Like it or not, AI will soon infiltrate every aspect of our society from our refrigerators to autonomous cars and everything in between. Combined with data and data science, AI offers new, smart ways to solve existing problems and create fresh and exciting opportunities. But how do you determine the importance of an AI initiative for your organization and how do you ensure you derive the maximum benefit from implementing such projects?

Intelligent process automation is increasingly seen as a complement to robotic process automation, extending the scope of robotic process automation with AI technologies. CIOs and other IT leaders should consider some of the important distinctions between the two automation technologies as part of their technology roadmaps.

A global survey of more than 2,500 business and technology leaders conducted by the research firm ESI ThoughtLab, on behalf of Cognizant, a provider of IT services, suggests that the amount of money organizations are willing to invest in IT as a percentage of revenues has substantially increased. This is mainly thanks to the rise of various digital business transformation initiatives.

“Whether new advances in technology fill us with excitement or dread, the fact is that the physical aspects of our lives are only going to become more integrated into the virtual world. With the likes of swarm intelligence, the tactile internet and edge computing becoming increasingly advanced, the technology around us is simply becoming smarter and significantly more insightful.”

While most executives at financial institutions agree that artificial intelligence (AI) is important to their organization’s success, few have fully implemented AI projects.