If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. All CIOs know by now that artificial intelligence (AI) is coming. We've seen this new technology develop step-by-step over the past few years. Its capabilities have grown and what it can do has started to become a key part of the importance of information technology. AI has started to take hold in everyday consumer products that people talk to.

The metaverse proposes a very different platform to the internet we're using today – and businesses must be ready. That's the key message in a new report from professional services company Accenture, titled Meet Me in the Metaverse. The metaverse is essentially a new immersive version of the internet. Instead of viewing digital content on a computer, we will wear virtual reality headsets to move around 3D digital environments. Here's a summary of the four key trends Accenture says will shape business processes over the next decade, as companies prepare for life in the metaverse. The WebMe trend is about how our virtual lives will be designed to deliver what we expect or want from the metaverse.

The 30-person company uses machine learning and other technology to map a company's sensitive data, apply regulatory obligations, and automate …

A December 2017 survey by insurance and risk management advisory firm Willis Towers Watson in Arlington, Virginia, found that U.S. companies will nearly double the amount of work done by automation (to 17%) within the next three years. Ninety-four percent of companies that are already using robotics and AI will expand their use of automation by 2020. Related: What Will It Be Like To Have Robot Coworkers? But are companies ready for those changes? Maybe not, the survey found.