AI is all about understanding the value it brings to the business

“If you don't democratize AI and get everybody understanding it, using it, it's going to be very, very hard for you to keep up with the competition,” said Gary Miller, Customer Success Officer and EVP, Oracle Customer Success Services.

AirAsia, Singtel and Panasonic were among the winners of the Oracle Customer Excellence Awards announced at Oracle AI World Tour in Singapore recently. The winners were selected for how they used Oracle’s technology to reinvent business practices.

More importantly, the success of these customers also indicates the business value they are seeing in their AI journey with Oracle. As Gary Miller, Customer Success Officer and EVP, Oracle Customer Success Services puts it, customers in the Asia Pacific region are in a mixed stage of their AI and cloud journey.

“There are customers that are very advanced in cloud and AI execution, and then there are customers that are just starting. From a trend perspective, they're all pushing on AI but not everyone knows how to do AI, and they want to engage Oracle in a completely different way, in a co-innovation way. And we have a different way of working with our customers because we have a lot of capability to help them,” Miller said.

Specifically, Miller explained that businesses are beginning to see the value AI is bringing to their business. However, the challenge most of them are facing now is knowing which specific areas in the organization do they focus on. Do they go all out and implement AI or do they start with specific areas, measure the success and business value it brings and then look at how they can implement more of it.

For Miller, different organizations have different goals in their AI journey depending on their business goals. For a bank, it could be about having better fraud and risk management with AI, while a large hotel chain would look at how they can implement AI features around goal setting for their employees.

“We have more options than any other cloud provider, depending on what customers want, from where they want it, how the data is protected, and who does the operations. We have the most options,” he added.

Miller also pointed out that customers need an AI strategy, which is an area that Oracle can help them with. He explained that Oracle currently engages with customers in workshops and helping them understand what their business will look like once AI is implemented.

“Customers are at different points in the spectrum of understanding that and building a strategy to adapt to that. And I think the key thing is to build your AI skills at all levels in your company because that's going to make you more agile. If you don't democratize AI and get everybody understanding it, using it, it's going to be very, very hard for you to keep up with the competition,” he explained.

Singapore as a leader in AI

Interestingly, Miller also mentioned his admiration for customers in Singapore they want to be leaders in AI, and are investing in being leaders in training, working with Oracle.

“That's very exciting for us that they don't want to be followers but want to be leaders. And to do that, we have to build things together, and we have to have our people build things so they know how to do AI,” he said.

Miller also pointed out that customers in Singapore are looking to export their AI success stories as they believe the solutions can help businesses not only regionally but globally as well.

For example, SMRT’s group CEO who was also sharing the rail network’s success in developing AI with Oracle has stated that they would like to make it available to the world, which Miller believes represents the best practice of AI today.