Many of the articles and posts in support of NonStop that wind up in publications contain references to movies, quotes from books, and other posts, as well as lines from songs. However, as much as I have wanted to resist the temptation to once again turn to famous quotes of actors, the travel schedule Margo and I have embraced for the first half of the year has worn down any resistance that may have existed. I am writing about Indiana Jones, of course, and of the quote from that first movie when actor Harrison Ford bemoans his schedule in the dialogue:
When Marion (Karen Allen) says to Indiana Jones,
“You’re not the man I knew ten years ago,”, he responds
with his iconic charming/patronizing way of speaking to women:
“It’s not the years, honey. It’s the mileage.”
Let’s not pretend here, I am no Indiana Jones even if Margo does beare more than a passing resemblance to the lovely Marion. However, mileage has played an important part in our pursuit of meeting as many NonStop community members as possible. We have not yet received an invite from our good friends in AsiaPac or Japan, but we have made it to Australia. When it comes to Europe and North America, there have been multiple visits where we have enjoyed being in the presence of NonStop customers and vendors alike.
With this in mind, I have been contemplating everything covered at HPE Discover 2024. In particular, there are constant and persistent references to AI. This is not to say that analytics has lost its sheen, but in reality, AI is different from traditional analytics, especially when it provides value in real-time. Given how AI was as dominant as it was this year, it had me thinking one more time about lines from movies I like, and this time; they include a couple of well-known sayings.
All of these are taken from actions surrounding motor racing, and I am not going to include that line from Talladega Nights when Ricky Bobby’s father tells him, “If you’re not first, you’re last!” I am always tempted to write an article based on this quote just to observe that all too often, among the NonStop vendors, this is the sentiment that is most perturbing. However, where I will take this storyline is in the following, where coming first does have relevance:
“In order to finish first, you first have to finish.”
Racing car drivers from Juan Manuel Fangio to Sir Stirling Moss to Michael Schumacher have been among the many drivers who have said this or something similar. In business today, this phrase can be further embellished to reflect how “For a business to be first,
it must first be in business!” I have referenced both use cases for finishing first recently, including the latest vendor presentations I’ve done at NonStop community events, and it has particular relevance when it comes to AI.
There is a difference between analytics and AI. At HPE Discover, numerous vendors view AI as a Velcro-backed tagline, readily and quickly appended to any product associated with data. However, analytics “deals with finding patterns based on past data to predict future events,” while AI involves data analysis and making assumptions. AI is mostly about autonomous operation learning, as it were, all by itself. The most obvious difference is how analytics, especially predictive analytics, “relies on human interaction to help query, identify trends, and test assumptions even though it may tap into ML in certain circumstances.”
The quotes come from Google searches, and the sources aren’t always clearly identified, but suffice it to say that these references simplify our understanding of the differences between analytics and AI. Why is such a difference important? If all comes back to finishing first – those who are first to recognize the difference and apply resources to AI will continue to be leaders. In contrast, those who simply pursue rebranding are going to find themselves losing ground to those who embrace AI first. And for business, the importance becomes very clear – AI will become an integral part of competitive differentiation and, as such, keep a business in business.
“What’s-a behind me is not important.”
Yes, it’s one of my favorite movie quotes. It comes from the 1976 movie Gumball Rally and captures the perspective of the hired hand, an Italian racer, when first stepping into the combatant’s Ferrari. Throwing away the rearview mirror was simply indicative of where his focus would be directed. He reasoned that what was in front of him and what he needed to overcome was the all-important aspect of his approach to motor racing. And it says a lot about tech and about NonStop in particular. In the days when both Margo and I worked in the NonStop Distributed Management Services (DSM) organization, where we were focused on the here-and-now of managing a NonStop system, visualization became important, and what was happening in the here-and-now was of particular importance to us all.
When it comes to AI, further differentiation between AI and analytics becomes clear. It may not always be the case, but again, analytics spends a lot of time looking in the rearview mirror. Of course, this holds value for every NonStop customer, but it can scarcely be considered AI. Our Gumball Rally driver may have reasoned that what was in front of him was the major contributing factor in any outcome of motor racing, and when it comes to AI, it is all about reasoning. “In AI, reasoning is essential so that the machine can also ‘think rationally’ as a human brain and perform like a human.” This leads to recognizing that “Reasoning is a key component of AI applications such as expert systems, natural language processing, and machine learning.” Again, these quotes came about as a result of Google searches.
In other words, for the NonStop customer, there will be numerous applications where the ability to reason and come to a supportable conclusion holds value. Among those in the financial services industry, the subtle difference between a binary yes / no outcome versus a reasoned one may certainly help keep an end-user engaged. It might lead to asking one or more questions before issuing a ruling, and across the competitive landscape of finance, this may be all that is needed to remain in the first place. And when it comes to digital resilience, what about addressing detection in real-time, as it is unlikely to occur with embracing AI?
“When you’re racing, it’s life. Anything that happens
before or after is just waiting.”
This is perhaps the most famous of all comments issued by a racer. It was part of the script for Steve McQueen’s character in the movie Le Mans. Perhaps in the context of AI, it is a bit extreme, but the point of the observation by McQueen comes back to focus. For race car drivers, it may be important to see what is ahead of them, but at the same time, the expectation is that once they are committed to the race car, it’s all that matters to them. Simply waiting around for their turn behind the wheel is of little importance. Waiting may indeed prove to be a distraction, but ultimately, coming first requires a level of concentration that many of us in tech find hard to achieve over the long term.
For the NonStop community, any discussion about AI is most likely anchored in coming to terms with that age-old pivot point. When do we commit to implementing AI? Arguments will surely arise that are quantitative in nature – what might this mean (to the business), and what will it cost? Perhaps more revealing lies in the culture of NonStop – who will go first, and by inference, what can we learn from their early forays into AI? One last comment from motor racing is the old adage, “If I am in your mirrors, I am faster than you!”
Yes, the NonStop community, with its culture, may opt to wait and see, but the downside to such a pursuit is that the competition may very well close the gap and pass you. Simply deploying analytics may be a good idea, but that should never be confused with AI and the power it brings to improving the customer experience. In real time! It may never be as simple as there is first and then there is last (as Ricky Bobby’s dad explained – there are a lot of positions in between, after all!), and yet, for the future long-term health of the NonStop community, it’s an important next step.
After all, what the accumulation of mileage has highlighted for Margo and me is that when discussing modernization, surely such an endeavor has to factor in the value that AI will bring to any business relying on NonStop to support its end-user engagements. In this regard, will you be a party to your enterprise coming first?
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