4Sight, Bidvest develop AI-powered ‘adviser’ to accelerate digital transformation

3rd December 2021

By: Natasha Odendaal

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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JSE AltX-listed multinational, diversified technology group 4Sight Holdings, and Bidvest Group’s wholly owned subsidiary, Bidvest Advisory Services, have developed an artificial intelligence- (AI-) powered automated digital transformation adviser.

4MIA powered by ALICE, the outcome of an innovative local software development partnership between the companies, is a new intelligent predictive solution that “Monitors, Investigates and Advises” business and technology executives on critical aspects related to their digital transformation roadmaps.

“As digital technologies and competitor capabilities rapidly evolve, business leaders and executives must constantly assess and evaluate their information technology (IT) landscape. However, manual assessments take time and require experts to interpret the results,” says 4Sight chief business environment officer Rudi Dreyer.

He notes that 4MIA’s automated proactive monitoring and reporting enables decision-makers to obtain greater visibility of their IT environment with real-time insights related to digital transformation readiness.

“4MIA runs continuous and automated investigative and monitoring processes on an organisation’s internal IT landscape, assessing more data points than any person or team could,” he explains.

According to Dreyer, the AI solution applies hundreds of algorithms developed using the collective intelligence of various subject matter experts to digitalise business assessments.

The predictive capabilities can also tailor the solution to leverage company-specific learnings, while also bringing in best practices, while the automated process identifies risks in a company’s current technology environment, along with opportunities for IT environment optimisation, business process modernisation and cost savings.

“Ultimately, the solution generates an actionable list of recommendations related to on-premises infrastructure, modern workplace (Office and Microsoft 365) and Microsoft Azure environments for optimisation and modernisation,” continues Dreyer, noting that the continuous AI-driven IT landscape analysis eliminates the risk of human error and frees up internal IT personnel capacity.

“These insights empower businesses to make timely and informed decisions about their digital transformation roadmap to accelerate their adoption of new digitally led business models.”

The solution also uncovers opportunities to create cost savings and efficiencies to be used in a potential self-funded roadmap.

“4MIA addresses numerous common challenges experienced during digital transformation projects, such as spending too much money on licensing, managing disparate landscapes or running duplicate or clustered systems,” 4Sight chief digital officer Aldo van Tonder adds.

“By identifying possible areas to reduce waste or opportunities to consolidate and integrate systems to create cost or operational efficiencies, companies can allocate the resultant cost savings or extra capacity to kick-start a self-funded model that drives digital transformation.

“As a hosted solution built on Microsoft Azure and deployed from the Microsoft cloud, we can rapidly and securely deploy 4MIA into any information and communication technology environment, anywhere on the planet and it easily integrates with modern and legacy technologies,” continues Van Tonder.

Using the Microsoft Azure environment for 4MIA also provides access to the latest intelligence and cognitive services with guaranteed General Data Protection Regulations and Protection of Personal Information Act compliance to protect customer data and meet regulatory requirements.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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