At its best, technology is actively being democratized. It has enabled millions to express themselves and seize new opportunities. The pocket calculator in the late 1970s changed learning, academia, and accounting at a stroke. In the 1990s, the Internet simplified information access to the world, and the smartphone in the late naughties ushered in near ubiquitous connectivity, bringing information to the palm of your hand, as well as birthing new and revolutionized industries.
Each of these essential technologies makes us question how work was done and life was lived before their arrival. At the end of 2022, we witnessed the latest step-change with the explosion in generative AI image, text and coding tools. Industries are now being disrupted, regulators are scrambling, and everyone is trying to keep up with the dizzying pace of change.
There is a race among technology companies to create lasting differentiation and enhance value propositions for customers. At SAP we see AI as part of the movement that pushes business towards what we call the Intelligent Enterprise—where insights from company data improve both the top and bottom line.
This is the real value of AI for business. It may not be as headline grabbing as the art from Midjourney or written creations of ChatGPT, but actual business solutions are starting to come online that will soon transform the way business runs. SAP recently launched Joule, an AI co-pilot that lets business users ask complex questions where the answers are pulled from their own company’s data. The grounding from company data reduces the chance of ‘hallucinations’ that generative AI can sometimes spit out. A user could ask ‘how do I improve store performance?’ and a response would be generated that combines product information, marketing materials, warehouse stock, buying patterns, discounts, and shipping recommendations, for each store location.
Of course, there are valid concerns that businesses might not use AI ethically or be blind to the biases in the training data and results. That’s why it’s good to see regulations like the EU’s AI Act and the UK Government’s AI Safety Summit to try to keep pace with developments. A reliable, responsible approach to new solutions will be essential to building trust as the new technology starts to change the world of work. There are signs that initial deployments are also good for business and employees. According to new data from the Institute for the Future of Work, more than two-thirds of 1,000 UK companies surveyed feel that AI has improved job quality. And to run counter to initial worries about the job market, while just under half said AI and automation had eliminated positions, 67% said it had created new ones. We are living through the next technology revolution, and unlike the smartphone and social media era, we seem to be in a much better place to understand the potential and threats this time around.
Walter Sun is SAP's Global Head of Artificial Intelligence.
We must be proactive in addressing the pace of technological change
There are some guiding principles we can use when developing AI for business. First, tech companies should think about their customers’ most critical processes so they can see how and where adding AI will make a competitive difference. Second, they need be able to tap into actual business data so the outputs and outcomes will be relevant to customer needs. Finally, AI software makers must take the ethics of AI seriously. A responsible tech industry will always focus on data protection, privacy and sovereignty. It will also always put people and their needs at the center of their products and services.
If we get this right, AI could help transform industry in the coming years
Supply Chains: Companies will be able to create accurate, short-term forecasts and prevent supply chain disruption. They will also be able to ensure manufacturing accuracy, reduce inventory carrying costs and meet delivery deadlines.
Finance: Teams will be able control costs and reduce risk. Automation of intensive financial processes, such as matching open receivables to incoming bank statement items will improve productivity.
Sales: Customer needs will be better understood, and teams will have a clearer focus on the right opportunities to nurture.
Ecommerce: AI will personalize the customer digital experience, increasing conversion and improving operational efficiency.
Across countless industries, AI is going to help firms improve data-driven decision making, enabling everyone in an organization, regardless of analytics expertise, to quickly access and explore trusted insights. Copilots, like Joule, will further democratize information dissemination by proactively pushing vital knowledge to users that they would have previously had to search, or pull in, from the internet on their own.
This new AI age will enrich businesses and increase agility. The potential of AI to handle the repetitive tasks so that employees and teams are freed up to focus on the hard questions will soon be a competitive differentiator. We should all be excited as we embark on this journey together.
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