The Managing Director, Oracle Nigeria, Mr. Adebayo Sanni, has said the joint forces of the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain represents an unprecedented opportunity for enterprises in the public as well as private sectors, if fully utilised.
Sanni, in a recent statement, emphasised that every institution has the capability to exploit these emerging technologies, securing a competitive edge to radically streamline and enhance their existing processes. This, he added, would further enable the development of innovative products and services for an entirely new generation of consumers.
“While each of these technologies individually present exciting opportunities for enterprises, we think that the transformative impact of IoT, AI, and blockchain together – will be unprecedented. This is the first time in modern history that three transformational technologies have emerged in the same generation, and their whole effect is yet to emerge,” Sanni said.
According to her, there are three major issues that the emerging technologies could help address in Lagos: Traffic Management, Waste Management and Land Related issues.
According to him, while IoT remained the sensing part of the transformational technology, AI is the part that thinks. AI has the potential to enable fast, intelligent decision-making, either in support of human intelligence, or in place of it.
Businesses can delegate mundane or complicated tasks to achieve a level of accuracy and efficiency beyond the capabilities of humans.
Citing Nigeria as an example, Sanni said the potential to combine real-time data from IoT devices from intelligent trash bins with historical waste-level of each trash bin, could help waste management become smarter, especially for a city like Lagos that generates about 13,000 metric tonnes on a daily basis. The entire waste management system can become smarter overtime, learning from the data collected. A solution like this will help an organisation like Lagos Waste Management Authority to make better data-driven decisions for a cleaner Lagos.
He further said the application could be replicated to address traffic management, explaining that the current traffic lights can be IoT enabled to ensure an efficient flow of traffic. The roads can also have sensors and information about road conditions, combined with data coming from road users to provide drivers with real-time traffic information. With such a system, drivers can be alerted to take alternative roads in case of an accident.
According to him, the insights generated by Machine Learning, which actually drives these emerging technologies, will help businesses better understand their customer expectations, enabling automated and personalised engagements. It will help in the creation of new goods and services, designed to quickly and accurately meet the demands of modern consumers.
“Machine Learning powers customer service chatbots, provides marketing insights, identifies cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and enables personalised products and services, and much more. Undoubtedly, the impact of machine learning on the enterprise will be profound,” Sanni said.
Nigerian businesses and public sector need to understand how best to exploit the true value of machine learning in the real world. Businesses have no choice but to find a way to permeate their business models with machine learning, or else they will fall behind more-agile competitors. Machine learning is the present, and not the future, Sanni added.
