I'm a creature of habit, and nothing gets my endorphins flowing like daily smart home routines that run like clockwork. Over the years, I've set up an elaborate array of smart automations that control my lights, switch fans on and off, take charge of my robot vacuums, and warn me about rogue water leaks (the latter of which has yet to happen, thankfully). Indeed, I depend on these eight smart routines for keeping our household perfectly lit, clean, and protected from water damage and backyard threats. Here's a rundown on the smart automations that I absolutely, positively depend on. While they're probably not perfect for you, they might spark some ideas for automating your own household.

Digital transformation is now a buzzword which may be an overwhelming idea. Most firms know they should take action, but they're not certain where to begin. With a lot of unique acronyms and conditions in the sphere of smart automation, it may be difficult to understand what it means. Based on Gartner, 91 percent of organizations are engaged in electronic initiatives, and 87 percent of senior business leaders state digitalization is a priority. When it's a digital front-end platform which enables insurance companies to provide a better consumer experience or significant healthcare providers hoping to decrease underpayments, initiatives such as this are under the electronic transformation umbrella.

A "smart-automation" approach can give a typical HR organization a measurable lift when it comes to improving customer experience and efficiency, according to new research from the Hackett Group. The Hackett Group's new Digital World Class analysis found that those typical HR organizations can reduce costs by 17% and operate with 26% fewer staff hours--while also improving effectiveness and internal customer experience. The Hackett Group research advises that, by following a smart-automation strategy, typical HR functions can boost efficiency levels close to those seen by world-class HR organizations (defined as those that achieve top-quartile performance in both efficiency and effectiveness across an array of weighted metrics in the Hackett Group's comprehensive HR benchmark). For instance, world-class HR organizations currently operate at 20% lower cost and with 31% fewer employees than typical HR organizations, the research found. Smart automation--defined as approaches including robotic-process automation, cognitive automation, intelligent data capture and other leading-edge technologies--can enable world-class HR organizations to cut costs and reduce the number of staff hours needed to perform existing administrative/transactional work.

When we think about how robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) will impact our lives, there is both wonderment and fear. The wonder is tied to the spectacle of seeing robots move, grasp and carry out tasks with speed and efficiency. The fear is that robots will take over our jobs. Being in the tech industry, I don't believe robots will replace all jobs. They will reshape the type of work humans will concentrate on, but the fear that robots or AI will edge out humans for most jobs is unfounded.

Yet many are already taking a "bottom-up approach" by applying these tools to legacy systems and processes in a way that is unlikely to change their core operating models and compete with digital-first rivals, the report said. The results are based in part on online surveys and brainstorming sessions with senior technology and service delivery decision makers at 80 companies in a range of industries across North America, Europe and Asia, along with interviews with IT industry experts. Most have annual incomes over $5 billion. It found that 37% are currently looking into the potential of smart automation, with 24% running real-time tests in proof-of-concept or pilot projects. Within three years, 49% said they plan to be operating the tools at scale, while 29% will have deployed them selectively across operations and production processes.

Currently, the automation that operates within our service desk tools is static, has very little built-in intelligence, and requires periodic human intervention to correct course over time. However, things will change as smart automation is enabled through machine learning applications. These smart automation capabilities are fluid and can learn from past data and experience to continuously maximise accuracy. The IT service desk tools - empowered with smart automation - can categorise incoming requests, assign them to the appropriate technicians, and suggest solutions without the need for any human support, by learning from the historical IT service desk data. Also, AI technologies, particularly machine learning, can look out for timeline patterns and ticket parameters to predict potential anomalies and failures like tickets that might violate SLAs.

However, the field is often among the first to adapt new technology, as small increases in efficiency can be the difference between a profitable venture and one that's economically unsustainable. Technology is having a major impact on manufacturing, and Deloitte, in conjunction with the Council on Competitiveness and Singularity University, recently released their Exponential Technologies in Manufacturing study to outline just how quickly change is expected. The report outlines four industrial revolutions, the most recent of which started in 2010. While electronic automation has transformed manufacturing since the 1970s, smart automation is playing a pivotal role in technologies coming online today. By tying automation equipment more closely to artificial intelligence, Internet of Things sensors, and other contemporary technology, smart automation has the potential to lead to exponential change in the coming years.

Why do 97% of marketing influencers believe the future of digital marketing will involve human marketers working with machine learning-powered automation? Thought leaders in PPC, social and mobile marketing explain in this in-depth survey. Are disciplines such as search engine marketing, social and mobile marketing all trending towards a fully automated world where artificial intelligence (AI) robots take over our jobs? In a survey of top influencers in online marketing with expertise in paid search, social and mobile, 97% of respondents suggested that the future of marketing will actually be smart marketers working hand-in-hand with machine learning-based automation solutions. To help us understand the growing role of machine learning in marketing, we spoke with some of the top influencers in the space, including Michael Brenner (@brennermichael) of Marketing Insider Group, Serena Ehrlich (@serena) of BusinessWire, Adelyn Zhou (@adelynzhou) of TOPBOTS and Chris Messina (@chrismessina), creator of the hashtag - among others.

December 19, 2017 – One of our most important missions at Hunt Scanlon Media is to report on the trends that are altering the executive recruitment industry, and in many cases, the world of business. Among the most consequential transitions we've reported on this past year has been the rise of artificial intelligence – and what it means for the future of work and the future of the recruiting sector. As our coverage has shown, these are exciting times for technology like automation and robotics and machine-learning. AI's effect on growth, strategy, talent management and recruitment are already taking shape. But while the possibilities bring great hope, they also instill considerable uncertainty, and fear, with the biggest concern being what these changes will mean for jobs.

Advertising has changed a lot over the years. There was a time when machine learning, automation, and software-based marketing tech stacks weren't a "thing." There are hundreds of channels across physical and print media and online at present, including social, mobile, and video. Even TV has diversified into hundreds of cable channels on your remote control. And yet, digital ad revenue has gone on to surpass that of TV.