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“The potential of A.I. is in bringing a higher degree of intelligence and decision-making capabilities to what machines can do now.” –Ali Bouhouch of @Sephora #ITVisionaries

Show Notes

On this special mixdown episode of IT Visionaries we are focusing on artificial intelligence. In the first 65 episodes of IT Visionaries, we’ve had on countless experts who are working with some of the most advanced A.I. technology in the industry, and they spilled all the cool details to us. So on this episode, you’ll hear from Ali Bouhouch of Sephora, who talks about the ways A.I. will continue to enhance customer experience, we’ll listen to Marene Allison of Johnson & Johnson discuss where A.I. is on the maturity curve, and how far it still needs to come to be trusted in certain industries. Eric Tan of Coupa explains how AI and machine learning will better use the mass amounts of data being collected, Julien Sauvage, who works on the Salesforce Einstein team breaks down some A.I. use cases, Vijay Doradla of Sparkcognition reveals the way AI will become part of everyday life, and Andrea Brugger of United Rentals speaks from a sales perspective about the way A.I. is impacting the construction industry.

Topics discussed: A.I., machine learning, apps, data

Ali Bouhouch of Sephora — (1:36)

• The challenge is about overcoming all the hype around A.I.
• “The potential of A.I. is in bringing a higher degree of intelligence and decision-making capabilities to what machines can do now.”
• Sephora’s app using A.I. is trying to emulate human conversation.

Marene Allison of Johnson & Johnson — (5:34)

• A.I. is currently only at a 0.5 on the maturity curve. From a security standpoint, Marene wants it to be at a 6 at least.
• “Artificial Intelligence sounds so good, it sounds so sexy. But it’s a marketing term at this point.”
• The programmers developing A.I. do so with their own unconscious bias, which is something that needs to be combatted before we can get to a place of trust.
• “I trust the data more than I trust the programmer.”

Eric Tan of Coupa — (8:28)

• “Artificial intelligence is in its infancy.”
• The wealth of data that has been collected in just the last decade makes the power of potential A.I. so much more powerful.

Julien Sauvage of Salesforce — (11:37)

• Salesforce uses four main benefit statements when it comes to A.I.: Discover, Predict, Recommend, Automate.
• “There’s an unlimited number of use cases, but we try to apply them to the major areas of businesses of existing Salesforce customers.”   
• “The jury is still out on A.I…. We believe that people don’t buy A.I. for the sake of A.I., they buy A.I. for CRM. They want their CRM to be smart, to be automated and they want it to be A.I.-powered.”

Vijay Doradla of Sparkcognition — (14:48)

• “I predict in the next five to 10 years we won’t be talking about A.I. because A.I. is already working its way into the way we operate.”
• If you think about just 10 years ago, the things that are standard on a cell phone today would have been thought of as ultra advanced. The same kind of product journey is likely to happen with A.I.

Andrea Brugger of United Rentals — (15:32)

• When it comes to the sales perspective, you have to think about what customers need. You have to make sure that you are asking the right questions.
• “How do we make sure we’re getting to the right customer at the right time with the right message? We’re using A.I. in that way to make sure we’re going to the right market and we’re serving our customers.”
• Big data is going to play a role in making A.I. a useful tool, but you have to crack the code to make it viable.