7 minute read
MARK D. DEMERS
Part 1 of 3
GENERATION PI
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Reswizzling of Business Brought to you by Artificial Intelligence and Millennials
MARK D. DEMERS
SR. DIRECTOR, SAS
RESWIZZLING
An excellent, trusted, and respected woman business leader whom I know, Michelle Wells, recently taught me a new word that is fitting to frame this month’s Technology Column – “Reswizzling.”
Reswizzle means rearranging or reorganizing, or restructuring something in a functional, relevant way.
This month’s column and next will discuss PI (π), Millennials, Artificial Intelligence. Autonomous and Autonomic computing and the relationship between them all. In other words – the proverbial People – Processes & Technology.
We've all heard of GenZ, GenX, Baby Boomers, and Millennials, but have you heard of Gen PI?
Aging IT systems with an aging workforce, skills deficit, and emerging advanced technologies like AI and Machine Learning are pushing organizations of all ills to reimagine their futures.
The “biological clock” is a timely problem facing critical industries like manufacturing. As more Baby Boomer executives, managers, and workers retire, there aren't enough recruits from Gen Y or Millennial employee pool – workers in their 20s to early 30s – stepping in to take their places. Adding to the urgency is that 75% of the workforce will be from the Millennial generation by 2025, according to many sources.
If you don't think generation matters, think of this example. When asked to recall how and where JFK died, Baby Boomers would say gunshots in Dallas, Texas; Generation X remembers a plane crash near Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts; and Generation Y might say, “Kennedy who?”
Analytics is a sustained competitive differentiator for any industry. Analytics are now used by many business workers without them even having to know statistics. And while analytics have become more powerful and embedded into work processes, the advent of them being more intelligent (learning) is empowering new ways for companies to think about how to use them to
GENERATION PI replaces and adjunct workers, automate processes and create even new business methods which to make more money and differentiate doing so.
Gen PI - will be a cataclysmic event for “reswizziling” the way the world and people work for generations to come. Gen PI is the perfect concoction of AI - leveraged and trusted by Millennials and a growing population of Data Scientists. Trends in AI, cloud computing, automation, edge computing combined with people are about to come together in ways that will open the door to new tech innovations that will supercharge your business.
I am blessed to work for SAS, a Company that celebrates World PI Day each year on March 14th (3.14). That is the view from my office every day.
The number pi is perhaps the most famous irrational number in the world. In mathematical formulas, PI is written as π, which is the Greek letter "pi." Despite this connection to Ancient Greece, people were aware of the concept of pi in earlier civilizations. We all learned about it as children in school.
PI is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. This is true for every circle, no matter the size. Pi is a mathematical constant and an irrational number, meaning it can't be expressed as a simple fraction. The number is an infinite decimal, and mathematicians have proved that the number has no repeating patterns.
This is a parallel to how PI (aka math, science) is needed more and more because nothing is or will ever be the same anymore.
Generation PI
Let me state the obvious, that being the one thing we know about the future is -- it’s coming.
The robot apocalypse. The fourth industrial revolution. The end of jobs. If you’ve missed the endless horror headlines of the future of work and prognostications, you deserve an award for staying above the work revolution fray.
Frankly and personally, I hope all the above is true. Now – hold off on the emails. The fact is - we need it to become reality if we will survive all that will be coming at us.
H.G. Wells planted the seed for modern futurism with a series of essays called "Anticipations." He advocated that thinkers/actor in the present should devote substantive cognitive resources to shaping the future. I think that he was right.
All of us can agree, we have reached information overload. Information used to be a relatively scarce resource. Now, of course, we’re drowning in data and information. We are data-rich and going knowledge bankrupt. The staggering overwhelming amount of information we must deal with has reached an actual epidemic.
Our lives are filled with statistics & forecasts (how much food to buy at the grocery store, which road to drive to work to avoid traffic, what will the weather be and what to wear, etc.) Yet, in the most complicated, difficult part of our lives – work – we still question stats and analytics or just do not let them do their job by injecting personal bias back into insights driven from data and analytics.
Come on, people! I propel that we are more intelligent than that. It is proven by this brain teaser.
Have you ever read someone else’s work and pointed out a simple error — a misspelled word, an omitted conjunction, or a wrongly used word? It happens to the best of writers, because, like the above test, our brains fill in gaps to process the meaning of information.
The Brain Game! Typoglcemia
With exploding amounts of data and a more digital world than ever before, organizations need the ability to sift, sort, and analyze information quickly to ensure confident decision-making at every moment.
Society needs these improvements to provide value for businesses, contribute to economic growth, and make once-unimaginable progress on some of our most difficult societal challenges.
Automation, conversational platforms, computer vision, bots, and smart machines can be combined with large amounts of data to improve many technologies at home and in the workplace, from security intelligence to investment analysis.
To Be Continued in the next edition – don’t miss it…
(Next month will cover Part 2)
About Mark D. Demers
Mark Demers leads an expert global team of industry practice directors, industry marketing, principal industry consultants and thought leaders that drive vision and product direction, messaging and support sales for Industry-centered SAS products and solutions. Mark and his team work closely with SAS’ customers, sales, Partners, R&D, and technical staff around the world, to position, market and sell SAS solutions for Government, Banking, Insurance, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Energy, and Education and Communications sectors using analytics.
SAS is the world leader in analytics. It’s internationally recognized for providing an innovative, supportive workplace that blends different backgrounds, experiences, perspectives and cultures from almost 60 countries around the world where all ideas are encouraged, and everyone is respected for their unique contributions and abilities. SAS’ employees empower, encourage and inspire women to pursue excellence in STEM and their careers and fulfillment in their personal lives. Employees are encouraged to expand professional networks, showcase thought leaders and attract women to careers in science and technology.
Demers’ decades of management experience include executive positions at several public and private companies prior to SAS. Mark serves as Board member for an emerging innovative Company – Visual Farms, audaciously inspired to help strike out world hunger. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State University.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin. com/in/markddemers
