Harvard Business Review Guides Ultimate Boxed Set (16 Books)

CHAPTER 12

Can Machine Learning Solve Your Business Problem?

by Anastassia Fedyk

As you consider ways to analyze large swaths of data, you may ask yourself how the latest technological tools and automation can help. AI, big data, and machine learning are all trending buzzwords, but how can you know which problems in your business are amenable to machine learning?

To decide, you need to think about the problem to be solved and the available data, and ask questions about feasibility, intuition, and expectations.

Assess Whether Your Problem Requires Learning

Machine learning can help automate your processes, but not all automation problems require learning.

Automation without learning is appropriate when the problem is relatively straightforward—the ...