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Article
How to start an AI service business
Building an AI practice may seem like a daunting endeavor. Fortunately, channel partners can learn from other companies that have found ways to apply AI models to customer challenges. Read Now
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Article
Self-service analytics at Accenture boosts knowledge workers
Accenture's enterprise analytics and AI models are helping the firm on a number of fronts, including determining sales opportunities, pricing deals and complying with internal and customer expense policies. Read Now
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Article
Data center infrastructure spending gets AI boost
IT solutions providers are finding a role in helping clients create the artificial intelligence infrastructure they need to handle emerging technology requirements. Read Now
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Article
Robotic process automation market needs provider boost to accelerate
RPA vendors, service providers and their customers must find ways to overcome time-consuming tasks and bottlenecks to accelerate the technology's enterprise adoption. Read Now
Editor's note
Here's a statement you wouldn't have read 25 years ago, or even 10: Channel partners are developing AI service businesses, creating and deploying AI applications for their clients.
Indeed, the AI field has seen a few false dawns over the years. But times have changed along with the technology. Today, the ability to analyze vast amounts of data, coupled with enormous increases in processing power, has made AI a viable technology for a range of organizations. And digital disruption, which has seen established enterprises under increasing pressure from tech-driven upstarts, has given those organizations ample incentive to find an edge in AI.
The result: a new market opportunity for IT service providers.
Market watcher IDC predicts global spending on cognitive and AI systems will hit $77.6 billion in 2022, expanding at an annual clip of 37.3%. According to IDC, software will represent the largest and fastest growing category. Conversational AI applications, along with deep learning and machine learning apps, will lead the way in software. Servers and storage, meanwhile, will take second place in AI spending until late in IDC's forecast. At that point, spending on "related IT and business services" will overtake hardware spending.
Channel partners, as AI service providers, may find work in a variety of roles. Consulting services will be much in demand as customers seek advice on how best to deploy AI technologies. Implementation and project management services will kick in once customers decide on a direction.
As for vertical markets, service providers will find opportunities to deliver AI applications in healthcare, financial services, retail, manufacturing and government. Channel partners with specific domain expertise will have an advantage when it comes to customizing AI to meet the needs of specific industries.
The robotic process automation market provides another source of revenue for IT service providers. This rapidly-growing space calls for a combination of technology and business process expertise, which makes the market a good fit for consultative channel companies.
The current wave of AI holds a lot of potential for IT service providers. Read on to get a sense of the market and the possibilities for growing a channel business.
1Understanding the booming AI market
AI was at one time limited to only technology giants that have the means and skills for deploying the technology. AI applications have since spread, gaining traction in a broader swath of the market. Learn about how channel partners can adopt new roles in areas such as machine learning consulting, and help their customers incorporate AI into business processes.
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Article
Where to find gigs in artificial intelligence consulting
From AI analytics to AIOps, consulting opportunities in the fast-growing artificial intelligence technology sector could spark new business for IT service providers. Read Now
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Article
Data center infrastructure spending gets AI boost
IT solutions providers are finding a role in helping clients create the artificial intelligence infrastructure they need to handle emerging technology requirements. Read Now
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Article
Democratization of AI, 5G nets among top 2019 opportunities
Channel partners may find opportunities in artificial intelligence, 5G networks and the rise of enterprise 3D printing as 2019 unfolds, according to a Deloitte report. Read Now
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Article
Machine learning consultants explore use cases
Machine learning consultants and developers are among the IT channel partners discovering AI-driven business opportunities across a range of vertical markets. Read Now
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How the channel can help fight bias in AI applications
Customers' AI applications pose the risk of producing prejudiced results. Channel firms, however, can step in to educate organizations and reduce harmful biases within AI systems. Read Now
2How to launch, expand AI services businesses
Channel firms can break into the AI market from a number of angles. Some choose to focus on a vertical industry, while others zero in on a particular IT problem. More established partners may develop AI services around the needs of their current customer base. This section of articles explores considerations for growing an AI services practice, whether you are starting a business from scratch or transitioning an existing one.
