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AI and Nature: Ants are the Future of Work EfficiencyEfficiency alone may not ensure success, but inefficiency is one sure way to fail. You know who knows about efficiency? Ants. Yep, these tiny creatures, while commonly known for ruining picnics, operate in an incredibly systematic and effective way. The data scientists at DeepCoding, a Tel Aviv-based AI startup, draw their inspiration from these ant colonies’ models of efficiency for their machine learning model. And it works! DeepCoding’s Delivery Intelligence platform has already helped large enterprises to increase their efficiency by 80%, and their customer circle among Fortune 100 companies is constantly growing. Despite the broadening adoption of new delivery methodologies such as “AGILE” or “SCRUM”, all large IT organisations are facing the same challenge: how to efficiently organize the work of hundreds or even thousands of IT employees and software developers who work on tons of projects, each one having their own unique considerations. To cope with this, IT leaders and their project managers spend countless hours planning, then spend more time on boring meetings to make sure actual progress is happening according to plans. But in today's crazy IT reality, major events always sneak up and reshuffle everything: It can take weeks and sometimes months for IT leaders to reorganise all the teams’ work! But not the ants: Whenever there is an unplanned event, such as a curious child disrupting a walking line of ants, these socially advanced insects reorganize within seconds before continuing working again. University of Halle-Wittenburg’s study on ants indicates that when a circumstance, such as an increase in food resources, occurs, the ants strategically change their behavior and rearrange themselves so that they remain productive. Just like ants, DeepCoding’s cutting edge technology leverages the computing power of AI to makes sure the orchestration of the work is always optimized, while taking into consideration dependencies and key business parameters such as due dates, workload, importance, and urgency of projects. This innovative technology is called IPA (Intelligent Process Automation). Being the next generation of RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and Augmented Analytics, IPA will be a major revolution for companies who wish to take their organisation efficiency to the next level. Another genius ant trait that influenced DeepCoding was the specialization within these colonies that speed up the process of operation without compromising the quality. Specialization is a core economic principle and a catalyst for efficiency and productivity - ants and enterprises alike. In an ant colony, every individual is given the right task for their own skill set, whether it’s resource acquisition, building, or even just staying idle. Similar to this, and thanks to its powerful automatic skill set mapping, the AI startup’s platform is capable of understanding the best resources for specific tasks, including virtual ones, making sure to take workload and priorities into consideration. Now, the enterprise can ensure that every task is adequately addressed by the best person and team, making sure no task runs overdue. Predicting is key to prevention. But, in large groups, preventing a risk requires the whole group to always be in sync in order to react quickly. Ants, when they detect a predator approaching their colony, band together to form a sort of ‘superorganism’, to productively ward off their threats. Likewise, DeepCoding’s platform connects to every delivery management tool and monitors progress, creating a 360º real time view of all the IT work. Acting as a control tower overseeing the whole organisation, DeepCoding’ platform uses predictive analytics algorithms to predict impending risks. When a risk is detected, DeepCoding will recommend the best way to reorganise the work to mitigate the risks in the most efficient way - just like the ants’ ‘superorganism.’ So, the next time you’re at a picnic with all your favorite sandwiches and treats laid out in front of you and a pesky little colony of ants comes along, take a moment to appreciate how truly effective they really are and consider which of their incredible capabilities you might want to emulate in your own business. But don’t think for too long or these critters will polish off your last chocolate chip cookie. They're just that efficient. As a community-building service, TMCnet allows user submitted content which is not always proofed by TMCnet editors. If you feel this entry is of inferior quality or wish to report it for some reason, please forward the URL to "webedit [AT] tmcnet [DOT] com" with your comments. |