Speaking
Biographies: Short biography paragraphs of varying lengths and emphasis...
(56 words ) Sam Ransbotham (@ransbotham) is a professor of analytics at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, as well as a guest editor for MIT Sloan Management Review’s Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy Big Ideas initiative. Sam earned a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, an MBA, and a PhD, all from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
(100 words) Sam Ransbotham is a professor of analytics at Boston College. While everyone seems to talk about artificial intelligence, Sam is curious about what businesses are really doing—How are normal businesses using AI now? How will they use AI later? To learn more, he serves as editor for the MIT Sloan Management Review initiative on Artificial Intelligence in Business. Recently, he co-authored a research report, “Achieving Individual — and Organizational — Value With AI,” and co-hosts the “Me, Myself, and AI” podcast. Sam earned a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, an MBA, and a PhD, all from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
(203 words) Sam Ransbotham is a professor of analytics at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management. He teaches “Analytics in Practice” and “Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.” Ransbotham served as a senior editor at Information Systems Research, associate editor at Management Science, and academic contributing editor at MIT Sloan Management Review. He cohosts the Me, Myself, and AI podcast, available on all major platforms. Ransbotham received a National Science Foundation Career Program award “in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education,” for his analytics-based research in security. He was also honored with an INFORMS ISS Sandra A. Slaughter Early Career Award, which recognizes “early career individuals who are on a path towards making outstanding intellectual contributions to the information systems discipline.” Ransbotham earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, an MBA, and a doctorate, all from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Before earning his doctorate, he founded a software company with a globally diverse client list including the United Nations IAEA (Vienna), FAO (Rome), WHO (Geneva), and WMO (London). Since 2015, he has been an editor for MIT SMR’s Big Ideas initiatives, including Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy, and Competing With Data & Analytics.
Headshots: Various options and formats...
Recordings: If organizers recorded and published, here they are. Not many are publicly available...
Do recent advances in artificial intelligence herald a new stage of human development? Or is the current AI fervor yet another technology hype?
Rapid advances in AI have captured considerable public interest. Like prior technology developments, we can increasingly replace human activity with machines. But while prior technology developments deeply affected physical labor, AI developments (particularly generative AI) encroach on what was previously an entirely human domain -- knowledge work. Machines now seem to be able to think and learn. With these developments, we may see liberation from routine tasks, standardization of processes, and a head start on human learning. But we may instead see unemployment from job displacement, bias at a massive scale, and a race to mediocrity.
“Has the machine in its last furious manifestation begun to eliminate workers faster than new tasks can be found for them?” Stuart Chase asked this topical question in his book, “Men and Machines” -- in 1929. While everyone seems to talk about artificial intelligence, we’ll talk about what people are really doing now and where they seem to be headed.
The discussion builds from a 10-year MIT Sloan Management Review research program and stories from the Me, Myself, and AI podcast. In particular, we’ll focus on the role of human agency in choosing how we use these exciting tool developments.
"AI and Manufacturing": Session at the World Bank
How is AI being used by firms? What is the impact? What are the impediments to the use of AI?
This second conference in the World Bank AI in Action Series addressed these questions and more, featuring experts from industry, academia and policy institutions.
Roundtable on measuring AI diffusion, its impacts, and how policy can help
with Carol Corrado (Georgetown University), Olivia Igbokwe-Curry (Amazon Web Services), Scott Wallsten (The Technology Policy Institute), Nikolas Zolas (Center for Economic Studies at the US Census Bureau) and Sam Ransbotham (Boston College)
"The State of Play": Lead session at the Wall Street Journal Artificial Intelligence Executive Forum
The AI Executive Forum is The Wall Street Journal’s annual gathering of AI thought leaders and innovators, aimed at helping executives understand how AI is transforming the business landscape. Attendees will gain both a broad view of the potential for AI, and learn directly from business leaders about how they’ve integrated AI into strategic and operational business functions.
"The Adoption of AI in Business: Opportunities and Challenges" at Open Data Science East
While corporate expectations for artificial intelligence are sky-high across industry and geography, few organizations have mastered integrating the technology into their business processes and offerings — and many who want to don’t fully understand the work that lies ahead. MIT Sloan Management Review’s recent research on artificial intelligence and business strategy offers a “state of the state” of AI adoption inside corporations.
This session will provide an overview of organizational readiness for and adoption of AI across sectors.
"AI Myths: Widely available AI tools will level the playing field" for MIT Sloan Management Review
Sam Ransbotham, MIT SMR guest editor and coauthor of the BCG-MIT SMR 2018 Artificial Intelligence Global Executive Study and Research Project says just having the tools won’t be enough.
“How Organizations Should Use Analytics” for MIT Sloan Management Review
Sam Ransbotham, professor at Boston College's Carroll School of Business, explains how easier access to analytics tools raises questions for organizations about their strategic use.
“Three Principles of Analytics Amplification” for MIT Sloan Management Review
Sam Ransbotham, professor at Boston College's Carroll School of Business, explains how organizations should prioritize reporting on analytics.
"Mobile Marketing - The Persuasive Impact of Real-Time Reviews" at Wharton
Consumers are increasingly using mobile devices, not only to search for information an make purchases, but also to communicate their product and service experiences to others in real time. Despite their growing prevalence, little is known about mobile reviews. Using a unique dataset of online restaurant reviews, and the ratings of these reviews by other consumers, we compare evaluations written using mobile devices with those written on traditional desktop computers in order to understand differences in the content created on these platforms and in their relative influence.
