Mediaboss Marketing

By Steve Dunne, Staff Writer, Workday

In a recentMcKinsey survey,only 13 percent of CFOs and other senior business executives polled said their finance organizations use automation technologies, such as robotic process automation (RPA) and machine learning. Whats more, when asked how much return on investment the finance organization has generated from digitization and automation in the past 12 months, only 5 percent said it was a substantial return; the more common response was modest or minimal returns.

While that number may seem low right now, automation is coming to the finance function, and it will play a crucial role in furthering the CFOs position in the C-suite. Research suggests corporate finance teams spend about 80 percent of their time manually gathering, verifying, and consolidating data, leaving only about 20 percent for higher-level tasks, such as analysis and decision-making.

In its truest form, RPA will unleash a new wave of digital transformation in corporate finance. Instead of programming software to perform certain tasks automatically, RPA uses software robots to process transactions, monitor compliance, and audit processes automatically. This could slash thenumber of required manual tasks, helping to drive out errors and increase the efficiency of finance processeshanding back time to the CFO function to be more strategic.

According to the report Companies Using AI Will Add More Jobs Than They Cut, companies that had automated at least 70 percent of their business processes compared to those that had automated less than 30 percent discovered that more automation translated into more revenue. In fact, the highly automated group was six times more likely to have revenue growth of 15 percent per year or more.

In the right hands, automation and machine learning can be a fantastic combination for CFOs to transform the finance function, yet success will depend on automating the right tasks. The first goal for a finance team should be to automate the repetitive and transactional tasks that consume the majority of its time. Doing this will free finance up to be more of a strategic advisor to the business. AnAdaptive Insights surveyfound that over 40 percent of finance leaders say that the biggest driver behind automation within their organizations is the demand for faster, higher-quality insights from executives and operational stakeholders.

Accentures global talent and organization lead for financial services, Andrew Woolf, says the challenge for businesses is to pivot their workforce to enter an entirely new world where human ingenuity meets intelligent technology to unlock new forms of growth.

Transaction processing is one of the major barriers preventing finance from achieving transformation and the ultimate goal of delivering a better business partnership. It's not surprising that its the first port of call for CFOs looking toward automation.

RPA combined with machine learning provides finance leaders with a great way of optimising the way they manage their accounting processes. This has been a painful area of finance for such a long time and can have a direct impact on an organizations cash flow, says Tim Wakeford, vice president, financials product strategy, EMEA at Workday. Finance spends a huge amount of time sifting through invoices and other documentation to manually correct errors in the general ledger, while machine learning could automate this, helping to intelligently match payments with invoices.

Machine learning can also mitigate financial risk by flagging suspect payments to vendors in real time. Internal and external fraud costs businesses billions of dollars each year. The current mechanism for mitigating such instances of fraud is to rely on manual audits on a sample of invoices. This means looking at just a fraction of total payments, and is the proverbial needle in the haystack approach to identifying fraud and mistakes. Machine learning can vastly increase the volume of invoices which can be checked and analyzed to ensure that organizations are not making duplicate or fraudulent payments.

Ensuring compliance to federal and international regulations is a critical issue for financial institutions, especially given the increasingly strict laws targeting money laundering and the funding of terrorist activities, explains David Axson, CFO strategies global lead, Accenture Strategy. At one large global bank, up to 10,000 staffers were responsible for identifying suspicious transactions and accounts that might indicate such illegal activities. To help in those efforts, the bank implemented an AI system that deploys machine-learning algorithms that segment the transactions and accounts and sets the optimal thresholds for alerting people to potential cases that might require further investigation.

Read the second part of this story, How Automation and Machine Learning Are Reshaping the Finance Function, which takes a closer look at how automation and machine learning can drive change.

This story was originally published on theWorkday blog. For more stories like this, clickhere.

Follow Workday:LinkedIn,Facebook, andTwitter.

Read the original post:

Automation And Machine Learning: Transforming The Office Of The CFO - Forbes

Google has an update that might make you hate your alarm a little bit less: a new feature lets it automatically change up what your alarm plays based on the time of day and the weather, theoretically playing something slightly more appropriate than the same awful song you hear day in and out. At least, itll be nice as long as youre okay with waking up to AI-generated piano.

