Jan Bosch
During the last months, I’ve met with several companies that had an interesting common denominator: they were all building a new platform to replace a legacy platform and things weren’t going so well. The legacy platform often is decades old and has functionality in it that’s the result of hundreds of person-years of effort. And … Read more
Having worked with companies on the use of AI, I’ve noticed an interesting pattern: although most of the attention is spent on algorithms, data storage infrastructure, training and evaluation of applications, the hardest part very often seems to be coming up with a promising concept in the first place. When exploring promising concepts, many start … Read more
During the last weeks, I’ve experienced multiple situations where an organization (industrial or academic) simply doesn’t have a business strategy or a strategy concerning a key area for their business. When probed and questioned on the strategy, I’ve observed at least three types of responses. First, leaders in the company say that there is a … Read more
In reinforcement learning (a field within AI), algorithms need to learn about an unexplored space. These algorithms need to balance exploration (learning about new options and possibilities) with exploitation (using the acquired knowledge to generate a good outcome). The general rule of thumb is that the less is known about the problem domain, the more … Read more
Peter Drucker famously said that the purpose of a business is to create a customer and a customer is defined as someone who pays for the products and services the company offers. This perspective seems to be shared by many in business: as long as revenue and profits are generated, there’s no reason to bother … Read more
Over the last weeks, I’ve been to three different conferences where I heard presentations that were variations on a common theme: if we would just add more structure and more process to the topic at hand, if we would only introduce more steps, more checkpoints, involve more people, and so on, then all the problems … Read more
This week, I gave a talk at a company that’s starting with data-driven practices and A/B experimentation specifically. My talk was concerned with the enablers required for this, such as continuous deployment (or DevOps), the specific ways in which organizations can apply data-driven practices and A/B testing and the importance of value modeling so that … Read more
The effects of digitalization and other technological shifts cause companies to realize they need to change. This often leads to significant discussions in the organization as there typically are several alternatives being considered by different people. These might include topics such as business models, product implications, partnerships with suppliers and technology providers. Agreeing on the … Read more
Before digitalization became a thing, the industry was divided into two types of businesses: those that sell products and those that provide services. Those that sell products have a transactional relationship with their customers, mostly consisting of selling one of their products. The service businesses tend to have a more continuous relationship with their customers … Read more
Last week, I wrote about the different types of use for data that we have available. That led to discussions with various people and I realized that there’s a problem around data that’s very typical in companies that have their roots in embedded systems or mechanical engineering: it’s actually unclear who owns the data from … Read more
