Kathy Gibson reports from Pinnacle TechScape, Durban – As the hype around artificial intelligence (AI) starts to dissipate, organisations are starting to use the technology to drive real business transformation.
Doug Woolley, vice-president of Dell Technologies, says organisations realise that AI is a journey, and it might be a long one.
While 76% of IT and business leaders believe generative AI (GenAI) will deliver transformative value for their organisations, they recognise that it is complex.
“We are talking about changing the way businesses operate,” Woolley says.
There are a multitude of challenges that need to be overcome, starting with the real issue of AI skills and talent.
In addition, AI projects are risky. “If you don’t invest, you could be left behind; if you do invest, you run the risk of over-investing,” Wooley says.
A top concern when it comes to GenAI is security, closely followed by the concern about cost.
“Dell’s approach is to help customers embrace and implement AI,” he explains.
The fact that Dell’s expertise is historically in the server and storage environment is a benefit here, he adds, with most organisations keen to keep their data on-premise as they journey to AI.
And it’s not simply selling technology: Dell has implemented a number of AI projects within its own organisation that demonstrate how the technology can be used to improve business outcomes.
“In Dell globally, we no longer need to do forecasting,” Wooley says. “Now the machine does it, based on data inputs. We also no longer set targets for salespeople as AI does this too.”
The system also generates quotes for telesales teams that are based on as many as 300 parameters; and it ranks the closure rate of the quote.
“Once you are able to demonstrate the use of AI in real terms like this, it becomes real,” Wooley says. “The reality is that AI allows staff to focus on the things that make a difference in their businesses.”
Dell will soon go even further, building a digital twin for every salesperson within the organisation that will offer advice as to what people should be doing.
“A lot of AI projects are happening in the South African landscape,” Wooley adds “There are a lot of failures too – one company had 21 use cases and has experienced 21 failures because of cost.”
Wooley advises companies embarking on AI projects to begin with better data management and preparation. “If you don’t do your inferencing right, the system won’t work as expected.”
Dell offers an AI-ready data platform that includes the following:
* An open ecosystem with data analytics tools, AI/GenAI/ MML workflows and cloud ecosystems.
* Data management with Dell Data Lakehouse for a single point of access and open table formats, and enterprise information retrieval.
* AI-optimised infrastructure with Dell compute (PowerEdge), Dell unstructured storage (PowerScale and ObjectScale ECS), Dell networking (PowerSwitch and Dell Enterprise SONiC), and Dell data protection (PowerProtect).
It also offers the Dell AI Factory with Nvidia, what Wooley believes is the industry’s first end-to-end enterprise AI solution.
For organisations getting started, Wooley offers the following advice:
* Establish a strategy and get consensus on a roadmap;
* Prepare and validate data for a model;
* Deploy a GenAI platform;
* Deploy and test the model; and
* Operate and scale.
In South Africa, Dell is offering to partner with resellers on AI acceleration workshops with customers. During these half-day sessions, Dell and the partner will get to understand the customer’s use case and build an outcome.
“We can use our UK AI Factory to test the use case and run a model, ingesting data and testing it to ensure it makes sense,” Wooley says.
“We can then architect a solution and use Apex as a funding model,” he adds. “We will also soon offer GPU as a service for customers looking to scale up.”