The feature is confined to a single device for now: Lenovos Smart Clock, a small smart display that basically has the functionality of a Google Home Mini paired with a screen that can show the time and weather. Google says this feature which it calls Impromptu is part of Google Assistant, though, which suggests it should reach other smart displays, and perhaps even phones, in the future. The announcement doesnt say when or whether itll expand, however.

Google says all of the music is created and chosen by Magenta, an open-source music tool built around machine learning that Google has been creating. In a blog post, Google says the system might select this song if the weather is below 50 degrees (Im assuming Fahrenheit) and early in the morning. I dont know exactly what about this song says cool and pre-dawn, but Id be down to listen to anything other than the default alarm tone that Ive heard every day for years.

The feature is rolling out globally today to Lenovos device. The smart clock, which used to retail for $80, now appears to be down to $50, making it a lot more competitive with Amazons $60 Echo Show 5.

Visit link:

Google is using machine learning to make alarm tones based on the time and weather - The Verge

Discoverys data science team has been blazing new trails in the payment integrity industry through advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities.

ITASCA, Ill. (PRWEB) December 16, 2019

Discovery Health Partners has been named an honoree of a 2020 FutureEdge 50 Award from IDGs CIO. This prestigious honor is given to organizations that are pushing the edge with new technologies to advance their business for the future. Discovery will accept its award at the AGENDA20 Conference held March 23 25 at the Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Discoverys Case Open Logic initiative was piloted earlier this year to test machine learning as part of its claims ranking process within its Subrogation practice. Already a leader in analytics-powered technology solutions for some of the top health payers in the country, Discovery saw an opportunity to leverage its decade of case outcomes data to fuel a subrogation model that eliminates hours of manual work, results in more accurate case identification, and reduces member friction. Discovery is implementing improvements and enhancements and intends to roll out similar machine learning capabilities to other lines of business such as Data Mining, Clinical Audit and Coordination of Benefits (COB).

Discoverys data science team has been blazing new trails in the payment integrity industry through advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities, stated Discovery CIO Dan Iantorno. Combining technology innovation with our teams decades of experience in the health payer space is at the heart of how we deliver game-changing results for our customers.

The organizations in the FutureEdge 50 are doing exciting things that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. For example, theres a project using blockchain and quantum computing to establish trust; an indoor navigation system; and many uses of AI/ML for insights and efficiency, said Anne McCrory, group vice president, customer experience and operations, events, and the FutureEdge and AGENDA20 conference chair. We are honored to showcase these innovations and many others as we enter into a new era of sophistication with cloud, devices, and environments powering the technology-driven business.

For more information about how Discovery Health Partners award-winning team and technologies are helping health payers solve payment integrity challenges to improve financial and member outcomes, visit https://www.discoveryhealthpartners.com/.

About Discovery Health PartnersDiscovery Health Partners mission is to deliver unique, actionable analytic insights and technology-powered solutions to help healthcare payers improve payment integrity, increase revenue optimization, and maximize efficiencies with government programs. Serving more than 70 health plans across the U.S., including six of the 10 largest U.S. health plans, Discovery has been recognized consistently for its growthearning a spot on the Inc. 5000 list six years in a row and the Crains Fast 50 three times. For more information on Discovery Health Partners, go to http://www.DiscoveryHealthPartners.com.

About the FutureEdge 50 Awards The FutureEdge 50 awards recognize organizations pushing the edge with new technologies to advance their business for the future. The successor to the Digital Edge 50 awards, the FutureEdge 50 will recognize not only established initiatives driving business success but also early-stage projects pursued for their watershed potential. These initiatives may be in R&D, proof of concept or pilot phases. With this, the FutureEdge 50 awards aim to bring the most cutting-edge trials and applications of emerging technologies and the innovative cultures enabling them to our audience at the AGENDA conference.

About CIO CIO focuses on attracting the highest concentration of enterprise CIOs and business technology executives with unparalleled expertise on business strategy, innovation, and leadership. As organizations grow with digital transformation, CIO provides its readers with invaluable peer insights on the evolving CIO role as well as how leading IT organizations are employing technologies, including automation, AI & machine learning, data analytics and cloud, to create business value.

