Discover hosted a 3Q 2023 Automation Roundtable conversation on Thursday, September 28, 2023. Over 50 people attended, with industry representation from varying sectors including financial services, technology, consulting, insurance, manufacturing, and more.
The agenda included:
- Intelligent automation headlines and hot topics
- History and impact of AI at Discover
- Implementing and scaling LLMs (Large Language Models)
- Analysis of alternatives to identify new automation capabilities
Summary of industry headlines
Based on a headline from the Harvard Business Review, the group discussed reskilling as part of intelligent automation scaling, including employee interest in learning new automation skills and the appetite to learn new technologies on the job.
History and impact of AI at Discover
Jeff Stone is a Director at Discover and responsible for the technology in the Discover contact centers. Jeff started the conversation by defining Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a moving target--what was considered AI 10 years ago is now a technological norm. Jeff shared about the AI journey Discover is on in the contact center, starting with using technology to find text-similarity in automated chat functionality. From there, the technology has evolved to include real-time transcription of calls that inform automated real-time prompts to the customer contact center rep to help ensure they have answered all the customer requests. The following image shows a history of the journey Discover has been on regarding adopting AI.
Implementing Large Language Models (LLMs)
Mels Hakobyan is a machine learning engineer with Cognaize. He spoke to the roundtable attendees about Cognaize’ experience implementing LLMs. One of the opportunity areas for LLMs that Mels highlighted is the ability to scale them without taking up exorbitant amounts of resources and processing power. Mels highlighted an approach that Cognaize has taken to reduce processing power requirements for LLMs without any loss in accuracy or completeness.
Analysis of Alternatives
Sathishkumar Palanisamy is an Expert Enterprise Architect at Discover. He shared with the group how the goal of hyperautomation is to increase efficiency and augment human processes through expanded automation capabilities. For those on a hyperautomation journey, an Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) framework can be used to help pursue the appropriate automation solution for the identified enterprise opportunities(s). Sathish walked through the 6-step process that his organization has taken for requirement gathering, scoping, evaluating, and decisioning around automation capabilities.
Join us for the next conversation
Thank you to all who joined the 3Q Automation Roundtable Conversation. Discover will host their next roundtable in 4Q. More details specific to the next Roundtable will be posted as the event draws closer. Watch the automation space for more updates on the event!
