His idea unfolded amid a massive shift in the world of business as companies as diverse as JPMorgan Chase and General Motors became more reliant on computers as part of their infrastructure. It happened in incremental steps, from big mainframes to personal computers to the era of smartphones and cloud computing. Understanding all these shifts was critical for IT executives, and Mr. Gartner positioned his firm as a vital guide to understanding and embracing the idea that those changing systems were a critical part of the corporate equation.

Researchers at the University of Michigan have been exploring the need to set ethics standards and policies when it comes to the use of artificial intelligence, and they now have their own place to do so. The university has created a new Center of Ethics, Society and Computing (ESC) that will focus on AI, data usage, augmented and virtual reality, privacy, open data and identity. According to the center's website, the name and abbreviation alludes to the "ESC" key on a computer keyboard, which was added to interrupt a program when it produced unwanted results. "In the same way, the Center for Ethics, Society and Computing (ESC -- pronounced'escape') is dedicated to intervening when digital media and computing technologies reproduce inequality, exclusion, corruption, deception, racism or sexism," the center's mission statement reads. The center will bring together scholars who are committed to "feminist, justice-focused, inclusive and interdisciplinary approaches to computing," the university said in a news release.

A business that leverages virtual process analysis to accelerate digital transformation through imitation learning is one of three startups to win ISG Startup Challenges at events hosted this fall by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm. FortressIQ, the San Francisco-based startup that uses AI-based computer vision to "learn" business tasks as they occur in real time, won the ISG Startup Challenge at the inaugural ISG Agile Enterprise Summit October 28 in Boston. Beth Bourg, FortressIQ's marketing director, delivered the winning pitch to an independent panel of judges, and was chosen the winner in a live audience poll. "The first-ever ISG Agile Enterprise Summit explored the benefits of becoming an agile organization and building a culture of continuous improvement," said Karen Healy, partner and global leader, ISG Events. "We were thrilled to hear compelling pitches on emerging solutions that increase efficiency and agility in new and exciting ways. The audience choice, FortressIQ, offers an innovative, automated solution to discover and document processes that are ripe for automation, saving both time and money."

Robotic process automation and artificial intelligence are changing the way digital business transformation vendors across the Americas are delivering services to their enterprise clients, according to a new report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm. The ISG Provider Lens Digital Business Transformation Report for Pan America finds enterprise clients looking for digital business transformation providers to help them automate IT functions. Many vendors are providing a high degree of automation while also delivering specialized services, including efficiency prioritization, dynamic response and provisioning, and security, based on a customer's needs, the report said. Many digital business transformation providers are developing intellectual property, including tools and as-a-service offerings, using analytics, automation, AI and cognitive computing, the report adds. These new services are disrupting providers that previously relied on offering low prices for labor-intensive services to remain competitive.

According to a new report from Information Services Group (ISG), the digital revolution is rapidly transforming the finance and accounting functions. The report finds that enterprises are embracing new technologies as cloud, automation, analytics and blockchain to gain real-time – and predictive – insights into business performance and to streamline work. ISG sees blockchain as a "game-changer," with significant application in finance. While still in its nascent stages, providers are investing heavily in the blockchain, ISG notes, identifying IBM as a "big player" and noting other providers, such as Wipro, making significant investments in the distributed-ledger technology. The newly published ISG Provider Lens FAO Digital Outsourcing Services Archetype Report reveals the speed and flexibility required by today's agile business models are prompting CFOs to seek expert advice, support, and technology platforms from outside the organization as they rethink traditional finance and accounting processes within the framework of the entire business.

Overall investment in automation technologies – including robotic process automation (RPA), autonomics, virtual customer service agents and personal assistants, natural language processing and machine learning – is expected to double in the next two years, the survey finds, as enterprises look to harness technologies that have the flexibility to solve more than one business problem. "Automation and artificial intelligence are top of mind for business executives and service providers alike – and with good reason," said Todd Lavieri, partner and president of ISG Americas. "Robotic process automation, autonomic systems and cognitive agents are making employees more productive by taking over routine, process-oriented tasks. At the same time, data scientists are using machine learning to find patterns and make predictions on vast troves of structured and unstructured data. These technologies, taken together, promise to usher in the next wave of enterprise growth and profitability."

Gigaom, the leader in emerging technology research, today announced that it is holding its first annual competition for the AI start-up that delivers the highest ROI to corporate customers. The GAIN competition coincides with the annual conference Gigaom AI Now held in San Francisco, CA, February 15-16th 2017. AI startups are leading the way for bringing positive impacts of AI to many of the world's long-term challenges. "Record number of investments are being made in early stage AI start-ups. The competition will identify which new ventures can deliver the highest ROI to businesses today," explained David Hehman, Gigaom's Start-up & VC editor.

Gigaom, the leader in emerging technology research, today announced that it will host its annual conference Gigaom AI Now in San Francisco, CA, February 15-16th. The one-and-a-half day conference, held at the Golden Gate Club, will share how companies are using AI today to drive significant ROI across every aspect of business, from administration to product development, sales and marketing, and customer experience. Attendees at this event will learn from world-leading practitioners how today's progressive businesses are applying the most innovative AI tools, platforms, and technologies in-house to drive revenue and improve operations across the enterprise. "In the last couple of years, AI has become the technology no enterprise can afford to ignore. It will change every department in almost every business. We have designed this event to focus entirely on how enterprises can use AI right now to improve their business in substantial ways," shared Gigaom Publisher, Byron Reese.

Gigaom, the leader in emerging technology research, today announced that it will host its annual conference Gigaom AI Now in San Francisco, CA, February 15-16th. The one-and-a-half day conference, held at the Golden Gate Club, will share how companies are using AI today to drive significant ROI across every aspect of business, from administration to product development, sales and marketing, and customer experience. Attendees at this event will learn from world-leading practitioners how today's progressive businesses are applying the most innovative AI tools, platforms, and technologies in-house to drive revenue and improve operations across the enterprise. "In the last couple of years, AI has become the technology no enterprise can afford to ignore. It will change every department in almost every business. We have designed this event to focus entirely on how enterprises can use AI right now to improve their business in substantial ways," shared Gigaom Publisher, Byron Reese.