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Technology Trends/Cloud Management Platform (view source)
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<th>Plateforme de Gestion Infonuagique<!--[[Tendances_Technologiques/Plateforme_de_Gestion_Infonuagique|Plateforme de Gestion Infonuagique]]--></th>
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<p><b>Cloud Management</b> is the process of evaluating, monitoring and optimizing cloud computing based solutions and services to produce the desired efficiency, performance and overall service level required.<ref>technopedia. (2019, September 18). <i>[https://www.techopedia.com/definition/26528/cloud-management Cloud Management]</i>. Retrieved from www.techopedia.com</ref></p>
<p><b>Conversational User Interfaces (CUI)</b> attempt to bridge the gap between naturally spoken and written human language and devices. Traditional Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) permit users to navigate an electronic device through buttons, visual cues, and text. CUIs can cut through the potentially complicated steps that a user must go through to accomplish a task. This can be in the form of retrieving information, getting directions, sending emails, playing media, ordering food, organizing a calendar, etc.</p>
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<h2>Business Brief</h2>
<h2>Business Brief</h2>
<p>Cloud Management solutions, known as Cloud Management Platforms (CMP), help in cloud optimization, storage allocation, management, and delivery of computing services. Deployment models such as private, public, hybrid, and community cloud cannot be simply handled and managed with virtualization alone. Due to the ever increasing complexity of cloud storage, enterprises are onboarding CMP solutions in order to manage the deployment models currently in use as well as to manage the integration of deployments they intend on adopting.<ref>Markets and Markets. (2014). <i>[https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/cloud-management-platform-market-79039558.html Cloud Management Platform Market: Worldwide Forecasts and Analysis (2014 – 2019)]</i>. Retrieved from marketsandmarkets.com</ref></p>
<p>In today’s market, Conversational UIs are produced in two forms that both consist of Artificial Intelligence technologies: voice assistants and chatbots<ref>Browlee, J. (2016, April 4). <i>[https://www.fastcompany.com/3058546/conversational-interfaces-explained Conversational Interfaces, Explained]</i>. Retrieved from fastcompany.com</ref>. Voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Cortana, and Siri allow for audio and text based communication between users and devices while chatbots are text based only.</p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">The Cloud Standards Customer Council (CSCC) and Gartner define requirements and capabilities for a product to be classified as a CMP. These requirements state the functional categories that should be included: Service Management, Resource Management, Financial Management, General Services, Systems Integration, Governance and Security.</p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">The functional use of voice assistants and chatbots is potentially quite broad. Since most voice assistants and chatbots can interface with different applications, this greatly improves problem resolution when the user encounters an issue within an application. For example, a virtual assistant can be used to provide routine assistance that would normally be answered by a live agent such as resetting a user’s password or obtaining an activation code for a login process.<ref>Reddy, T. (2017, October 17). How chatbots can help reduce customer service costs by 30%. Retrieved from ibm.com: https://www.ibm.com/blogs/watson/2017/10/how-chatbots-reduce-customer-service-costs-by-30-percent/</ref> Microsoft also uses an automated assistant to provide users with activation codes for their products.<ref>Costa, A. D. (2018, November 8). <i>[https://www.groovypost.com/howto/activate-windows-10-license-microsoft-support/ HOW-TOActivate Your Windows 10 License via Microsoft Chat Support]</i>. Retrieved from groovypost.com</ref></p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">Some major technology companies are developing voice assistants or chatbots usable with the most common applications or devices. While their concept has been around for decades, only recently have Digital Assistants (DAs) (another name for voice assistants) begun to provide a strong, reliable and wide range of abilities. Digital assistants are software agents that are able to perform countless different tasks for users. Recent digital assistants, such as Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri, are developed to be voice activated and respond to or perform a service from a user’s natural language. These type of assistants are activated by end users and perform tasks as directed by the user. These differ from digital assistants that can communicate with other digital assistants.</p>
<p class="inline">Basic CMP product characteristics include incorporating self-service interfaces, provision system images, enable metering and billing, and provide for some degree of workload optimization through established policies.<ref>Gartner. (2019, September 18). <i>[https://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/cloud-management-platforms Cloud Management Platforms]</i>. Retrieved from gartner.com</ref></p><p class="inline expand mw-collapsible-content"> More advanced product offerings include the basic characteristics, but may also integrate with external enterprise management systems, include service catalogs, support the configuration of storage and network resources, allow for enhanced resource management via service governors and provide advanced monitoring for improved “guest” performance and availability.<ref>Cloud Standards Customer Council. (2017, July).<i>[https://www.omg.org/cloud/deliverables/CSCC-Practical-Guide-to-Cloud-Management-Platforms.pdf Practical Guide to Cloud Management Platforms]</i>. Retrieved from omg.org </ref></p>
