Operationalizing machine learning in processes

As organizations look to modernize and optimize processes, machine learning (ML) is an increasingly powerful tool to drive automation. Unlike basic, rule-based automation--which is typically used for standardized, predictable processes--ML can handle more complex processes and learn over time, leading to greater improvements in accuracy and efficiency. But a lot of companies are stuck in the pilot stage; they may have developed a few discrete use cases, but they struggle to apply ML more broadly or take advantage of its most advanced forms. A recent McKinsey Global Survey, for example, found that only about 15 percent of respondents have successfully scaled automation across multiple parts of the business. And only 36 percent of respondents said that ML algorithms had been deployed beyond the pilot stage.