Future Automation: Changes To Lives And To Businesses

The world overstates the present fear of future risk. Autonomous systems are our future. One day we will wake up to some event that will make it clear that the robots have taken over but just not in the way we always thought. Robots take many forms. A driverless car is a robot. A drone over Afghanistan is a robot. Siri is a robot as are high frequency trading systems. And the autonomous systems that Amazon uses to manage their warehouses and logistics are collections of robots acting in concert. In short, robots, or autonomous systems, are slowly taking over the execution of key processes that run our businesses and our lives. We define an autonomous system to be an integration at the data and process level of three components: sensors or the Internet of Things that collect data; big data that stores and processes data; and artificial intelligence, which takes the information, makes decisions, and acts. On occasions, we add in actuators, which are motors that are responsible for moving or controlling a mechanism or system. Other words for an autonomous system with actuators are "robot," "driverless car," and "unmanned drone."

This book describes the coming disruptions caused by autonomous systems (AS), which are unique blends of AI, analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT). An example of an AS is a driverless car. Analytics is the key element here that is still receiving scant attention as compared to the advances in AI and IoT. This book shows how disruption across many industries caused by the presence of AS will be pervasive and that analytics, which is created by the IoT and other sensors, provides the content from which AI can make decisions. These decisions are no longer the purview of humans only. AS will transcend what machines currently do. We will show how the impact of AS will start to manifest in the coming years.

Timothy E Carone, PhD, is an Associate Teaching Professor at the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. Dr Carone has expertise in autonomous systems, big data, Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence. He has developed and taught undergraduate, graduate, and executive education courses for Mendoza in the areas of Data Mining, Predictive Analytics, Unstructured Data Analytics, and Emerging Issues. In 2016, he received the Class of 2016 MSBA Outstanding Teacher Award. Dr Carone is a consultant to Fortune 500 companies in the areas of business strategy, enterprise architecture, and key vended technology platforms. He has over 25 years of experience in the design and implementation of high-performance enterprise architectures, the creation and execution of technology strategy projects, and management of complex implementation projects, which have included significant business analytic components. He has leveraged his science and math background to bring sophisticated business analytics solutions to clients and conducted executive training sessions for business leadership on business analytics, data mining, and machine learning. His PhD is in Physics from the University of Arizona.

Russell Walker, PhD, is a Clinical Associate Professor at the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University. Dr Walker has expertise in Big Data and Analytics, Risk Management, and International Business Strategy. He has developed and taught leading executive programs and MBA classes on Big Data and Analytics, Leadership of Analytical Teams, Strategic Data-Driven Marketing, Enterprise Risk, Operational Risk, and Global Leadership. He founded and teaches the very popular Analytical Consulting Lab and Risk Lab, experiential courses that bring students together with real-world projects. He was awarded the Kellogg Impact award by his MBA students for excellence and impact in teaching. He authored the award-winning text Winning with Risk Management (World Scientific Publishing, 2013), which examines the principles and practice of risk management through business case studies, and the award-winning book From Big Data to Big Profits: Success with Data and Analytics (Oxford University Press, 2015) that examines how firms can best monetize data assets. He has also authored many popular business cases, and the Aspen Institute, Harvard Business School Press, the Bank of England, among others have recognized his cases for excellence in showcasing lessons in risk management.