{"id":4250110,"date":"2018-12-14T10:50:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T10:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deptagency.com\/insight\/is-our-impatience-hindering-our-progress\/"},"modified":"2018-12-14T10:50:00","modified_gmt":"2018-12-14T10:50:00","slug":"is-our-impatience-hindering-our-progress","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.deptagency.com\/en-nl\/insight\/is-our-impatience-hindering-our-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Is our impatience hindering our progress?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\n\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tBack to all articles\t\t<\/span>\n\t\n<\/button>\n\t\tIs our impatience hindering our progress?\t<\/h1>
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\n\t\tMellissa Flowerdew-Clarke\t\t
\n\t\tVP of Marketing, EMEA\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t14 December 2018\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\tThe internet is a vast chasm, brimming with information on absolutely every conceivable topic, from the random to the life affirming, the dangerous to the planet-saving. It\u2019s daunting how much information is at our fingertips.\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\tFor marketers, this poses both opportunities and challenges. The data garnered from the tens of millions of daily explorations around the web, teamed with its possible applications, offers levels of targeted and personalised marketing never before seen and, yet, so few know what the hell to do with it.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tSeeking answers\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\tSome marketers may have been seeking clarity on where to focus their time, budget and energy at the Web Summit in Lisbon. What new-spangled-technology is about to drop that will enable us to send our ROI sky-rocketing (whilst giving our customers an experience so amazing, they\u2019ll be dreaming about it for the rest of their lives)? Inspire me! Help me! Blow my freaking mind!

However, the Web Summit is very much like the internet; the sheer size of it is overwhelming. From the latest start-up social apps, to BMW\u2019s new i8 car and everything in between, finding the golden nuggets of inspiration is a challenge in itself. When so much is available in one place, you find yourself a bit lost. How many of you have started searching for something online and fallen through a wormhole of information, only to find yourself wasting five hours watching videos of baby goats? Well, the Web Summit equivalent was standing staring at EDP\u2019s actual elevator stand for most of the day:\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tAre we in a trough of disillusionment?\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\tMuch like the internet, in situations such as these it\u2019s important to define exactly what it is you\u2019re after (and to move on quickly when you don\u2019t find it).\u00a0\u00a0Admittedly, I\u2019m hard to impress. And very impatient. But aren\u2019t we all a bit like that nowadays? \u00a0Hasn\u2019t the web bred a high expectation of on-demand knowledge? If we\u2019re not inspired within the first couple of minutes, we move on.\u00a0 And this isn\u2019t just limited to online experiences. I believe that this digitally-spawned, impatient behaviour is impacting many areas of our lives, and is driving our expectations of technology innovation.

It feels like we\u2019re currently at a peak. But the problem is that we refuse to wait for early-stage technology to catch-up with our impatient expectation, and simply demand more and more. Gimmee AI that will run my company and earn me a gazillion dollars! Gimmee mind-reading glasses to help my predictive marketing! Gimmee robots with an actual beating human heart!

You could argue that this drives us forward, but it also has its pitfalls. Gartner\u2019s Hype Cycle (below) from last year reflects this thought. Fast forward to 2018, and I think a fair few of these emerging technologies have probably sunk into the \u2018trough of disillusionment\u2019, and none will have made the \u2018plateau of productivity\u2019 yet. \u00a0We\u2019re in a hinterland between \u2018that\u2019s a really cool idea\u2019 and \u2018this is a really cool thing that I use every day\u2019.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tMy advice? Use what we already have\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\tSo, what\u2019s the answer? My advice is to focus on what we know already and implement it properly. Us marketers have been banging on about personalisation for at least four years, and we\u2019re still not fully maximising its potential, despite the technology being available. Many marketing strategies fall down because they don\u2019t integrate properly \u2013 multi-channel, actually becomes multi-silo. We don\u2019t use data properly, or we don\u2019t invest in the right skills, or we don\u2019t know what the hell to track or how to tack it. Maybe if we calmed the jets for a brief hiatus, we\u2019d have solved the attribution challenge once and for all. Omni-channel would be omni-present.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tAI: Innovation worth being patient for\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\tGartner reports that 85% of enterprises will be using AI by 2020, but only 25% have started their AI initiatives. The technology is ready\u2026but are we? My opinion, is that artificial Intelligence is one technological innovation that is definitely heading towards the \u2018Plateau of Productivity\u2019 and should be fully embraced. Its potential applications fulfill both the impatient demands of marketers and consumers alike.

Artificial Intelligence has the potential to transform industries, boost productivity, increase agility, improve customer engagement and jump-start product innovation. Leaders such as Microsoft, are ahead of the pack in making AI accessible and, most importantly, usable for organisations.

With Azure Cognitive Services, Microsoft has created pre-built AI Services that any developer can use, driving innovation in speech, text, vision and translation.\u00a0 These innovations can be infused into existing applications, or be the foundation of brand new cognitive services. This has the power to revolutionise the way we engage both internally with employees and externally with consumers, through truly personalised communication.

AI also has the power to invent and re-define complex business scenarios. For example,\u00a0Steward Health Care<\/a>, the largest private hospital operator in the USA, has leveraged Microsoft\u2019s AI to predict with 98% accuracy the length of patient stays, resulting in an improved patient experience and savings of $48million per year.
Ultimately, AI has the ability to empower people to positively transform society, from aiding disaster relief, to water conservation, climate conservation and much more.
AI is one innovation at that we\u00a0should<\/em>\u00a0be impatient for; the applications are limitless and, when developed ethically, could transform the way we live and work.\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t