The year 2020 is now behind us, but some of the shifts and disruptions ushered in are set to continue. With positive news on the vaccines, we may soon see the day where we go back to the way things were before the COVID-19 pandemic happened.
Despite these updates, we are continuing to see an increasing pace of digital adoption and transformation in several areas. The Pandemic has led businesses to adopt rapid digital transformation in just 5-6 months, and AI is one that got full focus. AI, ML, and intelligent automation are now setting the stage for 2021 and the years to come.
AI is now used in almost every business function, from managing internal business processes, its use in chatbots for handling customer queries to the confluence of AI & other emerging tech like AR, VR, and IoT; we can see numerous success stories with AI. Of these, let us look at the top 4 AI trends that we should watch closely in 2021:
1. Growth in AI-driven Business Automation
2020 was the year when businesses had to redesign their business process flows and adopt new digital initiatives while managing crunched budgets. This led to higher use of automation, and moreover, the use of AI for smarter and faster automation. And this will only get better as time progresses. Process automation is increasingly being leveraged in all industries (Manufacturing, Healthcare, Financial, Realty, and even Tech), rapidly replacing manual processes to expedite business execution, deliver greater efficiency and reduce cost. With increasing complexity of the Business Automation landscape (as a result of numerous business processes being automated), AI is indeed adding great value to the mix by enabling businesses to make efficient decisions, automating repetitive and manual processes, and increasing integrations between business processes while increasing the accuracy of enterprise automation efforts. Organizations where business automation footprint has been already significant are now struggling with the high complexity of Business execution. AI is going to play an even more substantial role in decluttering these complex business process automation landscapes.
2. Accelerated Use of AIOps In Cyber Security Practices
To facilitate remote working and the need for making data available online, businesses are adopting complex IT operations that are distributed, heterogeneous, and dynamic. As this complexity increases, managing and monitoring security is a considerable challenge. AIOps or the use of Artificial Intelligence in diagnosis, detection, and resolution of operational and security practices is now increasing. AIOPs can help organizations fight cyberattacks by detecting vulnerabilities and performance issues faster than any traditional process. This can help organizations protect their data from malicious hackers while simplifying DevOps measures to be efficient. Moreover, as AIOps will keep evolving and improving, furthering its scope for use in DevOps, SecOps, and other pressing requirements.
3. The confluence of AI & IoT
AI, ML, data science, and emerging technologies like Big Data, Cloud, IoT, AR, VR, and others are just some of the many adoptions we are witnessing in every industry. Of these, AI & IoT or their unique combination (AIoT) are making significant progress, as both are now mainstream in several applications. IoT sensors are increasing the insights we can gather, and with the help of AI, they can be programmed to make intelligent decisions. AIoT is increasingly adopted in manufacturing, medicine, and most popularly for home automation. For example, an estimated 28% of homes will become smart homes in 2021, allowing users to control their household applications using smartphones or smart home devices like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and others. AIoT can allow for further automation and more intelligent decisions, like programming the robotic vacuum to clean the house or automatically turn on the AC to be at the perfect temperature when the homeowner is detected to be close by.
4. AI & Telehealth
Healthcare saw the most significant impact of the virus, but it has also seen the most transformation in recent times. The emergence of telehealth is a critical step towards better and affordable healthcare, and 2021 will only see the boom continuing. Estimates suggest that the telehealth market could reach $185 billion by 2026, and it is no surprise since patients and doctors are fully primed for this virtual revolution. Steps are already being taken or have been implemented for enabling telehealth in major healthcare organizations. In 2021, telehealth will provide remote patient care, efficient monitoring, and the first-level diagnosis as patients have shown increased comfort levels with this technology. The journey to care is only growing to be more digital and will enable healthcare to provide basic medical facilities by virtually entering the patient's home.
Ultimately, the pace of digital innovation is set to accelerate in 2021 as we step into the next stage in Business automation. Digital technology is no longer the foray of a few but is now entering every industry and sector that we know of. At e-Zest, we are enabling businesses to make this transition smoothly and effectively. We enable organizations to increase their business productivity using AI. Several enterprises are now adopting AI and emerging technology to create enhanced and effective outcomes while driving intelligent machine-driven decisions. We've unveiled Acti-on (pronounced as Action), an event-driven, flow-based action engine that generates and distributes specific and personalized tasks to users.
To know more about how Acti-on can increase business process effectiveness and organizational productivity for your enterprise, read more here. You can also register for our upcoming webinar that highlights the key trends in AI and how Acti-on effectively leverages and takes it to the next level. One thing is clear, 2021 looks to be a solid year for transitioning to adopt digital and expanding the organization's capabilities to offer a wider range of services, with AI & emerging technology here to help you achieve your business goals.
