This week in process excellence

It may be the final month of the year, but the headlines keep coming in the world of process excellence.

On Monday, our Research & Reports news revealed that the global AI infrastructure market is on track for unprecedented growth and poised to surpass US$100 billion in spending by 2028. That’s according to new IDC Worldwide Semi-annual Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Tracker findings. Organizations have increased spending on compute and storage hardware infrastructure for AI deployments by 37 percent year-over-year in the first half of 2024, reaching $31.8 billion. “IDC expects AI adoption to continue growing at a remarkable pace as hyperscalers, CSPs, private companies and governments around the world are increasingly prioritizing AI,” commented Lidice Fernandez , group VP, data and analytics at IDC .

Elsewhere, the World Economic Forum (WEF) outlined four scenarios in which generative AI can boost workforce productivity while reshaping jobs. The scenarios featured a combination of factors including trust, resistance and applicability, along with practical insights and an actionable framework for using generative AI effectively.

We also covered new data from the The Care Provider Alliance (CPA) indicating that three-quarters of UK adult social care providers will “reduce or stop” digital transformation projects due to financial pressures, while researchers proposed a new way for professional legal organizations to improve the efficiency of contract negotiations by using process mining.

On Wednesday, we rounded up the latest updates from industry Vendors. At Amazon Web Services (AWS) re:Invent, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) and SAP SE announced GROW with SAP on AWS offering organizations a streamlined path to modernize their operations and unlock new business opportunities. GROW with SAP on AWS will allow customers of all sizes to rapidly deploy SAP’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution while leveraging the reliability, security and scalability of the world’s most broadly adopted cloud.

In other news, Alibaba Cloud announced the launch of its revamped AI-focused partner ecosystem plan. The “Alibaba Cloud Partner Rainforest Plan” features a series of new initiatives designed to accelerate the development and deployment of cutting-edge AI and cloud computing solutions for businesses across various industries worldwide.

Elsewhere, process mining and process intelligence vendor Celonis appointed Benoit Fouilland as its new chief financial officer (CFO), process automation vendor Appian unveiled the recipients of its 2024 Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) Partner Awards and Digital Workforce Services refined its businesses strategy and raised profitability targets for 2026.

To close out the week, our Community bulletin featured claims from PlayStation CEO Hermen Hulst that AI will never replace the “human touch” in the video game development process. Hulst, speaking to the BBC to mark the 30th anniversary of the launch of the PlayStation console, said that while AI has the potential to “revolutionize” gaming, there would always be a future for human developers. “Striking the right balance between leveraging AI and preserving the human touch will be crucial.”

Amazon was in the news again after unveiling a new generation of AI foundation models with state-of-the-art intelligence across a wide range of tasks. The Amazon Nova models will be available in Amazon Bedrock and include Amazon Nova Micro (a very fast, text-to-text model) and Amazon Nova Lite, Amazon Nova Pro and Amazon Nova Premier (multi-modal models that can process text, images and videos to generate text).

Elsewhere, Citi began rolling out new AI tools for around 140,000 employees across eight countries in a bid to simplify work and increase productivity, while Tesco Business Solutions (TBS), the global solutions arm of TESCO Group Holdings , appointed James Glavey as new chief operating officer (COO) to drive OPEX, innovation and transformation across the organization.

Finally, international houseware manufacturer Joseph Joseph Ltd announced it is automating its cash application, claims and deductions processes. Also, corporate audiovisual and event production company Stagevision named Pat Purdy CFO to accelerate OPEX and growth across North America.

Wishing you a great end to the week and we’ll be back with more of the latest news headlines on Monday!