Print.IT Reseller - issue 53

01732 759725 22 AI Charles Giancarlo The MIT Technology Review survey which questioned more than 2,300 business leaders across the globe, explored the vast potential and challenges businesses must address to unlock data intelligence with AI. The survey, commissioned by Pure Storage, found that 86 per cent of leaders believe data is the foundation for making business decisions, while 87 per cent say it’s key to delivering results for customers. Yet, most respondents agree there is not enough time and resources devoted to mining data intelligence. A majority (78 per cent) say they face challenges in digesting, analysing and interpreting large volumes of data. 79 per cent say ensuring the business is using relevant data sources is a challenge, while 81 per cent say analysing even more data at greater speeds is a big future challenge. Other key findings include: n AI has a bright future. 82 per cent of survey respondents reported that AI will have a positive impact on their industry in the future. n 78 per cent say they have been asked to evaluate next-generation technologies such as AI for use in their business. n 83 per cent of those polled believe AI is important for analytics, greater efficiency and reducing human error. n AI holds the power to increase organisations’ creative and strategic customer focus. 85 per cent agree that AI will allow them to dedicate more time to thinking creatively about the business challenges their customers face. Barriers to adoption The survey revealed the top barriers to AI adoption are cost (53 per cent), issues Research reveals AI represents an unprecedented opportunity for organisations to improve operations, deliver better customer experiences and drive business performance through data-driven initiatives. Yet concerns still exist about its adoption AI unlocks intelligence within data with data infrastructure (43 per cent) and a lack of skilled staff (41 per cent). 79 per cent of respondents also believe there are legal and ethical implications of AI that still need to be clarified. Despite the barriers, senior leaders see AI as a driver of innovation. More than three-quarters (84 per cent) say automation will allow them to focus more on innovation and 80 per cent say AI would allow them to work on things they are passionate about. Need to be data-centric Pure argues that with the rise of machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies, data has shifted from informational asset to the core of innovation, meaning it’s no longer enough to just be data-driven organisations must be data-centric. The company says future success is predicated on deriving intelligence from data to achieve competitive advantage and growth. This requires a modern foundation purpose-built to optimally store, share, and ultimately analyse data in a multi-cloud world. “Our customers aggressively seek to use data to improve their customer experience and outdistance their competition,” said CEO, Charles Giancarlo. “The unprecedented explosion of data coupled with new data centre technologies enables Pure customers to build a data-centric architecture that enhances and simplifies their ability to use data for intelligence and advantage.” Unlock value from data To help organisations unlock value from their data and leverage new technologies to build competitive advantage, Pure has unveiled a host of new data-centric solutions for enterprises at every stage of their lifecycle. The new FlashArray//X product line is the first family of all-flash arrays purpose-built for shared accelerated storage. The all-NVMe FlashArray//X family makes everything faster – databases, virtualised environments, test/dev initiatives and web-scale applications at no additional cost. The line features five configurations. AIRI Mini, powered by NVIDIA expands Pure’s AI-ready infrastructure offerings. Built on FlashBlade, AIRI is designed to enable data architects, scientists and business leaders to extend the power of the NVIDIA DGX-1 AI supercomputer and operationalise learning early in their AI lifecycle. With it, organisations can implement a simple, powerful solution to build competitive advantage through AI at a price point that’s accessible for virtually any enterprise. With the industry-first Evergreen Storage Service (ES2) customers can leverage a cloud-like consumption model, powered by FlashArray, for on-premises storage. Additional new benefits of the Evergreen Storage program simplify capacity requirements and can extend Pure’s existing right-size guarantee with every capacity expansion. Our customers aggressively seek to use data to improve their customer experience and outdistance their competition