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Jeff Erickson
For you this week:
For those dreading the dawn of driverless cars, we start with one man’s case to embrace this future. We also hear how to turn a built-through-acquisition company into “one household,” see a UK police department reinventing the way it assigns officers, and get a guide to putting a value on artificial intelligence use.

By Jeff Erickson, Oracle Editor-at-Large  
Driverless Car
The Driverless Car: Closer Than You Think
Depending on how much you like to drive—and on your definition of autonomous—the driverless car is either an imminent usurper or a long-term disruptor. Either way, it’s inevitable. All of the big automakers are investing in the technology, and macrotrends such as “transportation as a service” and “smart cities” already factor in autonomous vehicle technology. The last mile will disrupt more than the auto industry.
Defense Contractor
Defense Contractor Gets Its HR House in Order
Roger Casalengo, Cobham Advanced Electronic Solution’s first-ever chief human resources officer, decided to create a central organization to unify HR functions and launch the company’s “HR model of the future.” An integral step was getting all employee data in one place, so Casalengo could help change the culture of the built-through-acquisition company into what he calls “one household.” 
UK Police
When Seconds Count: A UK Police Department Transforms
A police force needs to put officers with the right skills on the right assignments. Two years ago, it took the UK’s West Midlands Police about 11 hours to pull together up-to-date information on each officer’s work schedule, skills, medical restrictions, recent time off, and contact details. Today it can access that critical data in two minutes through an Oracle Service Cloud portal. Here’s more on why the force moved to the cloud.
AI
Ready-to-Go AI
How do companies gauge the value of artificial intelligence embedded in back-office applications? The first measure is always productivity gains. “But there are additional positive side effects: employees spending less time on mundane tasks results in improved employee retention and frees the employees up to make more-strategic contributions to the business,” says Clive Swan, senior vice president of Oracle Adaptive Intelligent Apps at Oracle. More AI insight in this Q&A.
user groups
How User Groups Move Big Tech Forward
At Collaborate, the annual Oracle user group conference, more than 5,000 tech pros meet in sessions with names such as “Regulatory Compliance Is in Your NDA—Is it Part of Your DNA?” or “Leverage Robotic Process Automation to Meet Your Business Objectives.” Jerry Ward led a session on using the Internet of Things on farms to measure animal health, and his Emerging Tech special interest group (SIG) hosted an open mic night “where everyone gets a few minutes on stage and no slides will be allowed.” Moving technology forward one conversation at a time.
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