ERP vendors have been eager to ride the generative AI wave, and it has become commonplace for them to assert that machine learning and other types of AI will revolutionize the way people interact with business applications and data. AI is already enabling natural language data queries and commands and starting to take over workflows that cross ERP modules. Chatbots are evolving from simple logic machines to become "smart" agents capable of communicating and making decisions like humans. The user interface will become so automated and abstracted from the underlying applications, proponents say, that users will rarely need to interact directly with back-end systems.

John Bates, CEO of London-based SER Group, sees the next generation of software UIs as centering on the documents and other digital content that are the lifeblood of commerce. He says "sentient" documents will soon be developed that are self-aware enough to communicate what they are and the information they contain. As documents become essentially conscious, they will be able to initiate actions, remove language barriers and glean fresh insights from enterprise data. Sentient documents will be the foundation of anticipatory UIs that can figure out what users need and execute processes for them, often before they have to ask.

In the podcast, he explains how sentient documents and anticipatory interfaces will work and the important role of AI.

Bates earned a Ph.D. in computer science from Cambridge University in 1994, after which he became a tenured professor leading research on distributed computing. He has held executive positions at Progress Software and Software AG and founded startups in algorithmic trading and the internet of things. He joined SER Group, which sells an enterprise content management platform called Doxis, in 2022, and is the author of the book, Thingalytics: Smart Big Data Analytics for the Internet of Things.

Other topics discussed in the podcast include:

• why today's AI hasn't achieved true intelligence, despite the claims of AI advocates
• how the European Union's strict privacy regulations could stifle innovation
• the importance of agentic AI in processing digital content
• why people's enthusiasm for natural language interfaces is fading

Host: David Essex, Industry Editor, Informa TechTarget

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