Computer controlled operational decisions driven by business rules are changing the way organizations do business. Technology is increasing the number and speed of decisions organizations need to make. This deck explains key concepts you need to consider to employ this technology so that it will create measurable value for you.

1. What is a Computer Controlled
Operational Decision?... And Why
Should I Care?
LUIS CARRASCO-CORTES
IBM COGNITIVE PROCESS TRANSFORMATION LEADER, CANADA AND CARIBBEAN.
ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN
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2. Why should I care? I’m in
business…
 This is the real question! ... The one that really matters
 The answer is simple: Companies are making millions
using this technology
 One company calls it “The money machine”
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3. Why should I care? I’m in
government…
 The answer is simple: Institutions are delighting their
constituents
 A city coordinates public safety using this technology
 A state government cuts issuing permits wait times by 75%
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4. There once was this customer who
wanted to return an item for a full refund
that she had used for far too long….
 So she called your returns department… first agent said
“No”
 Second agent said “No… Third said “No”
 Fourth said “Yes”!... Why?
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5. Why does this happen?
 99% of the time is because the business rules that
trigger the decisions you make are manual
 Because they are manual, they result in inconsistent
outcomes…
 That can cost you a lot of money on aggregate
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6. What are “Operational
Decisions?” – A few examples:
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Should we
give a
discount?
Should we
approve…?
Will that valve
break?
Have we
reached a
threshold?
Is the weather
causing
dangers?
Is this a good
customer?
Do I need to
reroute
through
traffic?
Should we
deny that
claim?
Is there a
public safety
risk here?
Is this an
instance of
Fraud?

7. To get an excellent financial
return you need to:
 Perform hundreds to many 100’s of thousands
of decision PER MINUTE
 Only at these levels does a computer surpass
human ability to make decisions
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8. BUT! … Don’t underestimate how many
operational decisions you actually make
 Unless you are a company where people still call you to
transact business…
 The impact of mobile and social has most probably grown
the number of daily interactions exponentially
 All these interactions drive at least one decision.
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9. Business decisions need business
rules in order to work
 A computer cannot make decisions unless you have fed it
Business Rules
 Business rules need to be written in natural language so
business people can understand them
 Example: If “client’s credit” is “excellent” then “approve sale”
otherwise “send to credit department”
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10. Yes but I have coded all these business
rules into my systems by custom coding
them …
 Can any ***business person*** change a rule in under 1 hour?
 Or…. Do you need to open an IT project to make the change?
 If you want speed, rules programmed in software code will not
be flexible.
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11. In order to drive my business decisions I
need data from multiple systems…
 You need a technology that will seamlessly integrate into any IT
system Internal or External
 Additionally, the decision engine must be able to read from and
write to, any system
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12. But we are spread out in
multiple geographies
 You can enter a rule in English…
 But a French location will see the rule in French
 A Chinese location will see it in Chinese
 And so on for 12 additional languages
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13. But we are spread out in multiple
geographies… and some countries have
specific rules…
 Imagine in your home country 100% of the rules from HQ apply
 But in another country only 75% apply
 You need a technology that allows local managers to build their
own rules for the remaining 25%
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14. What if I don’t have the
technical skills in house?
 We recommend you acquire cloud based technology:
 No need for dedicated IT
 No hidden costs
 Pay by the use and scale at the rate you grow
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15. Where can I get more
information?
 Click on these links to see how this technology could help you
run your operations
 IBM Operational Decision Manager on Cloud
 Blueworks Live Process Discovery and Modelling Platform
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16. Thank
you
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