Artificial Intelligence (AI) is both a term that still conjures up arcane complexity and one that has become empty through overuse, having been referenced a bit too liberally at times, to claim the innovation flag. Yet, AI is far from an empty promise or a remote one, as it delivers real and measurable benefits today.
Despite the complexity of AI, its core function and benefits at a fundamental level can be explained simply.
AI is essentially software that performs a task on par with a human expert. It relies on machine learning to analyse data and learn from it, to reach conclusions and predict outcomes, crucially without the need for instructions.
Due to the increasing complexity of our networks with the growth in devices, data and people, gaps and issues are not always immediately visible to us, leading to outages that impact productivity. This is where AI really comes into its own, independently scanning and analysing the network’s data, identifying potential issues, even learning to resolve them.
AI is like a child learning a language: it gets better as it learns. The more mature your AI platform, the more proficient it will be as it will have learned and evolved.
It introduces intelligent automation, freeing up resources by eliminating manual tasks and reducing downtime. All this means considerable cost savings, especially at the enterprise level.
AI is applicable across all sectors. For example, in a University environment, AI can use telemetry data in real time to direct new students to where they need to be on campus, so they can attend their classes.
Wireless is an essential element of the AI-driven enterprise and has useful applications across many industry sectors. For the hospitality industry for instance, it can enable a touchless environment, where hotel lifts can be operated via guests’ mobile phones, without the need to press buttons, thanks to virtual Bluetooth.
AI can act in real time, adjusting to changes dynamically, for example by allocating bandwidth where it is needed and making informed predictions about user requirements, based on trends analysis.
It enables the advent of proactive IT and of Virtual Network Assistants (such as Juniper’s Marvis) the equivalent of an Alexa for your network, that lets you interrogate and talk to your network.
Ultimately, it is all about a proactive and programmable approach to managing your resources, by analysing vast amounts of data and deriving useful, actionable insights for an optimised user experience and simplified network operations.
For more information please see The AI-Driven Enterprise has arrived.
