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South African IT specialist developing machine learning to help Sage users


Johannesburg, 26 Oct 2018
Gerrit Olivier, CEO of About IT.
Gerrit Olivier, CEO of About IT.

About IT is bringing machine learning to Sage accounting and enterprise management (ERP) software.

The focus of About IT's machine learning algorithm will be user support that helps by resolving technical issues and helps people better use the software.

"The algorithm will learn from the help file, the best support technicians and users themselves, and largely eliminate the need for support calls," says Gerrit Olivier, CEO of About IT. "Users will have immediate onsite help for their specific issue."

Olivier says the error codes people sometimes see may be confusing. Error codes also do not necessarily divulge the root cause of problems, be they system-related or user-created issues.

Support calls can take time to resolve issues, particularly for more complex issues that must be referred to senior support personnel.

"People want an expert in their desk drawer, someone who understands what the problems are, knows how they've been using the software, so they have all the information at their fingertips without having to be told. And they don't want to have to go through a scripted resolution questionnaire that may have absolutely nothing to do with their particular problem," says Olivier. "The algorithm will be their expert. It will immediately provide expert solutions to the problems people encounter and they won't have to dial a number or log in to a Web site."

Olivier says support-related issues are straightforward tasks for machine learning algorithms to grasp and begin working to help people do their jobs.

Others include financial tasks such as allocating costs and expenses, analysing and reporting on trial balances, and double-checking financial data capture.

"People are being forced to do mundane, repetitive tasks, like bookkeepers and accountants who must allocate expenses and report on trial balances," says Olivier. It's a waste of their better talents. People are good at being creative, making the complex associations that often lead to things like innovation and expressive arts. Machines, on the other hand, already excel at repeating straightforward tasks at high speed, at finding discrepancies in banks of data, and at learning repeated patterns to ensure consistency in future.

"Yet, people are paradoxically afraid of machines as we embark on an age of AI, because they think the machines will steal their jobs and they won't be able to put food on the table. Nothing could be further from the truth. The machines are still doing what they've always done. They're tools that help us to be more efficient," he says.

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About IT

About IT, established in 2003, provides agile business solutions for cloud ERP, infrastructure as a service (IaaS), and data analytics for small to medium enterprises. These solutions enable customers to safely and securely deploy ERP and advanced dashboard data analytics in on-premises, private, public, and hybrid cloud environments. They benefit from advanced security, improved reliability, highly accessible data, and the economies of scale. About IT's advanced dashboard data analytics focuses on bringing customers relevant, actionable operational data to deal with immediate business issues, building associations and insights without waiting on pre-programmed reports. The business has seven offices in major centres throughout South Africa.

Editorial contacts

Michelle Oelschig
Scarlet Letter
(083) 636 1766
michelle@scarletletter.co.za
Jillian Erasmus
About IT Group
0861 460 100
jillian@aboutitgroup.co.za