Foundations of Analytics Strategy for MIT Sloan Management Review
For the past six years, MIT Sloan Management Review has asked managers to what degree analytics creates competitive advantage for their companies. The newest annual report, released in March 2016, concludes that while analytics has now become a mainstream idea, it is still not a mainstream practice.
The 2016 report, “Beyond the Hype: The Hard Work Behind Analytics Success,” finds that organizations achieving the greatest benefits from analytics have figured out how to ensure that the right data is being captured. They also have figured out how to blend information and experience in making decisions.
Research Findings: Analytics as a Source of Business Innovation
In this webinar, the authors of MIT Sloan Management Review’s new research report, “Analytics as a Source of Business Innovation,” shared the findings and insights from their research into the changing landscape for companies looking to embed data and analytics into their strategies, processes, and operations.
The research finds that the number of companies reporting a competitive advantage from analytics increased for the first time in four years. Several factors are behind this shift, including wider dispersion of analytics within companies as well as a stronger focus on specialized, innovative applications that have strategic benefits.
Managing Data in the Age of the Internet of Things
Analytics experts from Wharton, Georgia Tech, and Boston College discuss the data and analytics opportunities presented by the Internet of Things phenomenon.
Organizations have made great progress with analytics using traditional data sources, but the Internet of Things (IoT) will mean a new upsurge in data, and attendant challenges in absorbing and analyzing that data. Analytics experts Lynn Wu, Sri Narasimhan, and Sam Ransbotham discussed the data and analytics opportunities presented by this phenomenon.
Through examples and insights from their research, the speakers gave viewers guidelines for seizing IoT opportunities while coping with the many volume, speed, and analysis issues.
On the Care and Feeding of Your Analytics Talent
A panel of experts discusses how to attract and manage analytics talent for best results.
Denis Arnaud (Amadeus Travel Intelligence), Tuck Rickards (Russell Reynolds Associates) and Sam Ransbotham (Boston College) talk to MIT Sloan Management Review‘s Michael Fitzgerald about the challenges of finding, engaging and organizing your data science team. They discuss how to support your data scientists and keep them engaged in the right kinds of tasks and how to integrate new talent into your existing data and analytics team. They also talk about the skills and traits to look for when recruiting and selecting your data/analytics team, and how to assess existing internal talent for data roles.
The Analytics Talent Dividend
The authors of the April 2015 data and analytics research report by MIT Sloan Management Review and SAS share the findings and insights from their research into how companies hire and retain data and analytics talent.
Co-authors Sam Ransbotham, David Kiron and Pamela Kirk Prentice presented the findings from MIT SMR‘s recent global data and analytics study, “The Talent Dividend,” in collaboration with SAS. The study found that the integration of analytics talent into the organization is key to analytics success. The webinar speakers discussed the components of a human resources plan for analytics talent, and gave guidance on how to implement that plan in your organization.
In this webinar, the speakers discuss when and how to seek analytics talent internally, why a focus on talent integration — not infusion — is so important, the merits of a buddy system and how to build an ability to consume analytical insights across the entire organization.
Data Sharing, Advanced Analytics, and Success with IoT
In this webinar, the authors of MIT SMR’s IoT research report are joined by a study participant to discuss how companies derive value from the Internet of Things.
The “Internet of Things” focuses attention on the exchange of data between sensors and connected devices — but for IoT success, companies must look beyond the data. Managing IoT data introduces more complex interactions among a wide range of organizations, as well as new kinds of relationships with important stakeholders.
Foundations of Analytics Strategy
The authors of the 2016 Data & Analytics Report by MIT Sloan Management Review and SAS explain why competitive advantage from analytics is declining — and what to do about it.
For the past six years, MIT Sloan Management Review has asked managers to what degree analytics creates competitive advantage for their companies. The newest annual report, released in March 2016, concludes that while analytics has now become a mainstream idea, it is still not a mainstream practice.
The 2016 report, “Beyond the Hype: The Hard Work Behind Analytics Success,” finds that organizations achieving the greatest benefits from analytics have figured out how to ensure that the right data is being captured. They also have figured out how to blend information and experience in making decisions.
Creating a Data-Driven Enterprise: Real-Life Cases
Over the past few years, the MIT SMR team has delved deeply into how data and analytics are changing companies’ processes, products, and business models. In a new video panel, the editors leading that exploration, joined by the chief analytics officer at EY, discussed key insights from a recently completed series of in-depth case studies on how prominent organizations are using data and analytics to transform their operations.
In this live discussion, panelists discussed efforts by Intermountain Healthcare, GE, Nedbank, and the city of Amsterdam to become more data driven. This set of diverse organizations in a range of industries and geographies offers a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities associated with becoming a data-driven organization.
Sam Ransbotham is an associate professor in information systems at Boston College and guest editor at MIT SMR. Christopher Mazzei is chief analytics officer and emerging technology leader at EY. David Kiron is executive editor of MIT SMR. Steven Paul is a contributing editor at MIT Sloan Management Review.
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Connect AI Efforts to Real Process Improvement
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"How AI is Changing Business (And Ways the C-Suite Can Prepare)" with Experian
In our upcoming #DataTalk, we’re talking with Dr. Sam Ransbotham, an associate professor of information systems at Boston College and the MIT Sloan Management Review Guest Editor for the Data and Analytics Big Idea Initiative.