IBM's Role in Industry 4.0 and Rethinking ERP

Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

News: Watson, AI, and the IBM i. Productivity Software allows for Remote Teams.
Blockchain: Transportation and the Food Industry look to Blockchain as a game-changing technology.
Career: Skills shortage in blockchain, ERP and Development. Why failure is a good thing.
Development: A story about a smart programmer.
Industry 4.0: The Fourth Industrial Revolution and new jobs. The 9 Technologies that are changing industrial production.
Modernization: The ERP era is over. AI platforms are moving in.

News

Yes, IBM i Shops Have AI Options AI is in the news a lot and for good reason. Artificial Intelligence is basically where machines make decisions. Some examples of the tasks that can be performed are visual perception, speech recognition, and decision-making. IBM has a lot to offer here.

Much of the innovation is going on in AI revolves around software, which conjures IBM’s sprawling Watson brand. Watson once referred to the Power-based supercomputer that beat Ken Jennings at Jeopardy! back in 2011. But today Watson is the umbrella term for all of IBM’s AI offerings, which includes over 100 different products and services (that is, APIs).

Slack And Microsoft Teams Get Together, Automattic To Release Productivity Suite This article touches on two very important topics for the IBM i community, collaboration tools, and remote work. As organizations struggle to find talent more and more organizations, including ones that rely on the IBM i platform, are turning towards allowing their RPG developers to work remotely. While the article highlights Slack and Microsoft Teams it also touches on a study from Google that confirms remote teams, work!

Blockchain

Blockchain is Coming to Transportation We are hearing more and more interest in the IBM i community about how Blockchain can be used. Here is a good article with a focus on transportation and how blockchain can be utilized to improve truck visibility and tracking. IBM Food Trust Are you interested in blockchain and how your organization can leverage this game-changing technology? If so, then take a look at IBM Food Trust to get a better feel for what a similar blockchain solution could do for your industry.

Career

Many blockchain, ERP jobs remain unfilled; skilled IT professionals are in demand This article highlights not only the growth and the demand for blockchain skills but also for ERP experts and developers. Why is this important? It makes the case for organizations to implement apprenticeships and training courses as a way to alleviate the skills shortage. Leadership experts say Jeff Bezos' comfort with failure should be a model for all managers Failure is part of life. In many ways, we have it all wrong when it comes to how we perceive failure. Amazon is a successful organization that is built on failure. Jeff Bezos understands the value of failure. He embraces it in nearly everything he does. And it's working. How does this apply to you? The most successful IBM i developers that I come across have a similar mindset. They are not afraid to fail and try new things.

Development

A Smart Programmer Understands The Problems Worth Fixing "This is the story of Peter. Peter is a programmer that can do anything. He can create software as good as any of his other peers. However, there's a difference between a programmer with experience from a programmer without experience, even though both have the same technical skills." Have you experienced something similar to this?

Industry 4.0

Fourth Industrial Revolution Points to “New Collar” Jobs Watch this short video that goes through all four of the Industrial Revolutions. However, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is different from the previous three. In fact,

It is shaping up to be one of the most significant challenges and opportunities of our lifetime. Machine learning and smart machines will change how we relate to work within our lifetime, and AI could impact 100% of jobs in the next few decades. Artificial intelligence, IoT, 5G and new exponential technologies such as blockchain, robotics, and deep learning are also creating new kinds of jobs that didn’t exist a few years ago.

Industry 4.0 - the Nine Technologies Transforming Industrial Production Here are nine technologies that are transformation industrial production. "With Industry 4.0, companies, departments, functions, and capabilities will become much more cohesive, as cross-company, universal data-integration networks evolve and enable truly automated value chains."

Modernization

AI-driven platforms will move business applications beyond the ERP era The following statement might challenge what you think about ERP systems.

The enterprise resource planning (ERP) era is over. The ERP model of a single integrated suite to handle every process for every division within the enterprise did not work, for many reasons. Instead, application development and delivery (AD&D) leaders need a new, eclectic strategy based on a handful of modern, open, smart, flexible SaaS platforms.

Why is this important? AI is changing the approach organizations are taking to Modernization projects. Many think replacing your ERP is modernization. It might be. But many, IT leaders are realizing their money is better spent upgrading their existing ERP and then investing in AI and other digital transformation solutions. What do you think?

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