Artificial intelligence offers a plethora of potential usages across industries and technologies, simplifying data analysis and management while offering real-time results.

Even call centers are in danger of being phased out as automation is being increasingly used to resolve customer service issues, showcasing this technology’s valuable potential as it begins to capture the attention of tech leaders globally. Despite AI’s awesome potential, however, without the right data and hardware, companies will find themselves struggling to accurately use the tech, according to Dave Donatelli (pictured), chief executive officer of Riverbed Technology LLC.

“The more complexity you add, the more difficult it is to deliver seamlessly for IT departments, and that’s what they face,” he said. “With that complexity, I believe you’re going to need more automation to make it work for everybody. We recently surveyed in 10 different countries, and 68% of millennials said they would leave their company based on a bad digital experience.”

Donatelli spoke with theCUBE industry analysts Lisa Martin and Savannah Peterson at the “Supercloud 5: The Battle for AI Supremacy” event, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the difficulties tech leaders face when implanting AI into infrastructure, the role of automation in improving customer service experiences, and the significance of data and observability in AI success.

The first steps

As the new year breaches the horizon, CEOs and CIOs alike are worried about making the right investments in emerging technologies, such as the cloud and AI. On the technology side, the “leading edge” is the dominant conversation, but the business side is where things start to fall apart, Donatelli explained.

“It’s a big lesson for all companies; whatever you’re shipping has to work,” he said. “It must provide a business value that people can measure and say, ‘I can make either my customers or the folks who work here experience measurably better by implementing this.’”

Overcomplexity is another leading problem across industries, with several companies relying on too many vendors to provide services to their infrastructure, increasing time spent configuring and communicating with vendors while bleeding money and resources.

“A trend that you see customers desiring is fewer suppliers to cover more of the space,” Donatelli said. “Speaking of the voice of the customer, ‘I need fewer tools to help me deal with this because I can’t stitch 58 things together. It’s just way too complex for me.’ You’re going to see that continue to play out in our space, which is more consolidation, and people wanting to cover more of their environment is important to our customers.”

As the conversation ended, the group dished out advice they’d give to CIOs about what to start paying attention to in 2024. The big thing to focus on, is security, Donatelli pointed out.

“Problems are getting so severe now; you see significant company damage on some of these breaches,” he said. “No one wants to see that, but it’s just a reality where we live. Then, offensively, as we talked about, people want to invest in AI, people want to be more competitive and people want to grow. That’s a good priority list.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the “Supercloud 5: The Battle for AI Supremacy” event:

Photo: SiliconANGLE