BPO/ITO: AI applications in outsourcing limited now, but coming on fast

R. Lee Coulter, one of the organizers of the 2016 World BPO/ITO Forum, is senior vice president of St. Louis-based Ascension Health, the nation's largest nonprofit health system, and CEO of its shared services subsidiary, the Ascension Ministry Service Center. His focus on shared services, business process outsourcing, or BPO, and technology spans a 30-year career in leadership positions at companies, including General Electric, AON and Kraft Foods. Here, he talks to SearchCIO senior executive editor Linda Tucci about the current state of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in outsourcing and what's on the horizon. This interview has been condensed and edited. Lee Coulter: AI is not being applied to outsourcing today, in so far as we're talking about the shared services and outsourcing industry.