have
been the focus of operations
research for quite some time.

and 58% put it in their top three choices.

Indeed, but it has always been done on

A variety of applications and uses:

a relatively small scale, using individual

identifying talented individuals who

models with only a few variables.

are prime candidates for leaving

Advanced machine learning helps

the organization, predicting which

companies today in taking this to the

job applicants are likely to be high

next level in both breadth and depth. A

performers, developing workforce plans,

good example is the steel manufacturer

ﬁnding best-ﬁt candidates with

startup Big River Steel. Working with AI

resume analysis.

consulting ﬁrm Noodle.ai, Big River has

58

What exactly is HR doing
with AI?
http://www.Noodle.ai
CTO Straight Talk - Issue 4

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CTO Straight Talk - Issue 4
