Think With ABD

A week before 2019 ABD conference, we invited Pavel Abdur-Rahman, the partner and the head of data science at IBM, to share his views on the industry adoption of AI. In 2018, Pavel jokingly told the audience that part of his job is to put all data scientists out of a job. This time, Pavel shared his new observations since we spoke last time. On the topic of “how to transition from ad-hoc data science to scaled AI across the organization”, Pavel emphasizes on the value schedule alignmen...

09-20

29:59

Every organization wants to embrace artificial intelligence (AI), but here is the little secret: Majority of AI projects have never moved beyond a proof of concept (POC) phase and only a small fraction of AI experiments has been proved to be ROI positive. In fact, Only 10% of companies have gained significant benefits from their AI initiatives. We are in an AI hype for a while now, which means not much persuasion is needed to pitch AI investments to senior executives. However, what is missin...

02-16

21:19

Each organization has its own maturity curve in leveraging artificial intelligence. Some larger organizations hire AI consultants to help them navigate the complexity within data and analytics initiatives, while small players like SMEs and non-profit organizations tend to steer away from AI adoption due to financial and other resource commitments. In this episode, an analytics democratization enthusiast, Eric Huang, the founder and CEO of Advanced Analytics and Research Lab, shares his views ...

02-08

22:54

2020 is an exciting year for Internet Satellite companies. There were roughly 200 Internet satellites in low-earth orbit (LEO) seeking to offer Internet access to wider consumers and enterprises in 2019, and the number grew to 700 satellites. Globally, Morgan Stanley estimates that satellite internet providers could be generating over $500 billion in revenue by 2040. Our featured guest is Christian Keil, the Chief of Staff at Astranis, a geostationary communications satellite company with a v...

12-21

39:34

We are seven months into the COVID-19 pandemic and while we are beginning to understand the disease and its behavior much better, we are still far from a resolution and the “old normal”. Across the globe, over 100 institutions are working on a vaccine, and over 170 countries are collaborating with the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop a vaccine plan. The production and distribution of the vaccines will be slow to begin, and this plan proposes that those considered “highest risk” shou...

12-10

38:17

As with many other industries, we see the adoption of innovative data-science technology to tackle social issues. Research has shown that 10% of homeless populations are visible in Canada, while the remaining 90% are hidden. Interestingly, about 94% of homeless people actually own a mobile phone in North America, and about 77% own a smartphone. In this podcast, Sarah Sun, ABD’s Head of Research & Content, is speaking with CG Chen. Ms. Chen is the founder and CEO of Ample Labs, a non-prof...

11-24

25:49

While 2020 has brought a number of challenges to people all over the world, one of the most anticipated events of this year is the US election. Politicians have been under the watchful eye of the public in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and are continually evaluated in their ability to protect their people while maintaining economic performance. In the US, Democratic and Republican candidates are fighting harder than ever to win electoral votes and claim their seat in the White House. As wit...

11-16

18:51

In periods of uncertainty, we might wish we had the magic of strategists who come into a room and solve problems like we heard from classic business stories. But, can anyone be a strategist? With that question, we interviewed Jennifer Riel, Global Director of Strategy from IDEO, the world famous design-thinking institute that popularized “design-thinking”. Jennifer is also a co-author of a book: Creating Greater Choices: A Leader’s Guide to Integrative thinking - with Roger Martin, the ...

09-21

27:52

Cultural fit - what does that actually mean? Are the values in your organization actually reflective of how work is done, the way employees are engaged, or the way leadership communicates? Cultural fit within an organization is so much more than a series of slogans - in order to perform at its highest level, it must begin with building and maintaining an amazing team culture. A Toronto start-up called “TalentFit AI” has managed to tackle this topic, and all powered through academi...

08-09

19:22

There is a new open-access tool called “MyOpenCourt” that is powered by artificial intelligence, offering basic legal advice such as determining the termination compensation or assess whether the worker is an employee or an independent contractor. We chatted with the creator of the tool, Dr. Samuel Dahan. Samuel Dahan is a lawyer, an Assistant Professor, Queen’s National Scholar, and cross-appointed to the Smith business school and Cornell University law school. He is the Director of the Con...

07-08

18:21

Innovation occurs everywhere and the external environment is unforgiving to those who fall behind. Unlike other types of corporate activities, Innovation cannot be managed and planned in a completely standardized yet predictable manner. In a post-COVID19 world, companies are taking more precautions in managing budgets, streamlining operations, and eliminating redundancies. So, what does it mean to the innovation teams who are still responsible for innovations? With questions about how ...

06-25

22:16