Cost, Time, and Security Savings with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Article was written by Sascha Giese, Head Geek, SolarWinds

In today’s climate, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have become critical competitive advantages. These technologies are rapidly becoming the standard to manage data, streamline and enhance processes, and strategically position businesses within their respective industries.

A recent Gartner report found one-third of technology and service provider organizations with AI technology plans said they would invest $1 million or more into these technologies in the next two years. However, the costs associated with AI and machine learning, along with the skill sets and resources needed to manage this technology, are often considered a barrier to implementation.

In the Asia Pacific, machine learning is projected to increase ten-fold from US$15.5 billion in 2021 to US$152.24 billion by 2028. In the ASEAN region, AI adoption is still in the early growth stages, with a recent Kearny study reporting that 27%% of companies are investing in AI/ML or developing an AI strategy. Encouragingly, the pace of adoption in the ASEAN countries is expected to pick up with 56%% of ASEAN businesses planning to pilot initiatives in the years ahead.

Singapore launched a nationwide AI strategy in 2019, investing US$500 million to jumpstart AI adoption and identifying critical ecosystem enablers to support AI throughout industries. Singapore intends to be a “leader in developing and deploying scalable, impactful artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, in key sectors of high value and relevance to our citizens and businesses” by 2030. The country is expected to lead the region in AI use due to the maturity of the country’s infrastructure and highly digitized, automated, and efficient economy.

The Power of Automation

The SolarWinds IT Trends Report 2022 reveals that a looming crisis and challenge that IT professionals face is the growing complexity of using new tools and technologies, increased technology requirements, and the fragmentation of legacy and modern technologies. Hybrid and remote work has also amplified the impact of distributed and complex IT environments.

Our study found more than a third of respondents (34%) were not fully equipped and an additional 6% were not confident in managing the complexity. Most IT professionals (81%) also believe the return on investment (ROI) on IT projects they oversaw in the past 12-18 months was impacted due to increasing hybrid IT complexity. The lack of visibility in their IT infrastructure often leads to project delays and inefficiencies often resulting in exponential cost increases.

With the volume of accessible data increasing, greater availability of data, growing computational power, and new algorithms being developed, a viable long-term cost-reduction option that companies can look at is leveraging AI and ML to create efficiencies to boost their growth and digital transformation.

Cost-Benefits of Automation

Purchasing or subscribing to AI or ML services and integrating them across workflows can be a massive investment for companies. The benefits, however, can hugely outweigh the cons. The initial upfront investment is substantial, especially when developing in-house AI and ML from scratch, but over time, the benefits mount to save money.

For example, ML and AI enhance automation at an unprecedented scale by reducing manual input, more effective data management, and predictive analysis. These automated features can free up a business’s limited resources for tasks like research and development, allowing for greater advancements in business strategy and execution at the human level.

With the explosion of data available to a company, there are feasible limits to what a staff of human employees can reasonably analyze and sustainably manage. Shifting to AI/ML services can augment your workforce’s ability to analyze data at scale while introducing cost advantages in a management capacity.

Strengthening Security With AI and Machine learning

Likewise, as organizations continue to look for ways to address the heightened security needs in their IT ecosystem, the introduction of AI and ML can help businesses develop a moat to protect their core security systems.

As a result of rapid digital transformations accelerated by the pandemic, every industry has seen a surge in high-level cybersecurity breaches. In fact, the 2021 SolarWinds^® IT Trends Report found 49% of IT pro respondents perceive their organization’s senior leaders or decision makers have a heightened awareness of risk exposure, believing it’s not “if” but “when” they will be impacted by a risk factor.

Implementing AI/ML can help security operations centers analyze data at deeper levels of complexity, and across a higher order of magnitude of performance indicators. Beyond the automation of low-level tasks and routines, AI and ML features can allow teams to develop more sophisticated systems of alerts—aiding in cross-departmental awareness of any breach or vulnerabilities identified. When it comes down to reducing risk in the enterprise, AI and ML are key tools IT pros can leverage to strengthen the security posture of their organization.

In today’s climate, the amount of data companies handle and process continues to grow, and the security needs for business continue to heighten. These environmental conditions render AI and ML services essential for routine analysis and management, and critically, for vulnerability detection. Having these core capabilities built into your business becomes more vital every day. They not only augment the creativity and skills of your IT workforce but also help secure the future of business.

The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Tech Wire Asia.

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