8 Critical Steps To Get Your Team To Adopt AI😰

Dec 31, 2022

Hello,

I hope you’re enjoying the holidays or getting to spend quality time with your loved ones. Wishing you & yours a happy, healthy, and insightful 2023!

This newsletter will take you about 4 minutes to read.

I. Spotlight: 8 Critical Steps To Get Your Team To Adopt AI😰

A Telecom major was grappling with high customer attrition. The firm was one of the largest Telecom companies in the world and a market leader in Asia.

The marketing team’s heuristics-driven approach to customer retention was dated and ineffective. Reviewing the business performance in a weekly huddle, the CEO knew they had to do something different.

The firm turned to data science to solve this challenge. Machine learning (ML) algorithms were trained to predict customer churn. Simple algorithms such as decision trees used attributes such as “bill amount” and “outgoing call pattern” to improve customer retention by 39%.

While the marketing team was thrilled with these results, the data science team turned to advanced black-box algorithms, such as neural networks, that pushed accuracy even higher. Pilot tests run on high-value customers turned out to be a resounding success – Artificial Intelligence (AI) delivered 66% higher customer retention than the traditional approach. The solution was ready for rollout, or so it seemed. Then, things turned south.

angry face illustration — Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash

The marketing product managers flatly refused to use the solution. They found it hard to trust an algorithm that spat out a set of customer names with little explanation. Many of these recommendations were counter-intuitive, and the entire process felt wrong.

Despite the data-backed results, they gave the data science solution the cold shoulder. The graveyard of AI projects is filled with such advanced, accurate, and well-meaning yet unused solutions.

What are some simple yet practical approaches you can adopt…

II. Industry Roundup:

1. Article: How seriously do CIOs need to be taking metaverse?

05 minutes | The National CIO Review | Ginny Holden

The metaverse has risen in popularity throughout the year. Is it time for CIOs to start exploring the metaverse? Or is this yet another fad? The author spotlights the buzz around the metaverse and shares the viewpoints of a Gartner Analyst. The article lists six tech trends and nine broad areas that hold opportunities for CIOs in the metaverse.

-> Read the Article

2. Article: Amazon Alexa, on pace to lose $10 billion this year

05 minutes | Ars Technica | Ron Amadeo

One of the hardest-hit areas within Amazon amidst the latest round of layoffs is Amazon Alexa, the voice assistant unit. Despite innovating with an AI product that seemed ahead of its time, Amazon has struggled with monetization. The voice assistants of the big tech firms have had a lackluster run so far. What’s really in store for Alexa, Siri, and their friends?

-> Read the Article

3. Article: 10 AI Predictions For 2023

15 minutes | The Forbes | Rob Toews

It’s that time of the year to make predictions on AI trends. The author, a venture capitalist, talks about interesting developments in the fields of robotics, large language processing, internet search (not Google!!), driverless cars, and data. He calls out several fascinating trends and startups to watch out for in the coming year.

-> Read the Article

III. From my Desk:

1. Article: AI Trends For 2023: Industry Experts (And ChatGPT AI) Make Their Predictions

14 min | Forbes

As we look back at 2022, it's clear that the field of artificial intelligence (AI) has made some very important strides. To understand the top AI trends of 2023, I asked industry leaders and academic experts five questions. I asked the same queries to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and got some interesting responses! Check out the roundup of human and model predictions for the coming year.

-> Read the Article

2. Post: I'd be teaching Business Analytics at a B-School as an Adjunct Lecturer this Spring

2 min | LinkedIn

Excited to share that I’d be teaching the 2023 Spring Semester full-time course, "Decision Support Tools & Technology for Managers," at Martin Tuchman School of Management at NJIT. The course will introduce management students to business applications of machine learning, data visualization for decision-making, & latest trends in AI.

-> Read the Post

An interesting proof of concept on altering the reality around us. Check out this multimodal AI (+ AR) experiment!

Thank you for subscribing and reading the newsletter. I appreciate your attention,

Ganes.

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My Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube

I’m Ganes Kesari. I publish ‘Data-Driven Future’ to help understand how data shapes our world, explore key trends, and explain what they mean for you today. I speak and write to demystify data science for decision-makers and organizations.

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