The award-winning CIO portfolio CIO.com, CIO events, CIO Strategic Marketing Services, CIO Forum on LinkedIn, CIO Executive Council and CIO primary research provides business technology leaders with analysis and insight on information technology trends and a keen understanding of ITs role in achieving business goals. CIO is published by IDG Communications, Inc. Company information is available at http://www.idg.com.

Share article on social media or email:

See more here:

Discovery Health Partners' Case Open Logic Machine Learning Initiative Receives FutureEdge 50 Award from IDG - PR Web

In my last post, I discussed most of the top-line findings from the recent "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] Fiscal Year 2019 Enforcement and Removal Operations [ERO] Report". Long-story short: ICE's ability to perform interior enforcement in FY 2019 was significantly impeded by its need to respond to the massive influx of aliens encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the Southwest border, and by an increase in sanctuary policies. I omitted the report's findings about so-called "alternatives to detention" (ATD). Basically, they don't work.

The section of the report relating to ATD begins by explaining what it is: "ICE's [ATD] program uses technology and case management to monitor aliens' court appearances and compliance with release conditions while their removal proceedings are pending on the non-detained immigration court docket."

The Center has previously explained the limitations of the program:

ATD is, on a daily basis, cheaper than detention, but because ATD participants are placed into the "non-detained" docket of the immigration courts (as opposed to the significantly faster hearings that aliens receive on the detained docket), those savings may be wiped out over the course of two, three, or four years on the program while aliens await the docketing and conclusion of their cases.

...

Long-term data do not conclusively establish the value of the programs in actually ensuring removal from the United States of ATD participants once they have been ordered removed. [Emphasis added.]

The report echoes the highlighted excerpt, above: "ATD is not a substitute for detention, but instead complements immigration enforcement efforts by offering increased supervision for a small subset of eligible aliens who are not currently in ICE detention."

That doesn't sound so bad at first blush, but note the introductory statement that "ATD is not a substitute for detention." That is simply a subtle reiteration of what most objective observers have known for some time. Detention ensures that an alien who is ordered removed is actually removed, without ERO having to go out and arrest the alien. ATD (which is essentially a monitoring program as the first excerpt above makes clear) does not.

In particular, ATD does little to prevent aliens from absconding, let alone to ensure that an alien shows up for removal, as the report explains when it later modifies the complementary nature of ATD: "[W]hile ATD can complement other immigration enforcement efforts when used appropriately on a vetted and monitored population of participants, the program was not designed to facilitate ERO's mission of removing aliens with final orders." (Emphasis added.)

I am not sure what "other immigration enforcement efforts" ERO is referencing here, but frankly, "removing aliens with final orders" is the ultimate one, both temporally and in order of precedence. As Barbara Jordan, then-chairwoman of the Clinton-era Commission on Immigration Reform, explained more than two decades ago: "The top priorities for detention and removal, of course, are criminal aliens. But for the system to be credible, people actually have to be deported at the end of the process." (Emphasis added.) ICE can do all the enforcement it wants, but if aliens under a final order of removal are not ultimately removed, the whole system is a sham.

And, as noted, ATD is ineffective at preventing aliens from absconding. The most damning extrinsic proof of this is found in CNN's reporting on the April 16, 2019, "Final Emergency Interim Report" from the Homeland Security Advisory Council's bipartisan CBP Families and Children Care Panel, which I referenced in my last post.

As CNN explained, the panel recommended that: "DHS ... should be given discretion to detain a close relative with a non-parent family member when this is in the best interest of the child."

The outlet then asked Karen Tandy, the chairwoman of that panel, whether "the council considered alternatives to detention, rather than changes to the law." Tandy responded that the group "'spent a lot of time on it' but found it impractical," explaining: "In common parlance, we're talking about ankle bracelets, and we found at bus station [sic], there are overflowing bins of ankle bracelets that have been cut off."

The report reinforced Tandy's findings, noting that ATD was particularly ineffective when used to monitor released family units, which constituted 64.5 percent of all aliens apprehended by the Border Patrol along the Southwest border in FY 2019.

