Data-powered enterprises use data, analytics, and AI to fulfill their corporate purpose, achieve their business objectives, and drive innovation. And in today's shaky world, they need to be like water to get there: adaptive by design, hyper-agile, super-responsive. There's a place they find themselves increasingly to build and use these water-like capabilities: At the very outskirts of the business, far from central governance and IT, close to clients, partners, employees, the shop, the factory, the truck. It's out there in the field where up-to-date data needs to be collected in real-time, analyzed on the spot, and turned into split-second actions, without being dependent on a corporate backbone that simply is too slow and too far away. Edge AI – the use of AI in physical devices and all sort of other'things' – is a perfect enabler for these new dynamics: Equipped with sensors and microprocessors, even the tiniest of things can collect data, analyze it with powerful AI algorithms (such as deep learning) and turn it into immediate action. And all of that is done with specialized technology that is typically inexpensive and has a small footprint in terms of power consumption.

The world's biggest tech manufacturers are currently taking the stage at IFA 2019 in Berlin, Germany. The event is billed as Europe's largest consumer tech show where consumer tech meets innovation. But in a digital world where the lines between B2B and B2C are becoming increasingly blurry, there are a few critical lessons for businesses from all industries too. On the surface, IFA is simply a platform for 1,939 of the world's leading tech brands and manufacturers to showcase their latest innovations, products, or services across 163,900 square meters. Sure, many of these products will appear on wish lists and dominate headlines around Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the impending holiday season. But, if you zoom out from that, there is a message for every CEO.