One of the classic tools for decision automation is a business rules management system, or BRMS. While these systems are powerful and effective when used correctly, many companies fail to apply best practices when using them. Here's one of our favorite horror stories about a well-intentioned BRMS implementation gone awry. Some years ago, we got a call from a company asking for our help with their business rules project. They said that they had hit a milestone in their rules analysis--it was 80% complete, or so they thought.

Decision modeling is the proven requirements gathering and documentation approach that bridges the gap -- between business process, business rules, and artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and predictive analytics technologies -- for true Digital Decisioning.

A great article appeared in Information Age recently based on an interview with Tom Davenport If you want to see the benefits of AI, forget moonshots and think boring. In it, Tom argues that "if enterprises ever want to see the benefits of AI, they must embrace the mundane". This is particularly true for companies that aren't tech startups. As Tom says, "moonshots are possible if you're a tech giant and you have billions of dollars to spend on experimenting" but what if you can't "pivot"? What if you have to keep doing what you have always done – manufacturing things, selling insurance, providing banking services? Big, boring companies need to take a different approach.