The Semaphore - Smartlogic’s Quarterly Newsletter - December 2019

Posted on: December 12, 2019, by: Ann Kelly

CEO Corner

Is Automation Stealing Our Jobs?

The short answer – No. The percentage of adults employed in the U.S. labor market is higher today than ever before and it has increased in almost every decade over the past 125 years. The U.S. is not running out of work. Since the end of the great recession, 14 million jobs have been added. So why are we constantly being told automation will eliminate jobs – is it truth or fiction; let’s look at an example.

In the 45 years since the introduction of the Automated Teller Machine (ATM), the number of human bank tellers in the US has almost doubled - from 250K in 1972 to about a half a million today with 100K added since the year 2000. So, what are all those bank tellers doing and why hasn’t automation eliminated their jobs?

ATMs replaced many tasks that bank tellers performed; they accept deposits and dispense cash all with the touch of a few buttons. And customers can perform these transactions outside of normal 9 to 5 business hours. In reality, the number of human tellers dropped by 1/3^rd. However, banks quickly realized that it was cheaper to open new branches; more branches equals more tellers (although fewer than were previously needed).

As the routine cash handling work became automated and moved to ATMs, tellers took on a new role where they managed customer relationships, solved problems and introduced customers to new products and services. These tasks are more cognitively demanding, increases an individual’s economic value, and generates more money for the bank – everyone wins!

So what does this have to do with Semantic AI and Smartlogic?

Today, organizations are continuously challenged to reduce operational costs as well as address the expectations of their customers who expect an immediate response to their business request. For example, before ATM machines think how long you were prepared to wait in line to make a deposit, withdraw cash or transfer money from one account to another – do you have the same expectations today - how much of that work can be automated and performed when it is convenient for you?

We believe Semantic Assisted Intelligence (Semantic AI) is a collaborative interplay between humans and machines that allow technology – be it a computer, an RPA process or something else - to perform repetitive, well-defined tasks and free up humans to process exceptions, work with customers, introduce new products and add value to the organization.

There are more advances to go before machines are fully independent, autonomous work units replacing human knowledge tasks. For now, there are plenty of manual, well-defined tasks and processes that can be automated as part of the ongoing evolution of the technology – like ATM machines.

The reality of replacing repetitive, well-defined, manual tasks or partially automating more complex ones using Semantic AI technology is proven by Smartlogic’s customers. The technological breakthrough Smartlogic yields is that semantic technology understands human language and domain context – previously the monopoly of human beings. The disruption is that this monopoly can be broken and units of work given to software agents instead. Software that can process faster, at a higher capacity, at a lower cost and at a significantly higher level of consistency and quality than has been the norm using humans.

Semantic AI simplifies information discovery, connects information silos and keeps knowledge up-to-date. It leverages people, processes and technology to deliver quality information that can be used for decision-making to the organization in a cost-effective manner.

Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday Season,

Jeremy Bentley

CEO and Founder

Semantic AI Enables Multi-channel Tax Advisory Innovation

Rapidly advancing technologies, evolving customer expectations, and an ever-changing regulatory landscape are disrupting the Financial Services sector. From crypto-currencies to big data to peer-to-peer lending, Financial Services organizations need innovative technologies to change the way they structure, deliver and maintain services to improve CX and support growth.

Within Financial Services, advisors who provide tax planning and compliance consulting services must have the most current information in real-time to maintain and create customer relationships. One multinational Financial Services organization deployed Smartlogic’s Semantic AI platform Semaphore to harmonize all enterprise tax knowledge to decrease costs, improve quality, and position the company as a technology-enabled innovator.

To learn more, download our complimentary case study

Announcements

Semaphore 5 Early Access (EA) Release Available by January 2020

The Early Access (EA) release of Semaphore 5 – The Semantic AI platform – will be available on or before January 1, 2020, with a General Access (GA) release by the end of January 2020.

Our Semaphore 5 release continues a growth strategy that focuses on innovation, core capabilities and ease of use for customer success and continuous improvement. Updates to the product incorporate market and customer feedback to ensure value-driven enhancements in all Semaphore modules.

Semaphore 5 embodies innovative technologies and strategies to deliver a unified user experience, enhanced interoperability, and flexible integration:

A single platform experience - modules are tightly integrated.
Intuitive and simplified installation and administration – software can be download and configured with minimal clicks. An updated landing page allows you to quickly navigate modules and monitor status.
Improved coupling of classification and language services, as well as improved performance.
Updated the linguistic model and fact extraction capabilities.
New – Document Semantic Analyzer – a performant content analyzer that provides detailed classification and language services results.
New branding that aligns modules with capabilities and functionality.

Semaphore 5 continues to focus around 3 core areas – Model & collaborate; fact extraction, auto-classification & language services; and integrate & visualize - in a modular platform that allows you to add capabilities as your business needs evolve. As you upgrade to Semaphore 5, you will be able to take advantage of the additional components and capabilities incorporated in your licensed modules.

To learn more about our Early Access program, visit the Smartlogic Customer Portal

Press Release - Smartlogic Recognized Again as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Metadata Management Solutions

Smartlogic Semaphore Inc. makers of the Semantic AI platform –Semaphore - today announced it has been positioned by Gartner, the world’s leading research and advisory company, again as a Leader in the 2019 Magic Quadrant for Metadata Management Solutions. Use this link to read the full press release.

Smartlogic Welcomes New Sales and Solution Architecture Staff

Smartlogic is pleased to announce 4 new additions to the team; Doug Dunn, Account Manager, Stephen Reed, Account Manager, Siama Hussein, Account Manager, and Lance Thieshen, Solution Architect.

Doug started his career as a systems engineer and professional services consultant. He has a background of success in software and services sales across a wide range of vertical industries with large and small organizations. Doug and his wife Kristi live in Plano, TX, have 3 children in college and maintain a small zoo of three dogs and a cat!

Stephen has a strong background in sales with large technology and system integrators with a good mix of Federal experience as well. He is based in Leesburg, VA and likes to spend his off time running 5K’s, skiing, and spending time with his 3 kids (2 humans and 1 canine).

Siama is an experienced, sales and account manager having worked for global software companies for many years, most recently in the cybersecurity space. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, reading and spending time with her family.

Lance is an accomplished IT leader and innovator of 25 years working in the manufacturing, advertising, supply chain, financial and legal operations industries. Along with his passion for tech, Lance enjoys reading, traveling, new experiences, and listening to music as loud as possible. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, Lance now resides in rural Tennessee outside of Nashville where he enjoys the outdoors, live music, and hockey.

We are excited to have them join the team and look forward to their client engagement experience to support our accounts, sales pursuits, and company growth targets.

Events

Smartlogic’s User Community Forum

Our next User Community Forum meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 8th at 11 am Eastern. If you haven’t signed up yet DO IT TODAY – it’s a great opportunity to meet and connect with like-minded Semaphore users to exchange tips, tricks and best practices with the Semaphore platform and Knowledge Management topics.

Webinars/Recordings

We’re working on our 2020 Q1 webinars – Smartlogic and WAND and Delivering Better Biomedical Analytics Solutions – watch our events page for registration details:

If you missed our webinar: Driving Customer Support with Intelligent Content you can get the playback here.

If you were unable to attend KMWorld 2019 in Washington DC this year, you can still view Smartlogic presentations using the links below. Our 3^rd annual networking event was a great success, read Gerard Rebalsky’s recap - thanks to those who were able to attend.

View Jeremy Bentley’s presentation - Leveraging Semantic AI to Drive & Calibrate Data Quality using this link.
View James Morris and Jon Stevens – Delivering Better Biomedical Text Analytics Solutions using this link.