This article is part of a VB special issue. To say that it's challenging to achieve AI at scale across the enterprise would be an understatement. An estimated 54% to 90% of machine learning (ML) models don't make it into production from initial pilots for reasons ranging from data and algorithm issues, to defining the business case, to getting executive buy-in, to change-management challenges. In fact, promoting an ML model into production is a significant accomplishment for even the most advanced enterprise that's staffed with ML and artificial intelligence (AI) specialists and data scientists. Enterprise DevOps and IT teams have tried modifying legacy IT workflows and tools to increase the odds that a model will be promoted into production, but have met limited success.

Jennifer Flynn had a problem. Shortly after joining LeadCrunch as a senior data scientist, she wanted to push out one small update of the company's software, which uses machine learning to find sales leads for its business customers. The data science team consisted of just five engineers, including her. That simple update took days and required help from the company's product development team, too. "It wasn't tenable," Flynn said, now LeadCrunch's principal data scientist.

Bottom Line: Verta helps enterprises track the thousands of machine learning models they're creating using an integrated platform that also accelerates deploying models into production, ensuring that models' results are based on the most current data available. The same is true for all data-intensive businesses today. Despite ramping up their data science teams and investing in the latest machine learning tools, many struggle to keep models organized and move them out of development and into production. Verta is a startup dedicated to solving the complex problems of managing machine learning model versions and providing a platform where they can be launched into production. Founded by Dr. Manasi Vartak, Ph.D., a graduate of MIT, who led a team of graduate and undergraduate students at MIT CSAIL to build ModelDB, Verta is based on their work to define the first open-source system for managing machine learning models.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning aren't just the wave of the future for big corporations; they're also set to change the landscape of small business forever. By 2020, 30% of all B2B companies will employ AI to augment at least one of their primary sales processes that can lead to more conversions. In fact, according to Gartner, artificial intelligence can help improve lead conversion and opportunity closure rates. The technology is attractive to companies looking for help in handling tedious tasks and making sense of large-scale data in order to make better business decisions. There are plenty of ways to harness the power of AI, but that's also part of the problem. Figuring out which tools to use and what they can really do is harder to ascertain in an increasingly saturated market.

If you say the words "artificial intelligence" to an average person in 2018, they're probably more likely to think of a science fiction android than anything affecting their day-to-day life. But AI is being used more and more in our society, and it's poised to revolutionize virtually every aspect of the way we do business. AI can change how we research and treat illnesses, transport goods and people, and plan for retirement. Of course, AI's revolutionary potential has some disconcerting aspects in addition to its exciting ones. An article on Medium recently gained lots of online traction for examining the disturbing content produced when children's content becomes partially automated and algorithm-based.

LeadCrunch empowers small and medium size business to find new customers using cutting edge artificial intelligence. Think of LeadCrunch as "David's slingshot" for outbound sales teams to beat Goliath incumbents. Their customers get 3x to 6x improvement in lead quality. That is why they grew by more than 90% in every month of 2017 (so far). Data is growing and changing at an unprecedented rate. LeadCrunch gives businesses the power of artificial intelligence to find patterns that describe companies most likely to buy from you.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has exploded in recent years. Common AI personal assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant are helping people figure out their daily schedules, controlling the lights and thermostats in homes, and helping commuters find the best route to work. And while these recent advancements are amazing, they're really only a sneak preview of how AI can and will impact society as a whole. Sales efficiency is an area ripe for AI assistance – AI is at the point where it can be just as useful, if not more useful, in the office than at home on one's handheld device. Business AI has evolved from being a sophisticated calculator or database analyzer to an entity that can tell businesses solve their biggest challenges and enhance their market offerings. Although more organizations spanning industries are tuning into the potential of AI, many are still not capitalizing on its potential to transform their sales practices.

For how much Hollywood loves remakes, I'm curious to see what a futuristic Mad Men is going to look like. Don't get me wrong; I'm not expecting to see robotic Don Draper, who writes poignant lines of copy aggregated from data points all over the world (that'd be cheesy and boring). Rather, I'd be more excited to see how technology is going to change the world of advertising for good. A lot of people might think that under the reigns of Artificial Intelligence every job will suddenly be replaced by a robot. However, the core component of advertising is storytelling, which is something that requires a human touch.

For how much Hollywood loves remakes, I'm curious to see what a futuristic Mad Men is going to look like. Don't get me wrong; I'm not expecting to see robotic Don Draper, who writes poignant lines of copy aggregated from data points all over the world (that'd be cheesy and boring). Rather, I'd be more excited to see how technology is going to change the world of advertising for good. A lot of people might think that under the reigns of Artificial Intelligence every job will suddenly be replaced by a robot. However, the core component of advertising is storytelling, which is something that requires a human touch.

If there's one thing software company Ebsta understands, it's customer relationship management. The San Diego- and London-based company sells a 10 per month per user Chrome browser extension that syncs customers' email accounts to the Salesforce database to streamline the onerous task of updating a CRM system. But finding new prospects for Ebsta is difficult and, as vice president of sales Bernhard Peters points out, expensive -- especially for a company with roughly 1 million in annual revenue. "We're still a tiny company," Peters says. "We have to be careful who we chase; we don't have a lot of money or manpower to spare. Buying lists never works; they're out of date. And data-mining companies charge at least 25,000 upfront, with no guarantee of ROI." Peters was in a San Diego restaurant when he overheard Olin Hyde, co-founder and CEO of Englue, explaining how his artificial intelligence product LeadCrunch could mine the web to uncover leads based on names of a company's best customers.