As the report explains:

While ERO has expanded its use of ATD from approximately 23,000 participants in FY 2014 to 96,000 as of the end of FY 2019, this expansion has come with a number of challenges, including high levels of absconders among recently enrolled family units. In FY 2019, the absconder rate for family units was 26.9 percent, more than double the 12.3 percent absconder rate for non-family unit participants, demonstrating the growing challenges such enrollments create for immigration enforcement. [Emphasis added.]

In this context, the absconder rate was determined by examining "the overall number of aliens who concluded the ATD program in a given time period ('overall terminations'), and the number of those terminations which occurred due to a participant absconding." In other words, when it came to family units, more than a quarter "terminat[ed]" the ATD program by disappearing.

Given the large size of this population as a whole, that is a significant failure of the monitoring program, providing support for the CBP Families and Children Care Panel's conclusion that Congress should give DHS "discretion to detain a close relative with a non-parent family member when this is in the best interest of the child."

Of course, this Congress (and in particular the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives) has no plans to do any such thing. In fact, as my former colleague Matt Sussis noted in February, the latest government funding bill actually increases funding for ATD while restricting detention. In particular, he reported that "the bill expands the ATD programs to 100,000 participants from 82,000, including over $40 million for 'family case management' to keep tabs on aliens who don't immediately abscond (as many do), but does not include money to actually find and remove those who do abscond." One would almost think that they set up the plan to fail.

And, almost as if following up on Sussis' statements, the report makes clear:

ERO lacks sufficient resources to keep all current [ATD] participants enrolled through the pendency of their proceedings, or to locate and arrest the significant number of participants who abscond, problems which will only be exacerbated by enrolling greater numbers of participants without the addition of enforcement resources. While ERO has continued to expand the use of ATD to monitor the non-detained population in FY 2019, the program will need to be further resourced in order to appropriately monitor participants, including through the addition of officers who can locate, arrest, and remove those who fail to adhere to conditions of enrollment.

It concludes with the obvious: "Finally, while additional resources would improve the efficacy of ATD at current levels of enrollment, ERO notes that the program is not a viable solution for addressing the magnitude of cases on the non-detained docket, which surpassed 3.2 million in FY 2019."

Put another way, ATD is ineffective and underfunded, not unlike the Woody Allen joke in Annie Hall about the resort where the food is terrible and the portions are too small. Given this, the arbitrary restrictions that courts have placed on ICE detention of family units, and the limited detention space and resources that are available to ERO, it is no wonder that ICE reports there were 595,430 fugitive aliens at the end of FY 2019.

I would have been more blunt and direct than ICE was about the failures and limitations of ATD, but then the agency will have to ask Congress for additional funding and therefore must be circumspect in its analysis, lestit perturb the appropriators who hold its purse strings. Respectfully, however, it is the American people who should be disturbed by findings in the agency's report.

The rest is here:
ICE Report: 'Alternatives to Detention' Don't Work - Immigration Blog

Michael Bloomberg entered the crowded 2020 Democratic primary race last month, reversing a decision he made earlier this year not to seek the presidency. Bloomberg served three terms as mayor of New York from 2002 to 2013, earning a reputation for being fiscally conservative and socially liberal.

Before entering public service, Bloomberg worked on Wall Street and founded Bloomberg LP, a financial services company that helped him amass an eye-popping personal fortune of $55.5 billion. A major philanthropist and climate change and gun control activist, Bloomberg is the eighth-richest person in the world.

Heres where Bloomberg stands on key issues in the 2020 presidential election.

Bloomberg raised property, income and sales taxes as mayor, turning the multi billion-dollar deficit he inherited after taking office in 2002 into a surplus by the time he stepped down in 2014. He boosted tourism, an important part of the New York economy, and rezoned large swaths of the city, paving the way for a major real estate boom. On his campaign website, Bloomberg claims his reforms created 400,000 new jobs in New York.

At the same time, Bloomberg drew heavy criticism for cutting spending, privatizing some city services, and failing to resolve labor disputes with unions seeking pay hikes. He once backed a plan to raise New York States minimum wage, but also vetoed city legislation aimed at raising wages for some workers with city contracts, angering critics who argued that Bloomberg was a billionaire technocrat disconnected from ordinary New Yorkers.