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Blog
Cognilytica expands on CRISP DM model for AI project management
As AI projects become commonplace, channel partners may need to find a way to manage them. Cognilytica offers one approach that draws upon the CRISP DM model Read Now
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Article
Wipro evolves AI capabilities to maintain competitive edge
Wipro continues to invest in an AI-first approach to data and analytics. Learn about Wipro's strategy, which includes a framework for using AI across the data and analytics value chain. Read Now
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Article
How to start an AI service business
Building an AI practice may seem like a daunting endeavor. Fortunately, channel partners can learn from other companies that have found ways to apply AI models to customer challenges. Read Now
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Article
Launching an AI project calls for careful scoping
AI implementation may benefit from a handful of steps and a common set of patterns, according to speakers at the AI World Government conference in Washington, D.C. Read Now
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Article
How to grow your AI services business
Getting to the next stage of AI growth calls for IT service providers to consider security, marketing and ROI. A talent for demystifying technology also helps. Read Now
3Vertical-specific AI applications
Interest in AI is growing across an array of vertical markets. In healthcare, for example, medical organizations see massive potential for enabling better patient care and monitoring, data management, and medical imaging. Financial services firms, meanwhile, have begun tapping into AI for gains in everything from fraud detection to customer service. Explore this section of articles for insight into vertical-specific AI applications.
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Article
AI applications in healthcare grow, opening channel prospects
The hype around AI applications in healthcare spans decades, but the latest wave of AI tech suggests real-world traction. Firms like Perficient are using AI in their offerings. Read Now
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Article
Manufacturing AI projects open partner opportunities
IT consultants and integrators could see increased business in manufacturing AI, but they will need to overcome data quality problems and cultural issues along the way. Read Now
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Article
AI applications in government: Virtual assistants could see uptick
Conversational AI in the form of intelligent virtual assistants and chatbots could player a bigger role in government agencies' citizen service initiatives. Read Now
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Article
6 AI applications in finance spark partner opportunity
AI in financial services is opening channel partner prospects, from building customer service chatbots to creating a better customer onboarding process. Read Now
4Insight into AI deployments
In this section, articles demonstrate how companies are using AI to improve critical processes within their organizations. Examples range from IBM deploying AI to enhance sales lead distribution for its channel partners, to an insurance firm that bolstered call-center capabilities with chatbot software.
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Blog
IBM puts an AI spin on partner lead sharing
An IBM lead-sharing tool highlights how AI is making inroads in systems that facilitate partner engagement. Launched in 2018, Smarter Cognitive Opportunity Recommendation Engine (SCORE) uses IBM ... Read Now
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Article
CodeObjects taps Watson AI capabilities to develop chatbot offering
When a Florida-based insurance firm needed help handling surges in call-center volumes, it piloted InsurBot.ai, a chatbot that employs IBM Watson technology. Read Now
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Article
DXC enables speedier autonomous vehicle development at BMW
Channel firms are playing a role in visionary initiatives that could redefine customers' products and services. Read how DXC is helping BMW drive autonomous vehicle development. Read Now
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Article
Self-service analytics at Accenture boosts knowledge workers
Accenture's enterprise analytics and AI models are helping the firm on a number of fronts, including determining sales opportunities, pricing deals and complying with internal and customer expense policies. Read Now
5Opportunities in the RPA market
The evolution of software bots and digital workers is underway and making a mark on diverse industries and companies. The robotic process automation market has also shown promise for channel firms. Read about roles that partners can play in this rapidly growing opportunity, where RPA vendors and customers alike are calling on the channel for expertise.
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Article
UiPath Forward: Industry execs talk enhanced services
IT services companies suggest the industry will have to step up its service offerings as enterprises take robotic process automation past the proof-of-concept phase. Read Now
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Article
Robotic process automation market needs provider boost to accelerate
RPA vendors, service providers and their customers must find ways to overcome time-consuming tasks and bottlenecks to accelerate the technology's enterprise adoption. Read Now
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Blog
Bot stores open opportunities in robotic process automation market
Automation Anywhere's expanding Bot Store could provide opportunities beyond professional services for systems integration firms targeting the robotic process automation market. Read Now
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RPA trends: Adoption at scale calls for governance, change management
The UiPath Forward conference highlighted the key RPA trends shaping process automation projects, which are seeing wider acceptance and growing scale among some enterprises. Read Now