Proximity Improves Machine Learning RoI - Markets Media

For all of the hype that machine learning has generated over the past few years, there is one question on every budget approver's mind: When will we see our return-on-investment? Organizations will not see an immediate return, according to Valentino Zocca, vice president, data science at Citi and who moderated a panel at the AI in Finance Summit in Midtown Manhattan. "It's a journey, and it takes time." A significant governing factor on the pace of ROI is how the firm organizes its machine-learning resources, added Kamalesh Rao, a senior data scientist at Société Générale and who participated on the panel. Centralized and decentralized approaches each have their strengths and weaknesses. The quickest way to see an ROI would be to embed one or two data scientists into existing data practices, according to Rao. "It might not be the entire organization, but an individual siloed practice that can deliver results on a platform, which can scale quickly," he said.