This year, artificial intelligence (AI) continued to hog the headlines. But while everyone’s been beating the AI drum, we’ve been quietly rolling up our sleeves and working with our clients, partners, and organizations across industries to turn ideas into real results.
The proof? It’s all in the performance. Here are three standout AI solutions we couldn’t be more proud of:
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SBA Communications: Transforming Customer Support with AI
Ever been stuck on hold for what feels like forever? The helpdesk at SBA Communications was struggling with high call volumes and a complex environment spread across 100 custom applications. They were overwhelmed trying to field nearly 340 calls a month — 150 of them in the final, busiest week. See how we tackled this with not one but two AI-powered heroes:
- “Bob,” the conversational AI agent: A virtual assistant powered by large language models (LLMs) that answers customer queries in record time.
- “Bob, the fixer”: A back-end wizard leveraging the same tech to resolve issues faster than ever before.
The result? No more 22-minute wait times, faster resolution, and sky-high customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores.
Read the full story here: SBA Communications Elevates Customer Support with Conversational AI
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EPIC Insurance Brokers: AI-Powered Claims Handling for Speedier Processing
Insurance claims data can be a monster — thousands of pages, endless medical and attorney notes, and hundreds of lengthy documents. EPIC Insurance Brokers, one of the top 15 U.S. brokerage firms, knows how hard manual processing can be. What our AI solution did — where previously spreadsheets couldn’t — was spot trends in thousands of workers’ compensation claims in minutes. Which group of workers were able to go back to work faster? What physician were they seeing? What type of physical therapy were they engaged in? What type of medication were they prescribed? Then connected the dots, which is impossible for humans to do—at scale. What once felt like finding a needle in a haystack is now just another day’s work.
Read the full story here: EPIC Insurance Brokers Speed Up Claims Processing with Azure OpenAI
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Fixing Water Pipelines with Data Pipelines
What does artificial intelligence have to do with clean drinking water? Well, everything. Sal Cardozo, our SVP of Data Analytics & AI, and his team helped a U.S. city fix their water woes by unraveling the root of the problem: messy, unreliable data. Turns out, clean water starts with clean data. Want to hear the full story? Schedule a chat with Sal Cardozo.
Top AI Stories This Year
That’s not all. Here’s a roundup of the most-read AI stories on the OZ Blog this year:
Small Language Models Make a Big Impact
Generative AI (Gen AI) dominated the conversation this year. But something else happened too. Language models — particularly large language models — powering Gen AI got smaller. Small Language Models (SLMs) are now stealing the show. They perform many of the same tasks with far less computational power, can be deployed more quickly — at a fraction of the cost, and make AI solutions more accessible. Oh, and they scale more easily, which means businesses can ease into AI adoption rather than investing heavily upfront. What’s not to love? Read all about SLMs here.
AI’s Past Holds the Key to Its Future
Let’s face it: AI isn’t new. We’ve been saying it for a while now and this year, more people are catching on. During his keynote at the AI Future Summit, OZ Digital Consulting CEO and founder Amjad Shamim nailed it home: AI is not a futuristic concept — it’s a technology in its 80th year. SVP of Digital Strategy at OZ Digital Consulting Murray Izenwasser also broke it down with a fascinating look at AI’s evolution. Sometimes, you need to look back to move forward — that time is now. Check out the blog.
Make AI Deployment Less Rocket Science, More Rocket Launch
AI doesn’t have to be rocket science—literally. Eric Siegel, bestselling author of The AI Playbook: Mastering the Rare Art of Machine Learning Deployment, believes AI projects should feel less like building a rocket and more like launching one. The problem? Businesses spend too much time obsessing over the technological fireworks — the “rocket science” of machine learning models — instead of focusing on implementation (the launch). His solution? A proven approach called “BizML” that helps turn machine learning models into real business outcomes. Curious how to get AI off the ground? Learn about BizML here.
7 Proven Ways Microsoft AI Reduces Software Development Costs
We all know, cost rules in enterprise software. But how are the smartest companies reducing expenses? This white paper breaks it down: get all the tips on what it (really) costs to build software and what it takes to save. Hint: It starts with A and ends with I. Ready to become a cost-saving savant heading into 2025? Get the white paper now.
Where is AI Headed?
Good question, given we’re heading into the new year. No one has a better answer than OZ Digital Consulting CEO and founder Amjad Shamim, AI evangelist, thought leader, and technology expert. Read more here.
In Case You Missed It: AI Future Summit 2024
Catch all the best bits from AI Future Summit 2024, the exclusive AI event from OZ Digital Consulting. Can’t wait to see you next year. Until then have a great 2025.
As 2024 comes to a close, we’re already looking ahead to what’s next in AI. But for now, let’s celebrate a year of collaboration, innovation, and learning. Thanks for being part of our journey—we can’t wait to see what we’ll accomplish together in 2025!
