1.
Trend 1:
Intelligent
Automation

2.
People First:
The Primacy of People
in the Digital Age

3.
People First: The Primacy of People in the Digital Age
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved. 3
Intelligent
Automation
Liquid
Workforce
Platform
Economy
Predictable
Disruption
Digital
Trust
The Accenture Technology Vision 2016 identifies five technology trends fueled by the
people first principle and that are essential to business success in the digital economy.

4.
Unprecedented data volumes: By 2020, there will be more than 44 zettabytes of data,
35% of which will be considered useful for analysis in 2020.1
Decreasing cost of storage: Over the past 30 years, the cost per gigabyte of hard disk
data storage has halved every 14 months, from $3,488,630 in 1980 to $0.03 in 2015.2
Virtually unlimited computing power: Public cloud computing will reach almost
$70 billion in 2015 worldwide.3
Advances in Artificial Intelligence technologies: AI startups in the US alone have
increased 20-­fold in the past four years.4
Broadening IT scope: 88% of executives agree the IT organization needs
to broaden its scope and keep pace with evolving IT needs.5
Rapid technology advancements are opening up new
possibilities for innovation, intelligence and automation
4Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.
Sources: 1“EMC Digital Universe Study,” with data and analysis by IDC, April 2014;; 2“Disk Drive Prices (1955-­2015)”, John C. McCallum, 2015;; 3“ Public Cloud Computing to Reach Nearly
$70 billion in 2015 Worldwide, According to IDC,” IDC, Press Release, July 21, 2015;; 4”Artificial Intelligence Startups See 302% Funding Jump in 2014,” CB Insights, February 10, 2015;;
5 “Calibrating Multi-­Speed IT for the Varied Demands of a Multi-­Speed Business,” Accenture, 2015.

5.
In tandem, businesses are facing a number of new challenges.
5
Increasing awareness
85% of execs use automation to
improve their business process.
Accelerating pace of change
28% of business and IT execs in our
survey say the pace of technology change
will increase at an unprecedented rate
over the next three years.
Budget pressure
A majority of IT executives (55%) cited
their IT Budget change from 2014 to
2015 remained flat or decreased.
(““2015 CIO Agenda: An Asset-­Centric
Perspective,” Gartner, June 2, 2015)
Early cost savings
43% of execs in our survey achieved cost
savings of greater than 15% from intelligent
process automation in the past two years.
Shift of IT spend
By 2018, 35% of IT resources will be
spent on supporting the creation of new
digital revenue streams, according to IDC.
(“IDC FutureScape: CIO Agenda 2016 Predictions,” IDC,
November 4, 2015)
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.

6.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a sub-­
field of computer science. Its goal
is to enable the development of
computers that can do things
normally done by people -­-­ in
particular, things associated
with people acting intelligently.
As a result, there is a renewed
focus and attention on artificial
intelligence technologies,
giving rise to an era
of Intelligent Automation.
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved. 6
Expert
Systems
Computer
Vision
Inference
Engines
Machine
Learning
Robotic
Process
Automation
Deep
Learning
Sensor
Processing
Knowledge
Repre-­
sentation
Mini Bots
Facial
Recognition
Gesture
Recognition
Leap
Learning
Neural
Networks
Biometrics
Natural
Language
Processing
Video
Analytics
Artificial
Intelligence
Technologies

7.
As artificial intelligence advances, enterprises are harnessing
intelligent automation to redefine their business by reimagining
the art of the possible.
7
Intelligent Automation: Building
better workers (digital and human)
Creating the essential new co-­worker
for the digital age.
Leaders will embrace automation not simply
to take advantage of the breakneck pace
of digital change, but also to create a new
digital world where they hold competitive
advantage. Machines and software
intelligence will be the newest recruits to the
workforce, bringing new skills to help people
do new jobs, reinventing what’s possible.
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.

8.
Intelligent Automation is being used across multiple industries
to create new value for businesses and society alike.
8
Natural Language Processing:
Finance companies apply NLP to
compliance and fraud prevention
by monitoring electronic
communications at financial
institutions to identify relationships
and entities across threads.
Reasoning & Planning:
Automated planning and scheduling,
typically for execution by autonomous
robots and unmanned vehicles, from
warehouse to retail store to household.
Knowledge Representation:
Healthcare provider uses system to
analyze massive amount of data to
extract useful sections, such as doctor
names, costs, and number of
complaints, in order to create a clean
and easy way to find the root cause
of declining clinic performance.
Computer Vision:
Law enforcement uses computer vision
on facial recognition systems to identify
or verify a person from a digital image
or a video frame from a video source.
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.

