From Facial recognition for attendance to personalization engines, Ramco predicts trends for 2020

By Ramesh SivaSubramanian, Head of Ramco Innovation Lab, Singapore

1. Fraud/Anomaly Detection & automating inputs

Machine Learning based applications have evolved from email spam and malware filtering to predicting and recommending actions. 2020 will see companies benefitting from Machine Learning/Deep Learning’s real-time financial applications such as fraud/anomaly detection, self-auditing systems and suggestions based on past orders/transactions. The consolidation of operations will prevent leakage and mistakes. Ramco’s validation and defaulting application uses previous transactions as references to ensure consistency of input values and warn of an anomaly. It can also recognise a user’s needs based on factors such as supplier address and shipment priority, filling in freight details on user’s behalf and automating inputs.

2. Improving employee (Millennial) experience

While voice and chatbots became mainstream for customer engagement in 2019, 2020 will focus on elevating employee experience in the race to attract and retain millennial talent. Millennials value more work-life balance, quick integration with work culture and less ‘boring’ corporate functions. AI/ML and Natural Language Processing, chatbots can help win over millennials while improving workplace productivity. Ramco’s has created bots that can only change enterprise HCM but also serve as an employee’s virtual assistant. Outlook Calendar-based transactions is another trend that’s picking up momentum – enabling millennials to carry transactions like Timesheet booking, Leave, Travel, and Expense Management.

3. Improving attendance and workplace access using Facial Recognition

2020 will see significant workplace adoption of facial recognition, especially for customer-centric and cybersecurity functions. Enterprises which adopt this capability, especially those with sizeable workforces, will reduce if not eliminate the tedium of keeping track of employees. It will also solve many issues related to password and access cards, saving even more time and costs. Ramco’s facial recognition software helps businesses streamline their employee tracking, including the use of smart timesheets. Adding a breath-analyser infused facial recognition software can additionally provide real-time tracking of employees/factory workers to identify alcohol or substance abuse.

4. Personalization Engine 

The future will be all about understanding the user, his personal preferences, and delivering solutions tailored to his needs. Just like how your friendly barista at the coffee shop would start preparing your favourite cappuccino with an extra latte as soon as he sees you enter the premises, organizations are leveraging heaps of information available in historical data to draw patterns and build personalised solutions.

5. Image recognition-based identification

The AI-based machine vision technology and deep-learning technique is also being leveraged in tasks related to quality inspection and defect detection. Be it the textile industry or the aviation industry, AI-infused image recognition enables organizations to detect common defects. With an accuracy of 90% detection rate, the application will automate the entire quality inspection process in an organization and offer real-time data for timely decisions.