WATCH THE VIDEO INTERVIEW: Aera Technology CEO Fred Laluyaux explains why AI-powered Decision Intelligence means better decisions and better business

Fresh from Aera Technology’s AeraHUB23 event last week, the company’s first Decision Intelligence Summit, CEO Fred Laluyaux joined me to explain what Decision Intelligence means in 2023, how it benefits by and yet differs from the generative AI craze, the latest IDC research on how companies are making better decisions, why it is now a critical business initiative, and more!

Aera Technology is the Decision Intelligence company that is transforming enterprises with AI for decision automation. Aera Technology has been powering Decision Intelligence solutions since 2017.

I first met Aera’s CEO Fred Laluyaux when he visited Australia in 2018, and wrote about our meeting and video interview in an article titled: “VIDEO Interview: Aera CEO explains the revolution cognitive AI technologies are bringing.”

We then spoke again last year in an article titled: “VIDEO Interview: Fred Laluyaux explains Decision Intelligence, how it helps and why it matters.”

Both of those videos are embedded at the end of this article, but I also spoke with Fred earlier last week, on the back of the company’s AeraHUB 23 event. Live from Manhattan on November 9, 2023, and now available to experience on-demand, the event brought together the innovators, thought leaders, and business champions who are at the centre of deploying AI for decision automation.

If you choose to watch the event, you’ll see an exclusive presentation of new research from IDC on AI and decision automation, you’ll see and hear Decision Intelligence success stories from practitioners and executive leaders at global brands, you’ll get an overview of the new generative AI capabilities on the company’s flagship “Aera Decision Cloud” – and more.

IDC’s contribution was significant: its Aera-commissioned white paper titled “What Every Executive Needs to Know About AI-Powered Decision Intelligence”, a global survey of Fortune 1000 companies which found decision velocity and AI-enabled decision making are key factors in value generation, revealing 75% of executive, VP, and director-level respondents expect to gain significant or very significant improvements if investments in Decision Intelligence initiatives are made.

More details on the white paper, Aera Technology, the AeraHUB23 event and more, but first, let’s watch my video interview from earlier this week with Aera CEO Fred Laluyaux!

In the white paper, IDC examines how enterprise decisions are made and the challenges and opportunities involved in achieving better decision making. The research identifies common characteristics of enterprises with decision velocity — defined by IDC as the speed at which a decision-making process can be executed within a set of enterprise controls — and the connection to business value and competitive differentiation.

Dan Vesset, IDC’s Group VP of Analytics and Information Management said; “While today’s headlines speculate about potential benefits and the future of AI, our research indicates that leading organisations are using AI, analytics, and data to generate value for their customers, employees, partners, investors, and communities.

“What unites these organisations are clear goals and KPIs to measure them, investments to accelerate decision velocity, and pragmatic use of enabling AI, analytics and data technologies and skills.”

The IDC research highlights responses from those that have connected or integrated IDC’s six steps of a decision-making process (deemed “leaders”) — and those that have not (“followers”), uncovering the value of Decision Intelligence in enterprise AI initiatives. IDC cuts through the hype associated with AI, revealing findings that support Decision Intelligence and its ability to deliver return on investment in AI, analytics, and data.

Here’s more information from Aera Technology on the IDC research:

Challenges and Opportunities

Citing key factors contributing to decision-making challenges — including the number of variables to consider when making decisions, lack of access to the required data, difficulties integrating the necessary technology, and more — IDC revealed that 33% of decisions are made primarily based on intuition and experience and 25% of decisions that should be made are not.

There was also a disconnect found between executives’ understanding of lower-level, in-the-field decision making practices of employees — respondents sharing that only 55% of executives mostly, or fully, know how these decisions are made.

However, enterprises see the potential in AI-enabled decision making and characteristics of the leaders support the value:

– Nearly double the number of leaders vs followers (33% vs 17%) indicated that they have a program for ongoing monitoring, review, and transformation of decision-making processes

– An estimated 11%-30% of leaders vs followers experienced improvements over the previous fiscal year across business metrics that include:

– Product or service innovation: 86% of leaders vs 53% of followers

– Employee retention: 65% of leaders vs 34% of followers

– Customer retention: 73% of leaders vs 59% of followers

– Risk management: 70% of leaders vs 57% of followers

“IDC’s research clearly shows the value creation divide among enterprises operationalising decision intelligence and those that are not,” said Fred Laluyaux, CEO, Aera Technology.

“The next wave of enterprise digital transformation can no longer be another data lake or planning tool. People must be empowered with innovative, intuitive technology that accelerates accurate decision making at scale and enables companies to be self-driving, self-learning, and ready to compete in a digital world.”

For more insight on the survey findings and AeraHUB 23:

– View ‘live’ highlights of AeraHUB 23