9.
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved. 9
By changing what can
be done, intelligent
automation has the
potential to reshape
entire industries.
V
ehicle
Vehicle
Robot
Vision Information
Intelligent
Robots
casting
Aut
onomous
Search Retrieval
Pricing
Detention
Fore-
Autonomous
Smart
W
riter
Fraud
Slyce:
Consumers search
through images Walmart:
Real-time
recommendations
Airbnb:
Dynamic pricing
based on demand
and supply
PayPal:
Machine learning
technology
detects fraud
Infinite AI:
Real-time visibility
in supply chain
operations with
forecasting and
inventory
Fetch Robotics:
Affordable
autonomous robots
that move boxes in
the warehouse
DHL:
SmartTrucks can
communicate with
other vehicles to
optimize routes
CATERPILLAR:
Autonomous machines can
navigate prescribed mining
areas & accomplish tasks
without human
presence
SearchBlox:
System analyzes
customer reviews
and automatically
generates
reports
Intelligent
automation takes
over the heavy lifting
and liberates humans
to perform high value
tasks. An automated
process can provide higher
accountability, deliver
more accurate forecasts,
and achieve higher
customer satisfaction.
REVIEW
SEARCH
DELIVER
ORDER
The Next Generation
of online Commerce

10.
Artificial Intelligence & Intelligent Automation offer the
potential to address previously intractable challenges
10
Potentially helping millions
Artificial intelligence has halved the time it has
taken to bring a cancer-­combatting drug to market.
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.
Today, it takes 12 to 14 years and $2.6 billion to develop
one drug. With AI technology, it could take only half of that.
“Cancer Drug Development Time Halved Thanks to Artificial Intelligence,” The Telegraph, October 9, 2015

11.
The platform provides:
Physicians with actionable information to
recommend efficient and safe treatment pathways.
Insurance companies with health economics
analyses to develop more relevant formulary.
Governments with a data ecosystem for financial
modeling of healthcare needs of the population.
Best Practice: Interrogative Biology
identifies predictive patterns
11
“Cancer Drug Development Time Halved Thanks to Artificial Intelligence,” The Telegraph,
October 9, 2015;; “How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Drugs Better and Faster,” Popular
Science, July 29, 2015
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.

12.
Intelligent Automation thrives when it’s paired with people to
drive better outcomes. We’re starting to see it appear in every
area of our lives.
12Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.
7:00 Gesture Alarm Clock: Alarm clock wakes you up 15 minutes early
because it detects traffic delays
8:30 Tesla Autopilot: Model S automates steer, turn, speed, park, and data
is transmitted to the fleet to help system learn and improve
10am Charles Schwab’s Robo-­Advisor: Allocates stocks
and investments based on a completed questionnaire
2pm Enlitic: Turns large amounts of medical diagnostic
data into deep insights and finds subtle patterns
4pm Cubic: Suggests a movie when you ask “What should I do tonight?”
5pm Automated Insights: WordSmith finishes writing a news article
to be published on Associated Press news in just two minutes
8pm X.ai: Ask virtual assistant, Amy, to schedule
a meeting with CEO at 2pm tomorrow
2am Keeker: While you are sleeping, smart robot keeps
your home secure

13.
Advances in robotics and proliferation of IoT devices are
expanding the contexts in which people work with machines
13Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.
2015-­2018 Robot
Sales Forecast
Professional
Service Robots:
• 152,400 units
• $19.6 billion
Personal
Service Robots:
• 35 million units
• $12.2 billion
(“Service Robot Statistics”,
International Federation of
Robotics, 2015)
Robotic Surgery:
Da Vinci enables a
surgeon to operate
with enhanced vision,
precision and control.
Robot Butler:
The robotic butler
at Aloft hotel
delivers amenities
to guest rooms.
AI Kiosk:
The Furo-­S Smart Service
Robot can interact with
Furo-­S to help people buy
tickets, ask for directions,
and even sit through
annoying advertisements.
Retail Service Bot:
OSHbot can answer simple
customer questions, identify
items, search inventory, act
as a guide, and even
summon hardware experts
for a video chat.

14.
From analytics to the applications themselves, intelligent
automation is enabling enterprise to do more, faster than ever.
14Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.
Data Preparation
Paxata uses machine learning algorithms from
consumer search and social media to create a
better way to clean, normalize, and prepare data
for analytics.
Software Development
Queue Software Inc. provides Dropsource, an
application development platform that automates
all the programming required to build mobile
applications.
Content Generation
Using WordSmith, an automatic content generation
system, AP now produces nearly 4,300 quarterly
earnings stories, over 14 times the number that
AP reporters and editors produced manually.
Architecture
Docker is an open platform for developers and
sysadmins to build, ship, and run distributed
applications, whether on laptops, data center
VMs, or the cloud.
Quality Testing
Worksoft automates the functional testing of
mission-­critical processes end-­to-­end across
complex application landscapes.
Applications
Amelia, a cognitive knowledge worker who learns
as she works, is a virtual agent who understands
what people ask and feel when they call for service.

