“Cognitive artificial intelligence is expected to be a big business as research firm IDC forecast that firms will spend approximately $77.6 billion on the technology by 2022.

However, organizations have to overcome often overlooked hurdles like linking disparate systems, to reach AI’s true potential, said Gagan Kanwar, director of business development at MuleSoft, during a recent webinar.

“Siloed data and lack of connectivity restrict AI’s ability to create real business value and turns it into little more than an expensive brain in a jar.”

When it comes to conversational AI, which incorporates machine learning and natural language processing, companies need to think beyond just deploying the technology in single-channel point solutions, added Kevin Fredrick, a managing partner at OneReach.ai and who also participated in the webinar.

Conversational AI is one of the prime ingredients in the fourth generation of robot process automation, which automates judgment tasks and consumes unstructured data while providing predictive and prescriptive analytics.”

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