Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have come a long way the last few years, and they’re here to stay. The future is promising for previously unthinkable applications. AI is the combination of a human’s ability of learning and recognizing patterns and the speed of computers. This has simplified solving painstaking and time-consuming tasks by having an AI model learn from previous data. Furthermore, these models are amazingly successful at identifying objects or patterns that often elude humans. The applications span reading hand-written text to driving cars, and everything in between.

In the IT industry there are many possibilities and room for growth. As more data is gathered, AI models becomes more accurate, allowing bots to solve common problems for customers and saving IT specialists’ time for more complex ones. This doesn’t mean that AI is designed to replace people; its purpose is to make work easier and more efficient for both companies and employees, and its use will only become more prevalent as industries realize the benefits.

AI can also be useful for a company’s internal operations. Using the maintenance history of equipment such as servers, network routers, and other dependable equipment, an AI model can predict possible failures and schedule preventative maintenance. This translates to companies avoiding unexpected catastrophes that could cause irreparable damage.

AI is causing industries to change and evolve, and its applications are endless.

Digital transformation has been a buzz word for quite a while now. Undoubtably, millions have been spent under the guise of digital transformation projects that were actually just application upgrades, web pages, or mobile apps. The hidden bear trap for digital transformation efforts are the numerous odious legacy processes, air gapped applications, and data sources that require human interaction. Inserting human interaction into technology invariably slows the process and introduces human error. Therefore, no matter how much is spent on digital transformation, if the technology implemented does not address the mundane, routine, and repetitive tasks that need to be performed by the humans involved the process, the money is wasted.

Luckily there is a solution, or should I say a pair of technologies, that can bridge the gaps in today’s legacy processes and systems to truly provide the nirvana of digital experience

Robotic process automation (RPA) automates routine, repetitive, rules-based tasks. It allows machines to work independent of human activity so that employees can focus on processes that require judgement, interpretation, or skill. Couple RPA with digital process automation (DPA), which allows you to redefine your processes and create fluid, digital workflows, and you now have a scenario capable of delivering incredible digital transformation results.

So back to the goal for enterprise organizations – get faster, nimbler, and deliver a better CX at a lower cost by transforming  into a digital enterprise. This can be achieved one of two ways: 1) Risk millions upgrading and adding new platforms, OR 2) digitize what already exists at a lower cost with less risk. Which one seems more achievable to you?

Starting in September 2019, Walmart and its Sam’s Club division will require suppliers of fresh, leafy green vegetables to use blockchain to trace products back to the farm. Walmart is expected to expand the requirement to other produce suppliers in the near future with a goal of speeding up product recalls and the response to food scares.

Blockchain, the digital ledger technology that underlies cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, has been widely hyped. Although there has been significant investment in the cryptocurrency realm, many organizations still have serious reservations about moving forward with blockchain.

According to the 2018 Global Blockchain Survey from PwC, 48percent of organizations are unsure about how blockchain will be regulated, and45 percent don’t fully trust the technology. From a technical perspective, 44percent are concerned about how to integrate multiple networks, and 29 percent point to potential scalability issues. The ability to quickly process a high number of transactions has been a strong selling point for blockchain, but many organizations are unsure if their datacenter environments can handle it.

Despite these reservations, PwC found that 84 percent of organizations are using blockchain in some capacity. However, a separate report from Greenwich Associates found that most organizations are struggling with blockchain adoption, with 57 percent of surveyed executives saying implementation has been harder than expected.

Concerns about scalability cited in the PwC study have been realized by 42 percent of respondents to the Greenwich Associates survey. Although many companies had not yet implemented their blockchain solutions, those that have blockchain in production were dealing with very slow transaction speeds.

Despite these issues, the blockchain market is expected to grow from $708 million in 2017 to $60.7 billion by 2024 and to disrupt virtually every industry. Because blockchain has significant storage and compute requirements, experts expect it to have a major impact on the data center.

There are steps you can take to prepare your data center for the increased demand created by blockchain. For example, high-density servers can deliver the compute power and capacity to support blockchain applications in a small footprint. However, organizations should take a more sophisticated approach to capacity management.

It’s not as simple as making sure each server has enough capacity to support its workload. You have to determine where each workload should run and automatically adapt when necessary to maximize performance and resource utilization. To do this, you need intelligent tools to carefully analyze and forecast demand and plan capacity accordingly.

The implementation of digital twins – software versions of physical assets – can provide deeper insights into your infrastructure. Digital twins can help you more accurately predict and optimize performance and then test various solutions in a production environment. This makes it possible to make data-driven decisions to update your data center in a way that supports blockchain with less risk.Blockchain has generated plenty of buzz. Most organizations have dipped their toe in the water, and some corporate giants are pushing their suppliers to adopt blockchain sooner rather than later. But plenty of question marks remain, and significant planning is required to avoid the pitfalls that have doomed some early implementations. Let us help you evaluate your data center and recommend the necessary changes to take full advantage of blockchain.