15.
Control4 is a robust, scalable home automation
system that can be hardwired or wireless,
depending on consumers’ needs. It offers
customization to include the home automation
features that matter most to individuals -­-­ from
whole-­house audio to a secure network of
cameras to door-­locking mechanisms and light
and temperature controls. Consumers can
use a touchpad, computer, or tablet device
to control the system from their home or
via a smartphone for remote access.
Results/Impact:
Simple, easy, intelligently automated.
Customer Automation: Your
home, your preferences, but
not your job anymore.
15Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.

16.
Intelligent Automation gives enterprises a competitive
advantage that goes way beyond cost
16Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.
Sources: “Germany Develops ‘Smart Factories' to Keep an Edge,” Marketwatch,
October 27, 2014;; “Manufacturing: Self-­Organizing Factories,” Siemens, 2015.
Lights Out Manufacturing
Siemens automated some of its production lines so
that they run unsupervised for several weeks. Now
its 1,150 employees mostly operate computers and
monitor the production process.
Results:
This effort is one step in a larger effort that Siemens
and others are pursuing to create the fully Self-­
Organizing Factory (aka industries 4.0) in which the
machines largely organize themselves, supply chains
will automatically link themselves together, and orders
will be directly converted into manufacturing information
that is incorporated into the production process.

17.
Best Practice: Putting people first and evolving
their roles and skills to seize advantage
17Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.
Evolving, not replacing
Arizona State University (ASU) now has an adaptive
learning platform built by Knewton and Cengage
Learning as their tutor for introductory courses, rather
than the more familiar teaching assistant.
ASU is not replacing instructors;; they are working
with them to offer students a personalized curriculum
that adapts in real-­time. After implementing these bot
tutors in select courses, pass rates rose from 64% to
75%, withdrawal rates fell by 56% and students were
able to progress at their own pace.
Students in the math class at ASU
Pass rate
11%
Withdrawal rate
56%
Sources: “Arizona State U Teams with Private Partners on Adaptive Learning,” Campus Technology, April 8,
2015;; “Success for Every Student: Knewton's Tool Improve Student Achievement”, Knewton, 2012;; “Knewton
Technology Helped More Arizona State University Students Succeed”, Knewton case study, 2012.

18.
Intelligent Automation: 100-­Day Plan
18Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.
1. Identify the artificial intelligence and analytics capabilities your
company uses today to provide a capabilities and gap analysis.
2. Take an inventory of labor-­intensive business processes
and identify appropriate opportunities to invest in automation
and machine-­learning capabilities.
3. Identify specific applications that require frequent and manual
updates, rapid scaling, data extracts, and/or a high degree
of personalization.
4. Map these examples/use cases against your current business
processes and corporate strategy to prioritize specific opportunities.
5. Cultivate your data talent: develop a plan to build, buy, and/or
partner to support your data and your automation know-­how.
6. Map the implications of tasks being automated—the changes
to roles, organization, processes and skills.
7. Create the ‘People First’ strategy for transitioning the organization,
training on new skills and implementing the changes.

19.
Intelligent Automation: 365-­Day Plan
19Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.
1. Implement artificial intelligence technologies that address
one of these use cases from your 100-­day plan.
2. Create the impact and transition plans required to scale the
automation project.
3. Develop machine-­learning skills internally by implementing a machine-­
learning software solution that utilizes a defined data set for a very
specific use case.
4. Pilot a machine-­learning solution that discovers new data associations
5. Set up a quality assurance process to support or refute the conclusions
being drawn from the machine learning solution and subsequent
actions taken.
6. Create a training program to ensure that your data scientists and software
engineers are educated in the latest deep-­learning and AI technologies.
7. Establish a top-­down strategic commitment to artificial intelligence and
data science, including R&D investment, innovation programs, and
production development.

20.
Predictions
20
Age of Avatars:
We’ll see widespread use of avatars
and robots who we will send to be
where we can’t be and do things we
can’t – or don’t want to -­ do.
Apps by me:
Consumers will be able to build simple,
custom apps through voice commands,
gestures and more to their devices. Soon,
every person will become a programmer.
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.

21.
Intelligent automation isn’t an option, it’s mandatory.
21
3 high-­level takeaways:
AI as a core competence:
Pervasive capability for every
aspect of your business.
Power to drive change:
Drive change through
automation.
People first:
Successfully driving change
means adapting the enterprise:
organization, culture, skills,
experience.
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.

22.
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.
Thank you
#techvision2016
www.accenture.com/technologyvision