"These technologies are defined as the innovation accelerators and sit in the core of the network to enhance enterprise operations," he says. "This will not only allow for the enterprise to accurately focus on improvements in business efficiencies but gain insights into operations that are not necessarily visible to the human eye."

The capabilities of AI are such that it can wade through the astronomical terabytes of data produced each day, analysing and finding patterns in behaviour and system that can be then assessed and fine-tuned to support enterprise efficiency. If the organisation pays attention to the development of an intelligent core, then it is capable of seeing everything that is happening in the business. It can also process this information much faster and submit insights that can be used to determine actions that will improve operations.

"Investment into the intelligent core delivers on return on investment not only through process and business operations efficiency but also in human resources," adds Dlamini. "Employees can now focus more on the core business and this will deliver improved key performance indicators (KPIs) and overall staff performance. This, in turn, will have the knock-on effect of increasing market share and customer satisfaction."

The data delivered by these smart tools and technologies are also capable of providing feedback around clients, giving the business a deeper understanding of behaviours and requirements. This will support the customisation of systems and the optimisation of engagements to optimise customer service and/or delivery.

"The value of the age of intelligence lies in learning," says Dlamini. "Learning about the customer, learning about how to optimise processes and operations, learning more about business inefficiencies and, learning which critical issues may impact the company in the long and short term. This is further enhanced by the fact that as these issues are addressed, it frees up more space for innovation in the enterprise.
The core does the procedural work and the business does the innovation."

Intelligent, agile, adaptable and fast - the intelligent core provides insights that are injected back into the organisation to improve internal processes and turn data into actions. To harness this potential, the organisation needs to re-architect for scale using digital transformation platforms that will allow them to emerge as digital natives in the next five to ten years.

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