<p>Conversational UI will continue to progress and secure a crucial role in all Internet of Things (IoT) devices moving forward. Tasks that were traditionally performed by secretarial positions can potentially be done by digital assistants that can communicate in the background with other applications. These tasks include managing personal information, providing appointment reminders, storing contact information, sending messages and much more. With their deep technology embedding, various functional capabilities and easy-to-use interfaces, DAs are very capable of providing useful support within any organization by using Natural Language Understanding (NLU)<ref>Wikipedia. (2019, August 24). Natural-language understanding. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural-language_understanding</ref> and Natural Language Processing (NLP)<ref>Wikipedia. (2019, September 15). Natural language processing. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_language_processing</ref>, to enable human-to-human like communication with websites, mobile apps, and external devices.</p>
<h2>Technology Brief</h2>
<h2>Technology Brief</h2>
<p>Cloud management software is typically deployed as a virtual machine (VM) into an existing cloud environment whether it is on-premise or using SaaS. The application server, which usually contains the web interface and the software itself, relies on a database server to store the information and the data that is collected from the different cloud environments through an API (Application Programming Interface).<ref>Red Hat. (2019, September 18). <i>[https://www.redhat.com/en/topics/cloud-computing/what-is-cloud-management What is cloud management?]</i> Retrieved from redhat.com</ref></p>
<p class="inline">Conversational UI functions by having the user input natural language, either in audio or written form. The input is then processed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems and a response is given. Several voice assistants, including Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant, Samsung’s Bixby<ref>Jansen, M. (2019, March 13). <i>[https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-use-bixby/ How to use Samsung Bixby: Everything you need to know]</i>. Retrieved from digitaltrends.com</ref>, and Amazon’s Alexa, use cloud-based technology to process the input speech given by the user. The advantage of this is the ability to construct large databases of audio allowing the voice assistant to process the input faster and predict what the individual will say.</p><p class="inline expand mw-collapsible-content"> In this manner, it allows for a more fluid conversation between humans and devices. Since the processing of input speech is not done on the device, this can create a privacy concern regarding the user-device interactions being stored elsewhere.</p>
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<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">When a CMP is deployed on-premise it uses the client infrastructure resources (compute, storage, network, etc) to run in opposition of a SaaS solution, where the software is running in the cloud and uses the vendor resources to accomplish the same task.</p>
<p class="inline">Digital Assistants, also known as Chatbots or virtual assistants, function in a similar manner and can be divided into two broad categories: they are generally scripted (basic user interaction) or structured (engaging virtual assistants). They may also be integrated with collaboration tools and messaging applications.</p><p class="inline expand mw-collapsible-content"> Chatbots that are scripted tend to be more hard-coded, meaning they are expecting questions and interactions from a set of use cases and formulate their responses accordingly.</p>
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<p>Scripted bots<ref>Onlim. (2019, March 11). How Do Chatbots Work? Retrieved from onlim.com: https://onlim.com/en/how-do-chatbots-work/</ref> can be thought of as providing a guided conversation. Although the implementation of these is less involved, it also provides stricter limitations on the level of communication that can be performed. Structured chatbots rely on AI and more specifically cloud-based Natural Language Understanding (NLU) to generate machine actionable data from user input. Unlike their scripted counterparts, these types of chatbots are more complex and require more effort to properly implement, however, the end user is able to be less rigid in the way questions and interactions are structured.</p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">CMP solutions vary based on service and business requirements, as well as deployment model such as public cloud, private cloud and hybrid and community cloud. Platform specific tools are needed to leverage unique native functionality inside cloud platforms. The growing acceptance of public cloud and increased multi-cloud usage is driving the need for consistent cross-platform management.</p>
