What we’ve been reading this week – 22nd March 2019

From Disney World to decision making and from AI to athletics, this is what we found interesting this week!

Early this week, we released the second in our series of blogs on using data to help make better decisions. In it, we get to the heart of the decision-making process and outline how understanding your business objectives is the critical first step.

From tracking the world’s oceans to tracking Canadian Olympians, articles about artificial intelligence and data analytics appeared to be everywhere this week. AI and machine learning are providing more and more institutions and businesses with the ability to effectively analyse and synthesise huge amounts of data. And this is particularly true in the field of scientific endeavour where ‘AI is changing the flavor (sic) of scientific discovery’.

While artificial Intelligence, data analytics and machine learning no doubt provide countless opportunities, it’s important for businesses to also understand its limitations. This article from Forbes, this article from Information Week and this article for CIO outline a number of concerns and considerations all businesses should make when preparing their data strategy.

On a lighter note, we also really enjoyed this short video by Bernard Marr, talking about how Disney has been effectively using artificial intelligence and big data to better understand visitors to their theme parks in real time. We also recommend checking out this article about how Google has used AI to make melodies in the style of Bach.

Heading into the weekend and we’re reading up on the 1st Celtic Conference for Pharmacy Management in Edinburgh. We’ll be exhibiting at Stand P in the EICC – if you’re coming along, drop by to find out how our software PRECISION for Pharmacy has already helped clinical pharmacists and technicians deliver improved patient outcomes.