Shamrock Solutions supports a variety of financial department solutions for accounts payables, accounts receivables, and remittance processing. These solutions address a range of processes including invoice processing, audits, account openings, expense reporting, payment options, customer engagement, and order entry. All accounting procedures, especially remittance and AR/AP processing, are critical to any organization's financial well-being. Manual data entry of invoices is an inefficient, expensive, labor-intensive and often error-prone process. Slow and mistake-laden document processing lengthens payment cycles, reduces staff productivity, adds late payment penalties and causes missed early payment discounts.

This is the transformative promise of artificial intelligence (AI), whose vast array of applications has seized the attention of investors and business leaders, largely because of the technology's potential to turbo-charge the economy by boosting productivity. This year, venture capital firms invested $4.9 billion in AI ventures in the second quarter 2019, compared with $2.7 billion in the first quarter. A recent PwC survey of more than 1,000 U.S. business executives found that 20 percent now describe the state of intelligent automation and AI at their organization as a "fully optimized" aspect of their business. Some 84 percent said implementing AI "at scale" in their organizations will be necessary in the next three years. The AI market is expected to grow to $70 billion by next year, according to PwC estimates.

As for explainable AI, companies that buy AI-driven products look for explainability at a business level, said Arnab Chakraborty, Global managing director of applied intelligence for the U.S. West Coast region at Accenture. "A lot of our clients have to explain to stakeholders how models work," he said. So, the models need to be transparent. Accenture, a multinational professional services firm headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, has its own toolkit to help explain how AI systems work. The toolkit helps the company lay out different parameters that go into a model and how that model influences different APIs, among other things, Chakraborty said.

Becky Shields, partner at top 20 firm Moore Kingston Smith, is passionate about the potential of technology in the accounting profession. In her 13 years at the firm, she has focused on IT, and now chairs an IT committee at the ICAEW as well as playing a key role in Engine B, the consortium run by ex-KPMG luminary Shamus Rae. It looks at how the digital revolution impacts on professional services. For three years, Moore Kingston Smith has used the AI MindBridge software for its audits. Here, in this two-part interview, she shares her thoughts on how the technology has improved the offering Moore Kingston Smith can give its clients, the future of audit, and how close we are to real time advisory.

Kolkata: Global consultancy giant PwC is setting up a'Centre of Excellence' (CoE) in artificial intelligence (AI) in the city, which will generate around 1,200 jobs. Besides, it would also build an IoT (Internet of Things) lab in the city which, too, would be first of its kind in the country. To man these state-of-the-art facilities, the consultancy major is looking reverse migration of workforce from Hyderabad, Pune and Bengaluru to the city. Arnab Basu, managing partner (east), PwC India, told TOI that it would invest Rs 100 crore for setting up these facilities in the state. The consultancy major had earlier set up another CoE or analytics in the city.

The business opportunities from the use of drones and AI are there now, and make positive "bot-tom-line" contributions, but many companies are not ready to take advantage of them, either be-cause they don't have the processes in place or do not have the talent. The PwC 2019 Global Risk, Internal Audit and Compliance Survey showed that 80 per cent of respondents "do not plan to use drones in the next two years" or are "unsure" about whether they will do so. Likewise, over half (52 per cent) of respondents feel the same way about artificial intelligence. Two-thirds (63 per cent) do not have a programme in place to attract digital talent. However, they are open to the idea of using these technologies, especially from the point of view of improved customer services and employee experiences.

The workplace is changing, thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence. "AI isn't replacing all the jobs, which is sometimes in the perception that people have," he said at Yahoo Finance's All Markets Summit Thursday in New York City. "What it's doing is creating the opportunity for us to rethink what jobs are." With that, Daugherty highlights several skills that are necessary to stay competitive. "People need to focus on the human skills… like complex problem solving, creativity, social-emotional response, communication," he said.

According to Accenture, artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to help increase labour productivity by up to 40% and potentially double annual economic growth rates by 2035. But for organisations to capitalise on these and other benefits, decision-makers must ensure AI effectively integrates into existing operations. AI must be treated like any other hyped technology; the focus must be on addressing specific business challenges that provide a return on the investment needed. Adding impetus to the rush towards implementing AI and its related technologies is the perception that the majority of early adopters have already achieved economic benefits, as outlined in the 2017 Deloitte State of Cognitive Survey. Even so, AI hasn't always enjoyed positive reviews. Some see it as threatening employment.

Your stakeholders, including board members, customers, and regulators, will have many questions about your organisation's use of AI and data, from how it's developed to how it's governed. You not only need to be ready to provide the answers, you must also demonstrate ongoing governance and regulatory compliance. Our Responsible AI Toolkit is a suite of customizable frameworks, tools and processes designed to help you harness the power of AI in an ethical and responsible manner - from strategy through execution. With the Responsible AI toolkit, we'll tailor our solutions to address your organisation's unique business requirements and AI maturity.

"There's no one-size-fits-all answer to finding the right supply chain for a company, because it's so dependent on strategic business choices & focus" - Kevin Overdulve, Director in Logistics & Distribution, Deloitte Belgium