AI Trends | Intelligize.AI Service Aims to Make AI Adoption Practical
By AI Trends Staff
Intelligize.AI is a consulting practice recently launched by deFacto Global, to respond to the needs of businesses for AI awareness and implementation services.
deFacto’s flagship product is deFacto Planning, an AI-enhanced corporate planning tool that helps customers with budgeting, forecasting, consolidation, predictive analysis and reporting.
Based in Troy, NY and founded in 2009, the company’s customers include mid-market to Fortune 500 firms including AT&T, Focus Brands, PBS. Deloitte, Virgin Mobile and Goodwill.
The Intelligize.AI practice came about in response to the interest of customers in gaining advantages from AI, and lessons learned from deFacto’s own effort to incorporate AI into its planning tool. Research is showing the challenges around implementing AI.
Garnter’s 2019 CIO survey showed that while companies are eager to deploy AI applications, they struggle with acute talent shortages. A PwC survey found that many business leaders don’t know how to deploy AI throughout the organization where it can create maximum value. An O’Reilly survey showed that while AI was a top priority for most organizations in 2019, a lack of data science talent impede them from using AI technologies.
“We started adding AI several years ago, including machine learning and bots for customer interaction,” said Bob Bedard, President/CEO of deFacto. “We are looking to automate more of our processes using AI.”
In the research phase, which included joining Microsoft’s AI Inner Circle Partner Program, Bedard saw that many of his customers were going through a similar process. So he decided to create a consulting group, Intelligize.ai, “To help companies understand what AI is and is not, and to help them implement AI in a common sense or practical way.”
“Many times when I talk to customers, they don’t understand what AI really is. They are skipping over some basic processes they need to go through before they start thinking about AI,” he said.
The conversation with customers begins around correlating business decisions with the data needed to make them. “It’s a good way to understand the correlation between data and the business decision. That’s the first step to take; AI is not the first step,” he said.
Companies that have a business intelligence strategy are in good position. The company can start using predictive analytics, for example. “I try to demystify AI,” Bedard said.
“AI can do a lot of amazing things. But that’s not where most businesses are today. They are trying to improve business processes, run more efficiently. There is a huge opportunity to improve those things in a more fundamental way,” he said.
Companies are beginning to ask deFacto to help them implement more machine learning. “In the last six to nine months, we are seeing more of that,” Bedard said.
Intelligize.AI is priced as a consulting service; de Facto Planning is price as a software tool or service.
The maturation of AI is helping. “Companies are starting to realize that the most valuable information they have, is the unique data they can generate themselves.”
Learn more at deFacto Global.