Sam Waicberg is the President of CareAR Holdings, a Xerox and ServiceNow-supported company. If someone says "AI," what do you think? Most people would say, "artificial intelligence." McKinsey notes that AI adoption is rising steadily, citing that 56% of all respondents to their 2021 survey report AI adoption in at least one function, up from 50% in 2020. Service organizations are one of the primary areas where AI is being applied. While machine learning delivers new insight, it cannot entirely replace humans.

Better service planning and execution – How often have we talked about the "rights" of field service; right part, right tech, right skills, right time, right resolution. As much as we've commented on this and attempted to reach this utopia, many organizations still miss. AI connects the dots between each of the inputs across field service execution to provide the intelligence necessary to make the correct decisions, each time. Customer experience optimization – Even at a global scale, manufacturers and service organizations are finding they need to personalize service experiences for their customers. AI is enabling organizations to segment customers and deliver the level of support desired.

The fear of not having enough data can stall an enterprise's digital strategy. When you think you do not have much data, you stop to look at potential possibilities with existing data. However, it becomes a singular focus to collect additional data. You invest in making changes to your product to bring in sensors or vendors who coach you on how to collect additional data. Doing this without exploring what value you can bring in with existing data is equal to diversifying your portfolio without knowing your current asset allocation.

In 2003, Mother Nature turned off the lights on the East Coast. The reason: a short circuit a hot summer day caused on by a chance encounter between an overgrown tree branch and a sagging power line. The problem quickly cascaded through the system, triggering the biggest blackout in North American history. The outage left 50 million people in the U.S. and Canada without power and by some estimates cost more than $6 billion. But the truth is, most people don't give much thought to our electrical grid until something goes wrong.