The former mayor has not yet released a detailed economic plan since launching his presidential run. His campaign website touts his economic record as mayor and says as president he would strengthen the middle class through policies that open the door of opportunity to every American. In a campaign ad, Bloomberg promised the wealthy will pay more in taxes, a position shared by several 2020 rivals, including progressive Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

In January Bloomberg criticized the Medicare-for-All proposal backed by several 2020 Democrats, saying the country could never afford that. Bloomberg told reporters at the time that the plan would cost trillions of dollars and bankrupt the U.S. According to his campaign website, Bloomberg supports expanding the Affordable Care Act and the existing Medicare program in order to achieve universal health care. The campaign has not released a detailed health care plan.

As mayor, Bloomberg banned smoking in bars and restaurants an initiative that his mayoral administration said helped prevent thousands of premature deaths. Bloomberg also banned large sugary drinks, though the move was struck down by the courts. Bloomberg also reduced childhood obesity in New York, by expanding healthy food standards for schools, requiring restaurants to post calorie counts on menus, and other measures. He also increased life expectancy among New Yorkers by three years, according to his campaign website.

During his tenure as mayor, Bloomberg reduced New York Citys carbon footprint by banning the dirtiest kinds of residential heating oil. Bloomberg also took other steps to promote energy efficiency and improve air quality, including retrofitting buildings, creating new park space and introducing a citywide bike-sharing program.

Bloomberg stepped up his focus on climate change after stepping down as mayor. In 2014, he was named the United Nations special envoy for cities and climate change. In 2018, Bloomberg was appointed as the U.N. special envoy for climate change. Bloomberg has also launched several climate change initiatives and spent heavily to promote action on the issue.

In 2017, Bloomberg pledged $64 million to help fund the Sierra Clubs Beyond Coal campaign to reduce pollution from coal-fired power plants. Earlier this year, Bloomberg said he would spend $500 million on an initiative run by his philanthropic organization aimed at creating a carbon-free U.S. economy.

Bloomberg has criticized Trumps record on climate change, including the presidents decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate accord. Bloomberg has also criticized the Green New Deal, arguing the ambitious climate change plan could never pass Congress.

Bloomberg was a strong advocate for immigrants as mayor of New York. He supported initiatives to provide immigrants with legal aid in immigration cases and help in starting small businesses. Bloomberg also took steps to shield undocumented immigrants from deportation, including signing legislation that limited New York Citys cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

As mayor, Bloomberg expanded the use of foreign language translation in city services to helpnon-native English speakers, and frequently delivered public remarks in Spanish in a symbolic gesture to the citys large Hispanic population. He drew national attention in 2010 for a speech defending a controversial mosque project in Manhattan, known as the Ground Zero Mosque, in which he spoke out against religious intolerance and attacks on immigrants.

Bloomberg called for national immigration reform as mayor and has backed the cause since leaving office. He criticized President Donald Trumps immigration policies at a campaign stop shortly after launching his 2020 bid, saying the country needed more immigrants rather than less and calling the Trump administrations family separation policy a disgrace.

As mayor Bloomberg helped form the Mayors Against Illegal Guns group to push for gun safety measures. In 2014, Bloomberg launched Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonpartisan organization thats now one of the countrys leading gun control groups. Bloomberg pledged to spend $50 million to fund the group.

Bloomberg has made gun control a key issue in his 2020 presidential election. His campaign released a sweeping gun control plan earlier this month that would strengthen the federal background check system, ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and provide more funding for law enforcement related to gun violence. The proposal also calls for a federal red flag law that would allow judges to remove guns from people deemed a danger to themselves or others.

Critics contend that Bloombergs push for safer gun control measures in cities is part of a mixed record on law enforcement and policing. As mayor Bloomberg supported a stop-and-frisk policing policy that advocates say unfairly targeted minorities. Bloomberg said last month that he was wrong on the issue and apologized.

Bloomberg does not have a lengthy foreign policy record. He has supported international free trade, and the United States relationship with Israel. In 2004, he appeared to signal support for the Iraq War in an appearance in New York alongside then-First Lady Laura Bush.

Since leaving office Bloomberg has elevated his role on the global stage through high-profile assignments for the U.N. and World Health Organization. Most of his international work has focused on combating climate change.

See original here:
What does Michael Bloomberg believe? Where the candidate stands on 6 issues - PBS NewsHour