<p>Scripted bots follow decision trees to answer pre-defined questions. The reason why chatbots with the same capabilities end up with vastly different customer experiences is because of the quality of the underlying decision trees.<ref>Steele, I. (2018, February 22). Journey Mapping for Chatbots: How to Create a Chatbot Decision Tree from Scratch. Retrieved from comm100.com: https://www.comm100.com/blog/journey-mapping-chatbot-decision-tree-from-scratch.html</ref> These bots need to ask enough questions and an appropriate level of depth to provide the customer with the most accurate answer but refrain from asking unneeded questions or leading a customer in circles without providing an answer to them. Customer journey maps<ref>Atlassian. (2019, September 20). <i>[https://www.atlassian.com/team-playbook/plays/customer-journey-mapping Customer Journey Mapping]</i>. Retrieved from atlassian.com</ref> will assist with the development of the decision tree.</p>
<p>One of the primary roles of a CMP is to provide a consolidated control plane for IT operations integration of existing application lifecycle tools, hypervisors, and cloud platforms. CMPs must integrate with internal and external systems to manage multi-cloud services. The ability to support both published APIs and provide for customization is a critical capability.</p>
<p class="inline">Digital assistants are a software agent that performs various tasks and services for its user. DAs, such as Samsung’s Bixby<ref>Agence France-Presse. (2017, April 6). <i>[https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2085067/samsungs-new-personal-digital-assistant-bixby-faces-few-tough-challenges Samsung's new personal digital assistant Bixby faces a few tough challenges]</i>. Retrieved from scmp.com</ref>, use voice commands to control applications and handle these requests. This recent development of virtual assistants makes it relatively easy for end users to master the software usage. Digital Assistants also have skills, which are apps that can be acquired through a skill store. This allows users to install the skills that would be most useful to them.</p><p class="inline expand mw-collapsible-content"> These skills include things like a weather skill, a podcast skill, and a workout skill. Some of these skills are free and some cost money. Some are built by vendors, some are built by the community, and it’s possible for you to build your own skills.</p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">There are two deployment/hosting models for CMP, on-premises or a Software as a Service (SaaS ) offering. Some CMPs are offered for on-premises installation or for deployment by the customer within a cloud service. Others may be offered as a SaaS run by the vendor. The choice will impact the total cost of ownership, skill requirements, network connectivity profile, and ability to directly control portions of your cloud infrastructure including service level agreements.</p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">However, questions must still be clearly formatted for the DA to understand it. The device’s built in microphone parses a user’s voice to be registered using natural language processing (NLP). The requests made by users are stored in data centres, which aid in the service delivery to the software’s users. Based on a user’s request history, digital assistants are now using pre-existing information to deliver services to users with higher accuracy. For example, “several times a day, Amazon uses the entire stack of Alexa queries to educate its A.I. about dialects and casual speech.”<ref>Moynihan, T. (2016, December 5). Alexa and Google Home Record What You Say. But What Happens to That Data? Retrieved from wired.com: https://www.wired.com/2016/12/alexa-and-google-record-your-voice/</ref></p>
<p>Generally, voice activated digital assistants are constantly operating at a low processing rate until a key word is heard to notify the DA that a request is about to be made. For example, Google Home listens to its surroundings until the words “Ok Google” are said aloud. Digital assistants then translate a user’s proceeding commands into text that is analyzed by multiple algorithms to execute a task. These algorithms break up the requests into key parts, which make it easy to send emails, messages, or store records.</p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content"></p>There are three main types of algorithms that are used to analyze your request: Natural Language Processing (NLP)<ref>Wikipedia. (2019, September 15). Natural language processing. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_language_processing</ref>, Natural Language Understanding<ref>Wikipedia. (2019, August 24). Natural-language understanding. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural-language_understanding</ref>, and Natural Language Generation (NLG)<ref>Wikipedia. (2019, September 6). Natural-language generation. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural-language_generation</ref>. NLP deals with how to write computer programs to collect and process large amounts of natural language data. This can be a difficult task when some languages like Japanese and Chinese use characters that represent words and letters with no spaces between which makes it harder for the computer to understand what’s being said. It is easier in languages like English to identify words since they are almost always separated by a space. Another challenge is when the same word can be used as a different part of the sentence (noun, verb, etc). For example, you can turn on a light (noun), something can be light (adjective) (not heavy), you can light a candle (verb).