Magda A. T.

5 days

Reinvention. How to build a new expertise

We live in a world where changes happen so quickly and so continuously that we don't even have time to get used to them. 

In this technological era, we have to be prepared for new tools and processes to emerge and for our work to be transformed at any time.These changes sometimes require that we start from scratch and reinvent ourselves. 

How can you tackle change? 

First of all, get rid of fears and negativity. Although negative thoughts and feelings may be hard to avoid and it can be daunting to try something new - you must stay positive and keep your eyes on the prize to succeed. 

Fear only leads to paralysis, so instead, think of ways you can tweak a few things in your skillset to move forward. 

Examine yourself

Determine which are your talents and strengths and identify your weak points. A self-assessment will help you to have the full picture, recognize that you have a strong background, education, and experience and determine which part can be optimized. Maybe you need a bit of training in one particular tool or should take a course to meet a new requirement for an opportunity.

Choose your new path

After looking inside, look around you and try to find out where can you fit in. If you're at a crossroads and looking for a change, don't stay put. Instead, find just what you're looking for:

• Discuss your ideas with friends and relatives, express your views
• Do some online research to see what's out there
• Review our opportunities
• Join community forums (have you tried our Request for Help feature?) 

What should you do to move forward?

Once you’ve decided your future, direct all your senses towards your new goal: 

1. Enroll in a course to further education in a specific area.
2. Read and research all that you can about your new path. 
3. Find use cases and success stories related to your new career or area of interest.
4. Follow successful thought-leaders who are the best ones doing what do you want to do.
5. Be flexible, make small changes on the go, try to evaluate all opportunities even if they're not exactly what you'd like at first. 
6. Be patient. There’s a long way opening in front of you, and you shouldn’t expect to go through it in a few weeks. 
7. Be constant, don’t let a bad moment ruin your objective.
8. Use all the tools available -professional networks like Outvise is very handy. 

Reinventing yourself may not be easy and that you’ll have to put a lot of work and effort into it. But at the end, you’ll be a better professional and a better person. Those who are better at adapting to new circumstances are the ones who will succeed. So, keep your head up and move forward. 

Robert T. Taylor

19m

The Rise of AI and What it Could Mean for the Telco Sector

We all get a general idea: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is about machines that can “think”. Or, at least, that can act as if they were thinking. This simulated thought-process includes the understanding of natural language, the capacity of learning by themselves, pattern recognition, data analytics among other abilities.

The Current State Of AI

We're witnessing AI become part of our everyday lives. Various software programs and devices already use technologies that include a certain grade of AI (for example, Google algorithms or Siri) or a very specialized mode of AI (like AlphaGo, the machine that not only defeated a Go champion, but also created a new way to face and play the game by itself ). These examples seem amazing already but they're not even close to what the future will bring in the Artificial Intelligence sector. 

Think about it: we use sophisticated software products to collect and analyze huge volumes of data and put them in a form that humans can understand, such as numbers and graphics. After making sense of the data, humans then can make a decision about further actions in a specific situation. This process is being completely transformed, though.  With AI, a machine will be able to observe patterns in data - and "understand" them - then make its own decisions and apply any measures needed. All of this without any human intervention and in a way that is exceedingly better than humans. AI will completely transform the way we function as a society.

In order to get a picture of the current state of AI, a team led by Stanford University has published the "AI Index" , a report that aims to track the activity and progress made on this field. The data included in the "AI index" shows the exponential rise of AI during the last years. Here are some examples:

(Charts: AIIndex.org)

AI & Telecoms

Internet of Things (IoT), smart devices, smart houses, smart cities… every new, disrupting technology has its basics on data, and the exponential growth of all these technologies demands huge networks, that are able to grow at the same fast pace and improve their quality, reliability, and security. We are already past the point where networks can be managed by humans. Telecoms’ network management systems, billing systems, and customer management systems can't continue working like they are.

The next step towards AI in telecoms is the development of Self-Optimizing Networks (SON). With SON, designers select the goals and limits of the network. Then, the network control software analyzes the current network conditions and re-structures the network itself to best fit the assigned goals. For example, a self-optimizing network can analyze the amount of traffic in a given moment and redistribute the network resources according to this analysis; or it can detect security breaches and correct them immediately –all without human decisions behind.

Billing and customer management is another area where AI will play a leading role. We already have algorithms that allow us to analyze and fine-tune the customer experience. The next step will be a "machine" able to communicate with customers in natural language and showing empathy –machines are way too far from empathy, but we can already create neural networks capable of simulating empathy in a very effective way. And more importantly: this AI will not only interact with customers - it will also make the best decisions to solve their issues or enhance their experience. Also, AI systems will be able to analyze the customer needs and develop new products that best fit these needs.

Finally, Software Defined Networks (SDF) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) will provide a framework that will be much more efficient and scalable than our current hard-wired systems. 

Software networks will "think" and take decisions by themselves and we can't even imagine how and how much AI will impact networks, customer service or business communications in the next few years. AI will be a basic component of cloud services, big data, IoT, mobile technologies… and will transform all of them in a way beyond our imagination. We look forward to witnessings these changes and jump on board when the time comes.