Everyone seems to be discussing machine learning and artificial intelligence, but few people really know how to take advantage of the new technology. Did you know that according to the MIT Sloan Management Review 76% of companies say they're using machine learning to increase their sales growth? So why does almost every BI and analytics professional I talk to think that machine learning is the domain of a few statisticians or data scientists trained to use algorithms or advanced analytics technologies? Make no mistake, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and the newer offshoot deep learning are complex topics, but you don't need to understand them in depth to take advantage of them. In fact, your analytics strategy should focus on these technologies.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a new portfolio of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions that team artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics to help asset intensive organizations, such as the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), to improve maintenance strategies. The solution is designed to help organizations to lower costs and reduce the risk of failure from physical assets such as vehicles, manufacturing robots, turbines, mining equipment, elevators, and electrical transformers. IBM Maximo Asset Performance Management (APM) solutions collect data from physical assets in near real-time and provide insights on current operating conditions, predict potential issues, identify problems and offer repair recommendations. Organizations in asset-intensive industries like energy and utilities, chemicals, oil and gas, manufacturing, and transportation, can have thousands of assets that are critical to operations. These assets are increasingly producing enormous amounts of data on their operating conditions.