</p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">Natural Language Understanding (NLU)<ref>Rouse, M. (2019, September 20). natural language understanding (NLU). Retrieved from searchenterpriseai.techtarget.com: https://searchenterpriseai.techtarget.com/definition/natural-language-understanding-NLU</ref> refers to understanding input to a computer in the form of spoken words or text. It enables computers to understand human speech without using a pre-programmed syntax and allows computers to respond to the commands or questions in an intelligent and coherent manner. NLU is what’s behind chat bots that interact with humans without intervention.</p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">Natural Language Generation (NLG)<ref>Wikipedia. (2019, September 6). Natural-language generation. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural-language_generation</ref> is the process of converting text into natural language, which is the opposite of NLU. NLG can take data from text, graphics, or even generated narratives and create responsive narratives that are a summary of the information. The first NLG commercial system was to create weather forecasts from weather data.<ref>Goldberg, E., Driedger, N., & Kittredge, R. I. (1994, April). <i>[https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=630016 Using Natural-Language Processing to Produce Weather Forecasts]</i>. Retrieved from dl.acm.org</ref> Another example of natural language generation is a BI platform that can generate explanations of data visualizations within a dashboard.<ref>Automated Insights. (2018, January 30). <i>[https://medium.com/@AutomatedInsights/the-ultimate-guide-to-natural-language-generation-bdcb457423d6 The Ultimate Guide to Natural Language Generation]</i>. Retrieved from medium.com</ref></p>
<h2>Industry Usage</h2>
<h2>Industry Usage</h2>
<p>The global CMP market, in 2018, was valued at USD 8,182.2 million and is expected to reach USD 26,767.0 million, a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 18.4% during the forecast future period. (Market Watch, 2019) Whereas the Multi-Cloud Management market size is expected to grow from USD 1,169.5 million in 2017 to USD 4,492.7 million by 2022, at a CAGR of 30.9%.<ref>Research and Markets. (2018, April 9). <i>[https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/04/09/1466739/0/en/Multi-Cloud-Management-Market-2017-Global-Forecast-to-2022.html Multi-Cloud Management Market 2017 - Global Forecast to 2022]</i>. Retrieved from globenewswire.com</ref></p>
<p class="inline">Conversational UI provides an alternative way for humans to interact with devices. They allow users to interact with and navigate a system, app, or device using conversational input only. Conversational UIs and digital assistants can open applications, write text into an input box, and issue commands to applications. For example “Hey Siri, set a timer for 30 seconds”). So a conversational UI is a replacement for a graphical user interface (GUI).</p><p class="inline expand mw-collapsible-content"> Conversational interfaces can be found on nearly all mobile devices now, as most cell phones come pre-installed with a their manufacturer’s digital assistant.</p><p class="inline"> These interfaces allow for better service delivery by providing a newer technology that end users have come to expect.</p>
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<p class="inline">Cloud computing simplifies the acquisition of many services, amplifying the need for integrated CMP services that help to continually monitor and optimize the benefits realized from Cloud Services, while proactively managing risks.</p><p class="inline expand mw-collapsible-content"> As IT further permeates all types of industry, organizations turn toward adopting and utilizing the cloud for their operations. Once enterprises seriously adopt the cloud, they then tend to integrate CMP tools into their respective operations to manage this new environment. Exact CMP options are dependent on the vendor, but they all essentially assist in the management and deployment of cloud environments.</p>
<p class="inline">Some of the simpler customer interactions can be automated to allow human resources to perform more difficult tasks that are hard to automate in the service industry.</p><p class="inline expand mw-collapsible-content"> For example, the Dutch airline KLM has begun using a chatbot that interfaces with Facebook’s messenger app<ref>Mielke, C. (2016, July 18). <i>[https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2016/07/conversational-interfaces-where-are-we-today-where-are-we-heading/ Conversational Interfaces: Where Are We Today? Where Are We Heading?]</i> Retrieved from smashingmagazine.com</ref>. This allows individuals to check their flight details and even modify certain travel aspects without having to contact a KLM representative directly. This is a great advantage as human KLM representatives can be applied to more serious customer issues.</p>
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<p class="inline">Most industries using CMPs purchase it from third party vendors. Some of the most popular cloud management platforms being used by industries are: Cisco Cloud Center, BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management, Morpheus and IBM Cloud Orchestrator.</p><p class="inline expand mw-collapsible-content"> These CMPs are helping various organizations across many industries automate cloud tools provisioning, integrate service management, manage their cloud environment (i.e., cloud resource consumption, monitoring etc.), security and more.</p>
