Making machine learning work for your business

Google'machine learning' - I dare you. Machine learning is the'big data' of our time, hopelessly hyped up with outlandish applications for any and every application and business sector under the sun. Machine learning is ranked as a buzzword by Gartner, at the very top of their peak of inflated expectations; in this excitable environment how can businesses cut through the noise and find practical applications for these novel technologies? The key is to realise that'machine learning' by itself doesn't actually mean very much: it's a stand-in phrase for a diverse array of technologies which, broadly speaking, mean computer systems learn from feedback loops and improve themselves. Much ink has been spilled on predictions for how machine learning technologies can be applied, ranging from calculating the best time to serve advertisements to predicting the risk of heart failure, but this isn't exactly helpful for the average business.