Four Ways AI Is Changing The Way We Live And Work

There's been so much hype around AI's opportunities and risks that, as a strategic decision-maker, it can be hard to identify where and how your organisation should be using it. So, to help shape your next steps, we've picked out four real-world use cases where businesses and public sector bodies are already seeing the benefits. These cover the public sector, telcos, retail, and manufacturing.

We’ll also outline the platforms that organisations that are winning with AI are putting in place – such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Private Cloud AI - so make sure you read right to the end to give your next project the greatest chance of success.

#1 Public sector: Making our communities safer

Government organisations the world over are under relentless pressure to deliver better public services, often with shrinking budgets. Predictive and generative AI now offer opportunities for cash-strapped authorities to make some headway.

Of particular interest is the automation of public safety – something AI can help with in a variety of ways. For example, intelligently applying computer vision and machine learning to existing data sources such as weather forecasts, traffic data, air quality information, and CCTV feeds, can draw operations teams’ attention to potential incidents. With this knowledge, they can respond faster to – or even prevent – crime, fires, flooding, and other disasters.

#2 Retail: Boosting profits and streamlining operations

Inventory management is a constant challenge for retailers. Using AI at various business points enables them to maximise revenue while maintaining optimal inventory levels in the right places.

Forecast demand accurately across all locations, using AI to analyse historical sales data, buying trends, and market conditions. Then, AI-enabled dynamic pricing can be implemented, rapidly adjusting costs in response to transaction, customer, competitor, market, and stock data. The use of AI to support these initiatives is helping retailers increase margins without deterring customers.

#3 Telcos: Improving network performance and resilience

The strategic nature of telecoms networks makes them prime targets for cyberattacks. Network performance also has a huge impact on customer experience, which affects satisfaction and retention levels. It's not surprising, then, that telcos are looking to use AI to improve their network monitoring capabilities further, so they can respond to issues faster or prevent them altogether.

Predictive AI can analyse different aspects of the network, including packet headers, payload data, and communications patterns. If unusual activities or potential problems are detected, generative AI can suggest suitable courses of action.

#4 Manufacturing: Inching closer to zero-defect production lines

Zero defects will be the aspiration of virtually every factory operator, and AI is helping manufacturers get closer.

Pulling in data from the many sensors along modern production lines, and applying advanced (predictive) analytics, brings opportunities to spot issues in real time – or even anticipate them before they occur. This is proving transformational for quality inspections, as well as cutting waste and reducing human error.

When to consider private cloud for AI workloads

Many organisations are using carefully architected HPE Private Cloud AI as the foundations for AI workloads such as these. Reasons for choosing private cloud include meeting security and data residency requirements or supporting real-time, latency-sensitive workloads.

When confidential personal or commercial information is collected and analysed, it is essential to know that it is being handled responsibly and in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. A private cloud can be deployed in virtually any location an organisation chooses, enabling it to meet its data governance and residency requirements.

Another advantage of private cloud is latency. Real-time decision-making requires data to be processed fast. Putting the compute power in the same location as the data sources eliminates the need to send information to the public cloud for inference or other processing. This cuts down on latency, thereby accelerating the overall process and the resulting decisions or actions.

How winning organisations are getting started with AI

The HPE Private Cloud AI platform is a scalable, turnkey platform to support AI development in any size of organisation. Combining AI services, infrastructure, software, and models from HPE, NVIDIA, and partners, it gives teams the freedom to innovate at pace, before confidently scaling successful concepts out to be part of business as usual.

This tech is the first part of the solution. Organisations that are leading the AI charge are usually those that put robust strategy and governance in place from the beginning. This is where CDW comes in. We start by helping our customers identify where and how they should be using AI (and where they shouldn’t). Our specialist data governance teams advise on this crucial and complex area. With these foundations in place, we’ll then architect a suitable private cloud platform, capable of meeting current and future needs, in partnership with our colleagues at HPE and NVIDIA.

Try HPE Private Cloud AI for yourself

To get started, why not book a demo of CDW’s HPE Private Cloud AI UK showcase and experience it for yourself, guided by our specialist team? Contact us today to arrange your session.