Pratik Kirve
Every sector has identified the importance of utilizing cognitive computing for enhancing the overall efficiency of processes and improve the experience of users. From the medical sector to consumer goods, the utilization of artificial intelligence has become of paramount importance with generations of a huge amount of data.
The collaboration with tech giants, acquisition of AI-specialized firms, and innovation have become significant to improve the capabilities of the process and offer a better experience. The industry for cognitive computing is booming. According to the research firm Allied Market Research, the global cognitive computing market is expected to reach $13.8 billion by 2020. With demand for processing the large chunks of data and extract useful insights, organizations have been taking important steps.
Organizations that utilize natural language processing chatbots must look forward to multitasking for making processes better. Bots can become assets like employees, rather than being just a technology. Chatbots that are powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and understand the language of humans can perform better than conventional chatbots in the long term.
Many organizations have been utilizing AI-enabled chatbots for conversing with users. An IT operations management firm Symphony SummitAI has utilized a chatbot CINDE to its SummitAI IT service management (ITSM) for communicating with users across different platforms. Akhil Sahai, the Chief Product Officer at Symphony SummitAI, outlined that the bot utilizes AI and machine learning for becoming a functioning member rather than just an individual process. Through natural language processing (NLP) and collaboration with employees,
AI bots are able to determine the user intent and take necessary actions. Most of the chatbots miss this functionality. AI digital assistants and single-use machine learning algorithms offer an added benefit. They can understand the intent, instead of focusing only on solving the issue. These chatbots do not only focus on responding to keywords but also responding to questions asked in different ways and understanding what users look for. This helps in enhancing the overall effectiveness.
Machine learning and NLP capabilities have been used for improving customer communication. Nationwide utilized AI and NLP for identifying the aspects that can be improved in customer communication. It has completed a proof of concept (PoC) with the help of SAS analytics to determine how customer issues can be understood and resolved faster. It found that there were inefficiencies in the ways in which email inquiries were handled.
With the help of PoC, the root cause of each email inquiry was identified, the number of emails exchanged was noted, and whether the issue was resolved was determined. It carried out sentiment analysis in which there were patterns through which the moods of people changed during the exchange of emails. Graeme Reed, senior manager of analytics at Nationwide, outlined that they were able to determine the ways in which services can be made better with the help of SAS text analytics.
For instance, if the firm is approached for proof of travel insurance through the FlexPlus current account, the documents are available on the website and it can be availed on the self-service basis. The SAS Viya has been deployed for enhancing analytics capabilities.
Another big firm has understood the importance of deploying NLP and machine learning capabilities to make processes better and enhance efficiency. Walmart has completed the acquisition of an Israeli startup Aspectiva for deployment of AI technology for making product suggestions based on consumer product reviews.
The company outlined that the machine learning capabilities of the startup would help in improving end to end shopping experience of customers online and in-store. With the acquisition, Aspectiva will become the part of Walmart’s incubation arm, Store N° 8, that is focused on finding out innovative commerce-related technologies.
The machine learning and Natural language processing capabilities of the startup firm would have a profound impact on the way customers shop. Commenting on the deal, Ezra Daya, CEO of Aspectiva, stated that the company is excited to join the Store N° 8. Its innovation and development capabilities would transform the retail sector and present a good environment for leveraging the technology of Aspectiva. The acquisition would improve the capabilities of the largest brick-and-mortar store and enhance the overall experience.
The medical industry has been availing the benefits of machine learning and AI techniques. It has enabled them to inspect patients and offer personalized treatments. Regional healthcare providers collaborate with big tech firms for the development of an analytics research platform to help the community of researchers and scientists to work efficiently with a huge amount of data.
A U.S. healthcare provider joined hands with Dell Technologies Consulting for the development of a new platform. One of the case studies was targeted at the number of seizures taking place in hospitals. The conclusions from past EEG data can help physicians in offering better treatment. However, extracting insights from the past data is a complex process as data files and reports are stored separately.
However, the application of machine learning and AI helped the team of researchers to create an accurate classifier to pair data files with reports and extract useful information. This offered useful information for clinical operations and improvement of the quality of care.
