Sure, every company these days wants to digitize everything and live as close to the cutting edge as Google LLC or Uber Technologies Inc. But do they have the necessary know-how in areas like artificial intelligence, deep learning, microservices, etc.? Most don’t, so they’re seeking vendors that have packaged Google-league brains and tech into ready-made, industry-specific solutions.

The complexity behind real-time data insights, killer AI apps, etc., isn’t for average IT folks, according to Tim Crawford, chief information officer and strategic adviser at AVOA, an advisory services firm and holding company.

“That level of expertise just does not exist within the enterprise IT organization,” Crawford said. “So what do you do?”

What chief information officers and IT organizations are doing is buying more and building less. They are seeking solutions without a long learning curve that they can throw at difficult issues right away. “It’s no longer enough to say, ‘Hey, I’ve got this great technology; it’s really earth shattering,'” Crawford said. “You really have to connect with the customer and help them understand how you’re going to solve a business problem.”

Crawford spoke with Stu Miniman (@stu) and Rebecca Knight (@knightrm), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Microsoft Ignite event in Orlando, Florida. They discussed AI for verticals and Microsoft Corp.’s pivot toward industry-specific solutions.

Depth beats breadth in enterprise real world

Artificial intelligence boils down to learning — learning the right things to make the right decisions at the right times, Crawford pointed out. “And the only way that you’re going to learn is to get in depth and understand the applicability of this to that particular industry,” he said.

This is why Microsoft is drilling down to the particulars of six to eight specific industries to build out solutions.

“It gets them deeper into understanding how these technologies really apply to each of these industries, but it also starts to develop a deeper relationship with their customers and also their partners, so they can start to carve out specific spaces that they can go deep into,” Crawford said. “That is pretty unique and differentiated.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Microsoft Ignite event.

Photo: SiliconANGLE