<p>Sephora, a popular makeup retailer in the U.S., has a successful bot on Kik. Kik is a mobile messaging application that allows one-on-one chatting, group chats, and an internal web browser.<ref>webwise.ie. (2019, September 20). Explainer: What is Kik? Retrieved from webwise.ie: https://www.webwise.ie/parents/explainer-what-is-kik/</ref> The app also has sub-apps that work within the browser, which encourages users to stay within the app.</p>
<p>Today, the bot engages users with a number of questions about makeup preferences and serves up content and offers relevant to the responses it receives. While it does not sound like a highly sophisticated process, the more consumers engage with the bot over time, the smarter the bot (as well as the brand) gets about consumer preferences and the better it can serve personalized content and offers.</p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">Several major technology companies including Amazon, Google, Apple, and Samsung have already released voice-activated assistants. There are also many platforms developed in combination with NLU platform, to facilitate the construction of chatbots. Some of these include API.ai (Google), Wit.ai (Facebook), and the Microsoft Bot Framework.<ref>Paulson, K. (2017, March 23). A beginner's guide to designing conversational interfaces. Retrieved from webdesignerdepot.com: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2017/03/a-beginners-guide-to-designing-conversational-interfaces/</ref> Designing chatbots for specific tasks using these platforms allow individuals to interface with their applications and in turn communication is established among a plethora of applications. For example, building an agent using Google’s API.ai automatically creates a Google cloud platform<ref>Catanzariti, P. (2017, May 22). <i>[https://www.sitepoint.com/how-to-build-your-own-ai-assistant-using-api-ai/ How to Build Your Own AI Assistant Using Api.ai]</i>. Retrieved from sitepoint.com</ref> for the agent. Using the Google cloud platform provides a secure and high-performance infrastructure, which is maintained by Google. The Google Cloud Platform offers services for compute, storage, networking, big data, machine learning and the internet of things (IoT), as well as cloud management, security and developer tools.<ref>Rouse, M. (2016, January 29). Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Retrieved from searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com: https://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/definition/Google-Cloud-Platform</ref></p>
<p>Digital assistants offer an alternative way for users to perform their daily tasks. They have the potential to eliminate a lot of the time individuals spend typing emails, documents, checking for updates and more. The potential amount of time digital assistants can save could have countless benefits for an industry. As digital assistants develop, their capabilities increase rapidly. This means corporations can use the assistants to give instant voice messages, send broadcasts, play audio and more.</p>
<p>Digital assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa are already being implemented in businesses across North America. DA’s are being used to notify IT service desks of technology-related issues, to begin conference calls<ref>Amazon. (2019, August 13). <i>[https://docs.aws.amazon.com/a4b/latest/ag/setup-conferencing.html Alexa for Business]</i>. Retrieved from docs.aws.amazon.com</ref>, locate open meeting rooms<ref>Perez, S. (2018, October 10). Alexa can now reserve conference rooms. Retrieved from techcrunch.com: https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/10/alexa-can-now-reserve-conference-rooms/</ref>, operate office lights<ref>Smart Home Focus. (2019, March 9). Alexa turn on the lights. Retrieved from smarthomefocus.com: https://www.smarthomefocus.com/alexa-turn-on-lights/</ref> and even check security camera feeds<ref>Lamkin, P. (2019, April 17). <i>[https://www.the-ambient.com/how-to/how-to-watch-nest-security-camera-alexa-493 How to view security camera footage on your Amazon Echo devices]</i>. Retrieved from the-ambient.com</ref>.</p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">McDonalds uses LivePerson<ref>Sutton, J. (2019, April 9). LivePerson helps McDonald's Canada launch conversational commerce on Google Assistant. Retrieved from newswire.ca: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/liveperson-helps-mcdonald-s-canada-launch-conversational-commerce-on-google-assistant-802328181.html</ref>, which is a conversational service that is available through Google Assistant-powered smartphones, to allow customers to benefit from a number of useful features including location-aware special offers, hands-free browsing, and the ability to place an order by tapping any offer. This service is currently available to all customers in Canada who use the Google Assistant service.</p>
<h2>Canadian Government Use</h2>
<h2>Canadian Government Use</h2>
<p>In the summer of 2016 the Government of Canada (GC) published the GC Information Technology Strategic Plan (GC ITSP) and the GC Cloud Adoption Strategy, known as the “Right-Cloud-Adoption-Strategy”. The GC Cloud Adoption Strategy promoted a series of adoption principles for GC Chief Information Officers (CIOs) to consider when choosing and using IT services. This included considerations on where cloud could benefit departments and when cloud was an appropriate deployment model. The onus was on each department’s CIO to demonstrate which deployment model was right for their business context, and cloud solutions were not necessarily the default options for deployment.<ref>Government of Canada. (2016, August 10). <i>[https://www.canada.ca/en/government/system/digital-government/modern-emerging-technologies/cloud-services/government-canada-right-cloud-selection-guidance.html Government of Canada Right Cloud Selection Guidance]</i>. Retrieved from canada.ca</ref></p>
