Second, the unfamiliar landscape of AI also means businesses can be tempted to fall back on their time-honored behaviors, reinventing the wheel and building from scratch. There are many proven, low-cost AI options to buy "off the shelf" and start using right away. It is key to leverage what already exists, customize as needed for the organization and start proving the value of AI as the first step to successful scaling. But don't get bogged down in the technology. Be driven by the business strategy and vision, and let that dictate the AI approach. Focus on finding the right way of working that will allow AI to flourish, diversifying skills and talent beyond the data scientists.

As AI becomes increasingly ever-present in the commercial sphere in the form of digital assistants, it's worth considering to what extent enterprise is keeping up. The enthusiasm for the implementation of artificial intelligence in a workplace setting may abate in the year ahead according to a report from professional services firm PwC. The third annual report in a series on AI predictions, one of its key findings is that only 4% of over 1,000 surveyed executives have plans to deploy AI across the enterprise, compared to 20% in the year before. That's due in part, PwC says, to a revising of expectations to focus on fundamental tasks rather than total overhauls. How do you make AI work for your business?

Outsourcing has played a key role in helping companies cope with large workloads at a fraction of the cost of recruiting in-house over the past 20 years. Despite visible changes in this direction, outsourcing companies are no longer benefiting from the desired result. Customers are becoming more knowledgeable and willing to look beyond cheap labor. Customers across all sectors want to take advantage of a personalized experience and feel cared about while quickly and efficiently managing requests and demands. Nevertheless, when people are needed to develop products or provide other services provided by a business, firing employees will not increase the profits of a company long term. This is where process automation makes the introduction.

Developing AI models requires a'test and learn' approach, in which the algorithms are continually learning and the data is being refined. That is very different from the way that software is developed, and a different set of tools are needed. Machines learn through the input of data, and more – and better quality – data is key to the rollout of AI.

The Big Four accounting firms, through an unprecedented investment of billions into technology, are transforming not just how they operate, but also their very identities. The tech crusade goes far beyond automating standard auditing and accounting work. Through a focus on artificial intelligence, data analytics, and massive tech training throughout their organizations, the biggest players in accounting are making tech part of their DNA. "We haven't become a pure technology firm," Christian Rast, KPMG LLP's global head of technology & knowledge said in a recent phone interview. "We are a professional services firm, but technology is core to our future."

In this special guest feature, Adam Honig, CEO of Spiro, discusses how proactive relationship management isn't leveraging AI to replace humans, but instead is helping highly paid sales professionals work more effectively and providing sales leaders with critical insights into their pipelines. As Spiro's CEO, Adam is focused on the company strategy and vision. Previously, he co-founded a software company which he led through its successful IPO and sale. Afterwards, Adam founded Innoveer, one of the largest CRM consulting firms, which was successfully acquired by Cloud Sherpas (and then Accenture). Adam is passionate about helping sales teams make more money using artificial intelligence, and is the driving force behind Spiro's proactive relationship management. Managing big data has been an ongoing challenge for companies – especially in B2B sales, where they are managing tens of thousands of leads working their way through the sales funnel.

Artificial intelligence has been taking the world by storm for quite a while now. It all begins with a sound strategy. Investing in the right systems, backing the correct responsible practices, and preparing your organization for the advent of AI is all it takes to get going. Remember, that transforming your business bit by bit might be irrelevant- what you need to do is scale. Scale your business to incorporate outcome-based AI tech, and driven to overcome business challenges that are a priority to you.

Accenture said the acquisition will further equip its clients with capabilities to meet the growing demand for enterprise-scale AI, analytics and automation solutions. On Friday (13 December), professional services company Accenture announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Clarity Insights. Clarity Insights, a Chicago-based data consultancy with deep data science, AI and machine learning expertise, will bring its 350 employees to Accenture's Applied Intelligence business in North America. Founded in 2008, Clarity Insights focuses on serving clients' needs from end to end, aiming to transform business processes to embed and scale AI with deeper insights from data. Accenture did not disclose the terms of the deal.

Accenture is dipping into its massive wallet again in the waning days of 2019 to buy Clarity Insights, an expert in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning that will add to the systems integrator's data analytics capabilities. The Lowdown: The planned acquisition of Clarity will help Accenture address the growing demand among enterprises to scale their AI and machine learning efforts and to more quickly analyze the rapidly growing amount of data that they're generating. The Details: Clarity, an 11-year-old data analytics consulting firm based in Chicago, will become part of Accenture's Applied Intelligence business, a unit that the company has been expanding both through internal innovation and acquisitions, including Knowledgent and Kogentix in 2018 and more recently Pragsis Bidoop and Analytics8 this year. Clarity's business is built around working with large enterprises from the time they launch their AI, analytics, and automation initiatives to implementing the strategy and supplying engineering capabilities. The acquisition will add almost 350 new employees to Accenture's workforce of more than 492,000.

Accenture is dipping into its massive wallet again in the waning days of 2019 to buy Clarity Insights, an expert in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning that will add to the systems integrator's data analytics capabilities. The Lowdown: The planned acquisition of Clarity will help Accenture address the growing demand among enterprises to scale their AI and machine learning efforts and to more quickly analyze the rapidly growing amount of data that they're generating. The Details: Clarity, an 11-year-old data analytics consulting firm based in Chicago, will become part of Accenture's Applied Intelligence business, a unit that the company has been expanding both through internal innovation and acquisitions, including Knowledgent and Kogentix in 2018 and more recently Pragsis Bidoop and Analytics8 this year. Clarity's business is built around working with large enterprises from the time they launch their AI, analytics, and automation initiatives to implementing the strategy and supplying engineering capabilities. The acquisition will add almost 350 new employees to Accenture's workforce of more than 492,000.