What opportunities do artificial intelligence and automated data processing create for business? How will this affect the formation of business strategies and decision-making?
Over the past decade, only a few technologies have been able to rival artificial intelligence (AI) and gain public attention just as much. The interest in the technology is entirely justified. The latest advances in analytics, digital tools, and big data indicated that AI is capable and ready to change the current business landscape.
According to experts, by the end of 2024, 3/4 of enterprises and businesses, in general, will adopt AI, driving a 500% increase in streaming data and analytics infrastructures. AI capabilities enable both small companies and massive enterprises to augment analytics activities, faster data-driven decision-making, and provide all staff members with accessible data use.
What will be the future of decision-making? According to experts, it will include data analytics, artificial intelligence, and human judgment. This approach will accelerate data processing, allowing for more flexible, intelligent decisions based on predictive analytics despite various concerns.
Automated data science and augmented intelligence can reduce time-consuming tasks, allowing the team to focus on data analysis’s more critical aspects. As a result, artificial intelligence opens up opportunities for the democratization and consolidation of data within the company.
How does a business want to analyze big data today? From hiring “unicorn” data scientists – to adopting innovative tools, like automated data science platforms that can provide actionable data insights for decision-making in just a few clicks, thanks to the power of artificial intelligence.
To learn more about the impact of artificial intelligence on data science and predictive analytics and how this combination of technology affects business in general and business-strategies, we’ve talked to the Xpanse AI startup’s Co-founder – Maciek Wasiak. As always, Orange Sputnik keeps you updated.
What is Xpanse AI?
“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.”
Ginni Rometty
“Xpanse AI is an automated data science platform delivering predictive models from complex databases in minutes,” says the company’s website. We, in turn, asked our interviewee to give a more detailed description of their company and activities in particular. Let’s find out what Xpanse AI offers to its customers.
Maciek Wasiak Xpanse AI AWS meetup in Dublin
“We enable AI-driven analytics to companies at the ease and speed that has not been possible before. Although we have very experienced data scientists amongst our users, who value their time and understand what fast delivery means for their business, we also have an increasing number of less technical users jumping on the platform and delivering sophisticated analytics after a short training.”
“Xpanse AI is putting the power of AI in the hands of business teams.”
Maciek Wasiak
How has the AI hype revolutionized data science?
Despite the apparent benefits of AI and the growing interest in technology among businesses from various industries, we still decided to ask Maciek why now is the best time for a company to exist? “The AI hype is at its peak with the demand for data scientists surging globally,” said the Co-founder of Xpanse AI and explained his thought with the following statement. “The little-known fact is that the demand for those skills is driven by the amount of data preparation needed before any so-called machine learning algorithms can be applied. Machine learning is fast. Data prep is super slow.”
After a general explanation, he came to the point and said the following: “This is where our solution comes in. Our platform replaces the manual multi-month data prep processes with a new generation analytical AI which can figure out what is in the data and how to best prepare it for machine learning.”
Why are enterprises adopting the latest AI wave in analytics? Today’s data flow, its complexity, and scale are more than data scientists can handle. Automated data science platforms and predictive analytics are the disruptors that can help businesses from all industries accelerate data analysis, optimize operational processes, and make data teams more productive.
Why is product value the path to customers?
One of the well-known quotes states, “If you don’t have customers, you don’t have a business.” Well, probably you are going to say that it’s obvious. Mostly every startup or business faces the challenge of acquiring its first customers. Why so? Remember that no one knows if your offering has value until it has generated revenue for your customers.
Our interviewee confirmed our idea with his story about the first client. It is not so important who your first client is – it is more important how high-quality, efficiently, and quickly your product can satisfy his needs. “One of the first paying clients was a large EU-based telecom. The manager responsible for business objectives could not get his hands on the data science team – who were fully booked elsewhere. Right now, his team is delivering models and analytical insights independently without engaging data scientists. It’s a perfect example of how AI can empower business teams.”
We should not underestimate the power of AI and its impact on the future of the business. Do you agree?
A good note to remember! To grow and scale your startup, you must be a part of your customer’s journey on their path of achieving their business goals.
Functional diversity of Xpanse AI platform and how does it affect the client’s list
The geography of the company’s clients is impressive. Based on our interviewee’s answers, even they cannot fully imagine how widely business can use their technology and in what other areas people can apply automated data science platforms. “So far, Xpanse AI has been successfully used in telecom, banking, gaming, SaaS, and healthcare sectors. We even have a client from the energy trading market – something we have never done ourselves.”
What business challenges can you solve with automated data science platforms? Forecasting demand, detecting fraud and anomalies, obtaining customer and market information, tracking performance – and this is just a small introduction.
What are the game-changing results for clients and other measures of startup success?
Moving on to the second block of questions in our interview about business aspects, we asked Maciek how they assess their technology’s success and in what metrics it is expressed for clients.
According to the Co-founder of Xpanse AI, there are two game-changing results for their clients – the speed with which their clients obtain predictive analytics and the number of projects they can execute. Here are some of the details he shared with us.
