Artificial intelligence and analytics-based solutions are already being used in companies and organizations in Chile, but there is still a lot of potential. Inti Nuñez, an expert in innovation and dynamic entrepreneurship, explains the state of development of this technology in the country.
According to Inti Núñez, Director of Strategy of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Concepción and President of Compite Spa, although in Chile there are organizations that use artificial intelligence (AI) in their processes, its use in the country is "still very precarious. It is much less than what could be occupied. A lot of data is being generated, but it still doesn't have the penetration it should have."
In the areas where there is more progress is in digital marketing, operations and logistics. Artificial intelligence, explains the expert, “can be very well used in all industries. For example, in the construction industry for cost efficiency; in the health industry, for customer management, matching between specialists and patients, prioritizing cases, preventing people from going to health centers if they don't need it, and many others”.
Barriers
When carrying out a digital transformation and, later, using AI and analytics, one of the first obstacles is cultural change and a lack of vision, explains the expert. In this scenario, examples of organizations that have implemented this technology, with positive results in increasing efficiency and reducing costs, play an important role in demonstrating its potential. “Through examples the light quickly opens. People can see what they had not seen, the paradigm is removed, this lack of vision is removed and the importance is quickly understood”, indicates Núñez.
“Alaya has very good examples in aquaculture , in mining , in highway tolls. I think that these examples at some point gain volume and people can extrapolate them to other areas”, adds the expert.
"The amount of information, the amount of wealth that can be obtained from the data, is such that all these examples show something of the power that can be had if artificial intelligence is enabled," he adds. “There are a series of questions with answers that did not exist before and today it is very possible to solve them. That's very powerful."
pandemic effect
During the years 2020 and 2021, many companies digitized some areas and processes, which implied an increase in the data that organizations have. “The pandemic was mandatory in digital, but not necessarily in artificial intelligence. This has meant that the supply of resources, of data, of everything that is required to do artificial intelligence, has increased”, says Inti Núñez, who describes the situation as an opportunity to take a step towards the use of solutions based on AI.
Digitization v/s prediction
Today a large part of the companies have some digitization, indicates Núñez. “They all have computers, some CRM (customer relationship management), just as we all have a smartphone. But a second stage is to transform these capabilities into productivity. Artificial intelligence is a second evolutionary floor”, he clarifies.
Thanks to all the data that is currently generated, "the company can access another stage of development if it uses AI efficiently and sees it as a value, if it takes advantage of it," adds Núñez.
challenges
In addition to the cultural change, to start applying artificial intelligence, companies need to have professionals who understand how to use this technology and models: "it is also a change in skills, in knowledge, in learning," says Inti Núñez.
Future
Núñez explains that through the successful examples of the use of analytical solutions based on artificial intelligence and qualified professionals in the field, companies and organizations will increasingly adopt this technology. “This is a subject that is going to explode. I think it will be a quick change and that it will be a very impressive change ”, he concludes.