Cambridge Business Association
The AI Factor
Book

The AI Factor

How to Apply Artificial Intelligence and Use Big Data to Grow Your Business Exponentially

Asha Saxena
Post Hill, 2023

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Applicable
  • Bold

Recommendation

The sensational way the media often portrays artificial intelligence (AI) can make it seem intimidating. But to grow in today’s environment, businesses need AI to help identify patterns and problems within their masses of data. In this helpful text, analytics expert Asha Saxena takes the stress out of understanding the practical role that big data and AI should play in your business operations. She reminds you that you probably already use AI in your daily life, even if you’re unaware of it, and she explains how business leaders can adapt AI to their specific organizational needs.

Summary

 Netflix and Starbucks were big data and artificial intelligence (AI) pioneers.

In the 1990s, Blockbuster Video was the dominant, go-to company to rent the latest video or DVD to watch on a Saturday night. But by 2013, the company imploded, and Netflix raced ahead. Blockbuster failed to recognize the internet’s transformative potential, while Netflix’s founders embraced change and the possibilities of the internet.

Recognizing that Netflix’s future lay in streaming video, the company developed an increasingly precise algorithm that recommended movies to subscribers and registered their preferences. Netflix then began producing original content which became highly successful.

By 2020, Netflix upended the traditional movie and television business as it became a gigantic enterprise with more than $2 billion in profit. It succeeded, in part, because its leaders were willing to break traditional business models. They exploited and refined their data, focused on its inherent value, and based their business decisions on results provided by data analysis and AI.

Netflix is not the only company that leveraged...

About the Author

Asha Saxena, an adjunct professor of health policy and management at Columbia University, teaches healthcare consulting, entrepreneurship, big data and data analytics. She was CEO of Aculyst, a healthcare analytics firm, and president and CEO of Future Technologies, an international data management and analytics company.

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