Leaders in cognitive and AI weigh in on what's working and what's next With all the talk about cognitive and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in business circles today, it's natural to wonder whether these capabilities are having any measurable impact. So we asked some of the most aggressive adopters of cognitive technologies how they have fared to date, focusing on 250 "cognitive-aware" leaders within "cognitive-active" companies. Not only can early-phase signals from such early adopters provide a view from the front lines of these important developments, but many other executives are simply not yet sufficiently knowledgeable about cognitive technologies. So what did these leaders tell us? Our survey results indicate that early adopters are bullish on cognitive and AI technologies, with expectations that they will transform both companies and entire industries.

"There's a lot of research in the direction of enabling human thoughts to be able to control computing devices and physical objects too. I always have a lot of writing to do. When I lay down to go to sleep, paragraphs just come to me. Wouldn't you like a device that would capture that flow of thoughts and store it somewhere -- put it on a screen, put it in Word?" -- Dan Olds, analyst at management consulting company OrionX. The meteoric rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) carries the potential for a future that includes perceptual computing.

In fact, the ability for machines to learn from experience, recognize patterns and perform tasks in human-like ways has big implications for businesses of all kinds and sizes. According to a 2017 report from MIT Sloan Management Review and the Boston Consulting Group, almost 85 percent of the business executives interviewed think that AI will enable their companies to either get or maintain a competitive advantage. But fewer than 39 percent of companies have an AI strategy in place, and only about one in five companies has incorporated AI in some kind of way. Reema Bhatia, co-founder of Stickboy Creative, a Fort Myers software development, website design and mobile app development company, says that Southwest Florida companies who don't think about how they can use AI run the risk of falling behind. "If they don't start predicting their customers' behavior, they're not going to be able to serve their customers better than their competition, and they're in danger of becoming obsolete," she says.

Systems that use data to learn and improve from experience are getting more pilots and trials in large and medium enterprises. Here are five reasons why. Large and medium-sized enterprises will step up their use of machine learning in 2018, Deloitte Global predicts, doubling the number of implementations and pilot projects that were underway in 2017. By 2020, that number will likely have doubled again. And as enabling technologies such as machine learning APIs and specialized hardware become available in the cloud, these advances will likely be increasingly within reach for small companies as well.

Booz Allen and NVIDIA are offering deep learning training. NVIDIA is working with Booz Allen Hamilton to rapidly build solutions that are needed in cyberdefense for both government and commercial customers. Now, certified Deep Learning Institute instructors from NVIDIA and Booz Allen are offering training to a variety of customers on how to build your own effective deep learning and data-driven solutions. 'Deep Learning Demystified,' hosted by Booz Allen and NVIDIA, will provide an introduction to deep learning, explore key fundamentals and opportunities, and how to best address current challenges. If you can't make our June 7th, 7:30AM - 11:00AM course, this course will also be offered over another two dates: "Together with NVIDIA, we've already seen through the Data Science Bowl how deep learning can speed cancer and heart disease diagnoses. Machine intelligence, powered by deep learning and other techniques, will help organizations -- public and private sector alike -- supercharge human ingenuity to uncover new revelations about the complex systems in which we live and work," said Dr. Josh Sullivan, senior vice president of data science at Booz Allen.

Mr. Jones is planning a vacation for the summer. He looks up travel destinations, flight tickets, and travel sites offering special summer vacation deals. Skyscanner, or Airbnb, he forms a customer touch point with that business. And, the sum total of all his interactions with that business, from the first interaction i.e. browsing through their site to the last interaction i.e. booking his holiday package, forms his customer journey. Ensuring a pleasant and fruitful customer journey for customers like Mr. Jones is imperative to business success.

As part of our guest blog series, Accenture Nordic Banking Practice Lead Satu Pulkkinen explores how banks can take the next step in evolving customer relations. First came online and mobile banks, with Nordic banks leading the way. The conversational bank that operates within messaging applications. Technology that can see and hear us, continuously growing ecosystems around increasingly popular messaging applications, as well as the amazing progress of artificial intelligence (AI), are enabling personalized, fully digital banking assistants that you can talk to anytime, anyplace. Technology is an integral part of our daily lives. Increasingly, devices that used to simply respond to our commands and actions can now also hear and see us.

Two key characteristics of artificial intelligence (AI) will help us address the challenges we face, says Celine Herweijer, Partner, Innovation and Sustainability, at PwC UK. First, AI helps increase productivity, and second, it speeds up the process of learning and understanding, which enables scientific discovery. Last week's AI for Good Global Summit at ITU headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland gathered top minds across various sectors to discuss the potential of AI to solve some of the most urgent challenges and transform our future. For Ms. Herweijer, the health of our planet is one of the most pressing issues this generation faces. "Our planet has never been under so much strain, whether it's climate change, oceans, air and water quality or the extinction crisis with 1 in 5 species facing extinction." She then posed the question, "How can we transform our human systems, our cities, our transport networks, using technologies so that we don't create the negative impacts that past industrial revolutions have created?"

While the chief data science officer role is common at technology firms, it's not standard at accounting and consulting firms. "I'm excited for this opportunity and the commitment from Crowe to push forward into this area," said Bass, who joined Crowe in 2015 as the firm's only data scientist. "With a team of world-class data scientists, we've already set the groundwork and incorporated machine learning into a few solutions in a very short amount of time." Bass has extensive experience applying advanced analytic, automation and machine learning techniques to a variety of industries. He is a continual learner, as shown through five combined degrees in aerospace engineering, statistics and finance from the University of Michigan, Purdue University and the Pennsylvania State University.

Over the last decade, knowledge has become the key driver for productivity and economic growth. Professional services providers like accountants and lawyers have benefited from this strong knowledge economy. These professionals have a combination of knowledge and expertise that makes them uniquely qualified for solving specific problems. Until recently, this industry has been relatively untouched by disruption. Machine learning is changing this equation.