Journey to Enterprise-scale AI Solutions: Three lessons inspired by Hollywood

Journey to Enterprise-scale AI Solutions: Three lessons inspired by Hollywood The world is in the first innings of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence technology. While there is a lot of hype about the dramatic impact AI will have, the truth is that the journey to building scalable solutions that deliver real impact is hard and error-prone. In this talk, Rajat will share three battle-tested lessons learned in the 2-3 year journey to building Cisco Predictive Services powered by AI. These lessons were learned in the school of hard knocks. They are not glamorous but they are real. They are not fancy, they are honest. We hope these lessons help enterprises in their journey. 1. Iron-man Lesson: decide where you want to be on the man-machine continuum 2. Moneyball lesson: take first principles approach to finding ML talent and projects 3. Minority Report: fight for consolidated data and one platform is worth it!

He has been named to Wharton’s #40under40 2017 list. As Cisco’s Vice President, Worldwide Services Strategy & Innovation, Rajat is responsible for driving strategy and innovation for Cisco's $12B services business. His charter spans organic growth, inorganic growth (e.g., acquisitions, alliances), business innovation (e.g., start-up incubation) and technology innovation (e.g., Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain). Prior to Cisco, Rajat has held leadership roles at the analytics unicorn Mu Sigma, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft and Google. He is on the board of PREZENTIUM Inc. and Adruta Children’s home – organizations with a social soul. Rajat holds an MBA degree in strategic management from Wharton and a BSc degree in computer science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He is a highly requested speaker at technology conferences like CES, Venture Beat and Startup Grind. A philanthropist and an avid poker player, he holds two patents in AI and software instrumentation.