The Role of Machine Learning in Accelerating Digital Transformation

In 2016, the Go world champion lost to the AlphaGo algorithm designed by Google, and it became obvious that machine learning had successfully emerged and would contribute majorly in shaping the future. Machine learning will continue to serve a new class of software that is able to learn without being programmed as well as access and analyze structured and unstructured data. This data will be at a level of complexity that human minds will fail to comprehend.

The Advancements in Machine Learning

Reflecting on the quality of today’s image and voice recognition software and the capabilities of self-driving cars, it can be safely assumed that self-learning algorithms will continue to influence our lives. Computer scientists have been working on artificial intelligence since the 1950s. However, they have made advancements only recently, such as Big Data and Analytics, augmented computer efficiencies and more sophisticated algorithms. Not just that, computers are now capable of competing with or surpassing the human brain, something that was previously considered impossible.

Machines can now learn to speak, write and interpret meanings in videos and images. Intelligent machines will help support humans as we enter the age of the intelligent enterprise. This progress in machine learning means endless acceleration in digital transformation. Businesses can now extend and optimize their processes. Business leaders would have the opportunity to gain a powerful ability to devise customer interaction patterns as well as operations so they can obtain profound insights.

Machine learning will make it possible for automated systems to outthink the human brain by integrating broad information sets and finding correlations. Machine learning will also help predict future outcomes. No wonder, machine learning has already made its way into several industries, from factories to boardrooms. Machine learning can now be incorporated into tools that help with data classification, object detection, and speech/facial recognition. A large number of tasks that previously involved manual labor are now automated with the help of machine learning.

Therefore, companies all over the world have benefited from machine learning to create smart solutions and powerful customer experiences for all niches including retail, banking, hospitality, medicine and the corporate world. Let’s glance at some of the companies that have benefitted from machine learning:

• Forkable: Employs machine learning to know what you want for lunch before you know it, for delivering it automatically.
• Nova: Writes personalized sales emails with the help of machine learning and knows which emails performed better. This leads to suggestions for important changes in your next email campaign.
• Dark Trace: Monitors a company’s entire network traffic and detects any emergent security threats with machine learning.
• Blue River: This technology produces equipment for farmers to diagnose and treat each plant uniquely with computer vision and machine learning.

What Does This Mean for Digital Transformation?

This means that digital transformation could mean automating routine tasks, such as scheduling meetings, analyzing data and translating documents. Millions of companies are embracing social and digital tools to automate services, share insights and increase revenue. Innovative channels for maintaining smooth customer interactions are being created and new ways for resource utilization are also emerging.

This transformation will help businesses align efforts across the business network to optimize value potential. Organizations must begin to identify the sweet spots for machine-induced improvements, particularly repetitive work.

Final Thoughts

In future, machine learning will be as essential as electricity. That is, we will find it hard to imagine the world without it. The intelligence machine learning promises to bring to digital transformation which will uncover new potentials and enable humans to make the best of their talents. They will no longer need to be worried about focusing on repetitive and tedious tasks, which consume most of their time at present.