Artificial intelligence (AI) has gained significant traction among business leaders keen to explore ways it can drive operational efficiencies and cost savings.
But while top leadership is sold on its potential, it’s a different tale for IT teams working the ground. In Australia, the challenges of implementing AI are particularly pronounced, ranging from limited expertise and siloed operations to the rising tide of cybersecurity risks. It’s no surprise then that in the face of complexity, companies are not sure how to take the first step towards smooth and successful AI deployments.
Australia’s AI challenges
Access to skilled resources, funding issues, and having to keep ahead of AI’s rapid evolution are just some of the challenges that make it difficult to implement AI solutions uniformly in Australia. For mid-market companies in highly regulated industries, such as finance, energy, and utilities, addressing cybersecurity concerns and responsible AI implementation are also on the list. This is further made complex by the widespread use of legacy systems, which are unable to cope with AI’s demands.
“From an AI context, their challenges are similar to other sectors. This includes access to talent, quality of data, integration with legacy systems, change management, and ethical and regulatory concerns. However, they also face heightened cyber threats and fraud, driven by threat actors leveraging AI to become more sophisticated. The consequence of a breach can be significant from both a financial and consumer trust perspective,” explains John Hanna, Neudesic Australia.
Ultimately, the breadth of data mid-market companies in finance, energy, and utilities need to deal with is beyond the capabilities of existing systems that rely on the identification of known patterns or human analysis. Hanna added that adopting AI, unlocks a company’s capability to analyse information at scale and speed to identify and stop these threats before they significantly impact the business.
To overcome these challenges, Neudesic helps organisations through its expertise, cutting-edge technology, and strong partnerships with Microsoft, having won the Microsoft Partner of the Year award over 20 times. As a global professional services firm, Neudesic is now bringing decades of experience delivering capabilities spanning data and AI, cloud migration and modernisation, application development, and business strategy to Australia.
Hanna shares Neudesic’s approach, which comprises four pillars.
People: Its diverse array of internal experts spanning industries, skillsets, and Microsoft Azure and OpenAI solutions help clients address a wide spectrum of business challenges for any organisation
Approach: It achieves results not only by implementing Microsoft and OpenAI solutions, but also by addressing today’s challenges, identifying tomorrow’s opportunities, and designing the best path forward
Technology: It focuses on innovation to develop solutions that meet clients’ needs while accelerating time to value
Expertise: With 20 years of expertise in Microsoft’s stack, it offers clients expert knowledge to tackle critical IT challenges and unlock new opportunities
Neudesic’s process starts with understanding each client’s business needs, followed by collaborative workshops and rapid prototyping. The team will then develop a roadmap aligned with a client’s goals and ensure ongoing model refinement, data updates, and process improvements.
“We are also back by IBM and an awarded Microsoft partner. What this means for customers is access to the expertise and experience of experts across both tech stacks dedicated to solving the most critical IT challenges of Australian businesses and capturing new growth opportunities,” says Hanna.
Simplifying critical industry processes with AI
A clear example of how Neudesic is driving AI is in simplifying the Know Your Customer (KYC) process in finance, also known as identity verification.
KYC is where good customer experience is critical, but traditional KYC processes can take days or even weeks. According to a report conducted by financial compliance software company Fenergo, eight out of 10 survey respondents would lose clients to an inefficient onboarding process. More than ever, there is a need for streamlined and intelligent document processing solutions to stay competitive.
Neudesic’s Document Intelligence Platform helps automate the KYC process by capturing customer data from various formats, cross-referencing it with databases, and validating the information in real-time. It also streamlines compliance with customer identification programs.
What does this mean for financial organisations? They can now handle high volumes of KYC checks without additional staffing, while automation cuts operational costs. Real-time verification speeds up processes like account openings and loan approvals so that banks can acquire and manage customer assets sooner. What’s more, the platform integrates seamlessly with existing systems like Fenergo for a more robust and efficient workflow.
By partnering with integrators like Neudesic, Australian businesses can deploy AI through a proven, logical methodology and unlock the ability to invest and accelerate AI use based on business demand and available capital
“Every business dreams big with AI but can stumble when turning ambition into action. Success demands strategy, tailored solutions, and expert guidance. With a trusted partner, businesses can avoid common pitfalls and mistakes that will result in less investment remorse and create business confidence in AI faster than would otherwise be possible,” concludes Hanna.
Learn more about how Neudesic can help Australian organisations go forward in AI, confidently.