“Our platform allows us to react immediately to the changing market conditions: a new player on the market, changing in users behavior, due to the high-quality data science support,” noted Maciek the first aspect and moved on to the second point. “The increased number of projects means that instead of covering the key most important business needs, our clients can address virtually all their predictive analytics requirements: targeting models for reducing customer churn across all customer segments, cross-sell and up-sell models for all needed products or business lines, risk models, fraud analytics.”
Our interviewee also noted the following. “You should also take into account the countless ‘actionable insights’ questions – how does the profile of a happy customer compare to the unhappy, why do they buy or not buy the new product. Data science is no longer a bottleneck,” stated Maciek.
No doubt, the company’s AI analytics and platform opens many doors and creates endless opportunities for the business in general.
“Data science is no longer a bottleneck.”
Maciek Wasiak
What characteristics determine the success of a startup’s team?
How does any business project start? With a solid foundation: a close-knit and professional team, this is how you need to start your journey. To build a successful startup, you need people with a wide variety of skills and experience across various industries.
Xpanse AI, winner of NDRC Autumn Investor Showcase and €30,000 in follow-on investment.
What does the Co-founder of Xpanse AI think about this? “The founding team has a total of 30 years of data science experience across eight sectors and 30 different companies, which gave us enough knowledge to automate the most time-consuming elements of our work.”
The combination and balance of experience and passion are vital factors for startup development.
Motivation as a driving force
“If you don’t have traction, you’re not going anywhere.”
Unknown
In the middle of the interview, we had come to one of the most exciting questions about traction and what keeps Maciek motivated to continue developing the company and improving the technology. “We managed to displace an incumbent AutoML platform in a large US-based company. They had bought several licenses of the software and were unable to deliver analytics with it. With our platform, they deliver predictive models for their marketing strategy effortlessly jumping from one business problem to next.”
For customers who have already evaluated your product’s effectiveness for their business, its value far exceeds what they pay for it. If your customers saw an ROI and got a great customer experience, they are much more likely to stay with you in the long-term. Customer success = startup success.
Growth plans or how to double the number of clients?
We believe that for any tech startup, growth is more than a defining business aspect. It can become a crucial indicator of long-term success.
Of course, we asked our interviewee what kind of growth they expect next year and what direction they want to develop. The response that followed gave us to understand that the company has clearly defined its development strategy for the near future. “Right now, we are all about working with businesses to show them how quickly and easily they can get relevant data. Judging by the pipeline, we should easily double the number of clients next year,” shared Maciek with us.
Apparently, today, the company’s focus is to present the best way the advantages of the introduction and application of Xpanse AI technology in various industries and businesses.
What are the risks of changing the status quo?
Have you ever heard about the theory ‘survival of the fittest’? Startups, in particular, are no exception to the myriad of threats and risks, no matter whether you’re launching an innovative digital tool, developing a new app or a software feature, or a complete SaaS offering.
None of our interviews is complete without question about threats and risks; we, of course, asked our interviewee about obstacles they can expect on the way to the success and development of their startup. “As with many disruptive innovations – it’s sometimes the reluctance to adopt new ways of doing things,” stated Maciek. “Allowing AI to do things we used to do by hand can be exciting but may also be scary.”
He also added the following thought: “Secondly – after years of putting AI skills on a pedestal – changing this status-quo is a risk. It takes a lot from business teams to believe that actually, they can do it themselves if only empowered by the right tools.”
It is becoming increasingly difficult for businesses to avoid introducing AI and other new technologies that can change the game rules for the future of the industry. However, it is worth considering the potential damage that technology can cause if not applied strategically. Do not forget that technology should not influence business strategy; on the contrary, business strategy is an opportunity to stimulate the adoption of new technologies.
Other possibilities
“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing, that’s why we recommend it daily.”
Zig Ziglar
It’s too risky, and you might get into credits, you’ll probably be stressed out. Even with all underlined uncertainties, the startup world still attracts entrepreneurs.
Are there any other alternatives for our interviewee besides creating and developing a startup? “We would be bogged down with our teams on yet another multi-month data science project. But those days are behind us.”
“If you don’t have big dreams and goals, you’ll end up working for someone that does.”
Unknown
Significant advantages
There is no need to convince anyone that the world has become a genuinely hyper-connected environment with massive amounts of data transferred, gathered, and consumed daily by millions of people. It’s hard to believe, but turning data into insights will be crucial for your business growth and success in 2021 and the next decade.
We live in a time of uncertain economic growth and crisis driven by trade and information warfare, social instability, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyzing data and turning it into practical business strategies will distinguish and propel companies and industries that adopted new technologies.
Automated data processing and augmented intelligence will allow enterprises to find new ideas and opportunities, create demanded products and services, determine the best strategy for working with customers, and find new sales markets. Effectively integrating automated data science platforms into your business provides benefits for all business parts, including employees, managers, and customers.
