This article focusses on time-variant manufacturing processes, and how analytics can help boost their productivity. Many production lines relying on such processes are involuntarily operated using a suboptimal combination of input control settings most of the time. This weakens overall returns at facilities such as steel mills, mines, chemical and
There is general agreement that employment is changing. There is, however, much less agreement about precisely how it will change, although plenty of crystal-ball gazing has gone on. A study published by the World Economic Forum in 2016 suggests a rather nuanced situation with employment fluctuations likely to vary considerably
Bank customers are becoming more and more demanding. In the age of Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, we have become accustomed to personalized offers building on data that we have voluntarily provided. As a result, the first banks have already expanded on the AI system used by Alexa, to produce
Self-driving cars on our streets, Siri in our pockets, Alexa in the living room ... artificial intelligence and the machine-learning process behind it is already in use today. It is partly embedded in our everyday life, and partly still has a “wow” factor about it. For example, when we hear
For the third installment of this series I visited Marlies van Sonsbeek (CEO) and Andrew Hagens (Chief Innovation Officer) of Finaps in their beautiful office in the south of Amsterdam. Company Overview Finaps is a young innovative company founded at the end of 2010 by two former ABN-Amro colleagues. Not
The world is already embarked on the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution. This is likely to be hugely disruptive, and have a major impact on Society because it will change the way humans behave, are organized, and work, as well as the skills and competencies needed. It will also, however, have
Fake news is in the news again. Both in the US and in Europe. Facebook recently announced that it was allowing Congressional scrutiny of advertisements bought by Russians during the 2016 US election, as part of an ongoing investigation. It is a hard path to walk. Facebook has faced criticism
What are the big guys saying and doing, and what impact could it have on you? Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a hot topic as we all know. Progress is going fast and some of it is even catching the attention of mainstream media (e.g. Google’s AlphaGo Zero (AI program) becoming the world’s best
Where does the European insurance industry stand in terms of advanced analytics, artificial intelligence and automation? Do we see that traditional methods of data analysis are now being labeled by the term "machine learning"? Maybe the industry is more advanced than that: Are real chatbots, for example, already ubiquitous? Let's
Over the summer, I had the pleasure of being involved in a major SAS study on enterprise readiness for artificial intelligence (AI). The study involved in-depth interviews between SAS consultants and 100 C-level senior executives from organisations across the EMEA region. It was designed to explore their understanding of AI,
