Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the hottest topics in marketing right now. Raj Venkatesan and Jim Lecinski recently published a book entitled "The AI Marketing Canvas: A Five-Stage Road Map to Implementing Artificial Intelligence in Marketing". To better understand what an AI marketing canvas is, I sought insight from Raj Venkatesan, a professor at the Darden School of Business. In full disclosure, I work with Raj and find his research and work fascinating. Below is insight on the AI marketing canvas.

Today's marketers are challenged to adapt to new technologies, consumer habits and practices, channels, and methods of engagement arguably faster than any other generation. One of the hottest areas of interest is artificial intelligence. How can AI be leveraged to understand, interact with, and generate loyalty with consumers? Raj Venkatesan (Darden Business School), co-author of The AI Marketing Canvas: A Five-Stage Road Map to Implementing Artificial Intelligence in Marketing with Jim Lecinski (Kellogg Business School), shares insight on how marketers must upskill to address the changing marketing landscape. Kimberly Whitler: How has marketing evolved?

Today's marketers are challenged to adapt to new technologies, consumer habits and practices, channels, and methods of engagement arguably faster than any other generation. One of the hottest areas of interest is artificial intelligence. How can AI be leveraged to understand, interact with, and generate loyalty with consumers? Raj Venkatesan (Darden Business School), co-author of "The AI Marketing Canvas: A Five-Stage Road Map to Implementing Artificial Intelligence in Marketing" with Jim Lecinski (Kellogg Business School), shares insight on how marketers must upskill to address the changing marketing landscape. Kimberly Whitler: How has marketing evolved?

Proper inventory management is a top concern for retailers. Out-of-stock items and inefficient replacement strategies can result in lost sales, reduced customer satisfaction, and lower loyalty levels. In response to these challenges, companies like Walmart and Kellogg's are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to improve real-time product substitutions and predict shortages weeks in advance. Artificial intelligence in the food and beverage market is expected to reach $29.94 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of over 45.77% during the forecast period, reported Research and Markets. This growth is largely attributed to consumer's increasing demand for fast, affordable, and easily accessible food options.

Big-box retailer Walmart is using artificial intelligence (AI) to aid customers and personal shoppers and better handle still-surging online demand for groceries amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. In a blog post Thursday, Srini Venkatesan, Walmart's global tech executive vice president, noted that as Americans increasingly turned to the internet to shop for essentials, stores like Walmart were presented with a "unique challenge." The alternate shopping method combined with the volume of in-store shoppers – especially in the months of March and April – resulted in popular items quickly selling out. Last July, Walmart corporate affairs said the company had hired more than 400,000 new associates to mitigate the sudden "customer rush on essentials as lockdowns spread across the U.S." "Walmart's solution was to use artificial intelligence to help both customers and Personal Shoppers choose the best substitute for an out-of-stock item," said Venkatesan. An illustrated video included in the blog post shows a Walmart personal shopper who needs to make a substitution for an online order.

It's no surprise that the coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we shop, especially when it comes to groceries. Grocery delivery apps experienced a record number of downloads in March 2020, and by the following month, Walmart Grocery (which is now integrated into the Walmart app) surpassed Amazon as the No. 1 shopping app on both Google Play and the App Store. But even as pandemic restrictions have eased, consumers are still using ordering groceries for delivery or pickup more frequently than they were pre-pandemic. As Walmart's grocery delivery services have continued to boom, posing competition to companies like Amazon and Instacart, the tech that Walmart uses has expanded too. Today, Walmart shared information about how it's training its AI to make smarter substitutions in online grocery orders.

Joseph Health is already proving that artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies can have a meaningful impact on the delivery of healthcare today. The Renton, Washington-based health system, which operates 51 hospitals across Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, New Mexico, Montana and Texas, has created a variety of systems built on AI and machine learning. For instance, its No Show technology is already generating a monthly return on investment through increased patient arrivals. Its Medicaid risk stratification model is being used by its care management teams to find cases. And its natural language processing systems around spinal fusion and brain tumor surgeries have enabled new use cases for and enterprise-wide tool built to identify practice styles that optimize outcomes and cost.

It was only over the last 10 days that there were serious murmurs about Vishal Sikka -- Infosys's rockstar CEO, as described by a company founder -- hanging up his boots. But none who know N R Narayana Murthy expected an outcome any different than this. "Mr Murthy quoting independent directors as having said Sikka'is not CEO material but CTO material' suggests loss of confidence. It seems he bought into their assessment. Hitherto, there was comfort within the company's leadership team that Mr Murthy's battle was essentially with the current board," said a senior Infosys executive of two decades.