<p>The use of Conversational UI can provide several benefits to the Government of Canada. Since Conversational UI increases the quality of interaction between human and device, the GC can benefit from its use in the delivery of Services. For example, if Conversational UI were used to handle basic technical problems encountered by employees in the GC, this would ease the workload of IT support staff allowing them to deal with more complex issues that the Conversational UI cannot handle.</p>
<p>Conversational UIs could also be used on GC websites. This would aid Canadian citizens accessing the websites to quickly obtain information they are seeking through natural language requests with a chatbot. If the chatbot can’t retrieve information or direct the user where to go, the chatbot could connect the user with the relevant department’s contact information or with an appropriate help desk worker. It could also be beneficial when an individual is required to fill out forms or applications to give immediate feedback on whether the data they have entered is valid or needs to be modified.</p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">The TBS Directive on Management of Information Technology sets the technology architecture solutions whereby a “Use Cloud First” is the default choice in an order of preference of: 1) Public Cloud; 2) Hybrid Cloud; 3) Private Cloud; and 4) Non-Cloud (on-premises) solutions.<ref>Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. (2019, August 2). <i>[https://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=15249§ion=html Directive on Management of Information Technology]</i>. Retrieved from tbs-sct.gc.ca</ref></p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">In addition, digital assistants have to potential to improve on an employee’s productivity. In a survey conducted by AtTask and Harris Interactive, employees reported spending 45 percent of their time doing work that was required by their primary roles.<ref>AtTask. (2014, October 22). <i>[https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/attask-study-shows-miscommunication-and-distractions-overshadow-work-productivity-720630018.html AtTask Study Shows Miscommunication and Distractions Overshadow Work Productivity]</i>. Retrieved from prnewswire.com</ref> Excessive emails were identified as a leading contributor for reducing productivity. Digital assistants can bridge that gap by performing repetitive tasks such as setting up and joining meetings<ref>Amazon. (2019, August 13). <i>[https://docs.aws.amazon.com/a4b/latest/ag/setup-conferencing.html Alexa for Business]</i>. Retrieved from docs.aws.amazon.com</ref>, sending emails, answering frequently asked questions, and answering simple customer queries.</p>
<p>The “Use Cloud First” perspective change recognizes that cloud remains the preferred option for IT delivery, with Public Cloud being the preferred model for all cloud deployments.<ref>Government of Canada. (2019, June 17). <i>[https://www.canada.ca/en/government/system/digital-government/modern-emerging-technologies/cloud-services/government-canada-cloud-adoption-strategy.html Government of Canada Cloud Adoption Strategy: 2018 update]</i>. Retrieved from canada.ca</ref> In a public cloud model, GC organizations share secure tenancy with other consumers of a cloud service, including private companies, non-profits and individuals.</p>
<p>Digital assistants have a unique capability in that user generated “skills” or functions can be added by users and business to deal with specific tasks. The GC could create it’s own “skills” to deal with specific scenarios unique to the federal workplace. Doing so can increase productivity by giving more time to workers to focus on important tasks and there is the related potential of saving money since less time will be wasted on repetitive tasks.</p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">Since chatbots and DA’s are a recent introduction to the GC, few examples exist of federal use of the technologies. As more time passes and solutions exit their prototyping phases, more examples of use will be available.</p>
<p>According to Sarah Turnbull, the first instance of the GC launching a chatbot was from December 25, 2017 to February 28, 2018 as part of an awareness campaign from Public Safety Canada called “Don’t Drive High”<ref>Turnbull, S. (2018, April 9). Ottawa used Facebook chatbot for ‘driving high’ campaign. Retrieved from ipolitics.ca: https://ipolitics.ca/2018/04/09/facebook-chatbot-message-about-driving-high-on-pot-a-first-for-feds/</ref>. The chatbot was designed as a way to interactively educate people 16 to 24 year old about the risks of driving high, while also providing them a way to find help or find a ride to get home.</p>
<p>Under the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) initiative<ref>Canada Border Services Agency. (2019, September 4). <i>[https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/prog/carm-gcra/menu-eng.html CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management]</i>. Retrieved from cbsa-asfc.gc.ca</ref>, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is currently proposing a chatbot<ref>Canadian Society of Customs Brockers. (2019, April 10). <i>[http://cscb.ca/content/carm-trade-chain-partners-tcp-consultation-meeting-april-2019 CARM Trade Chain Partners (TCP) Consultation Meeting, April 2019]</i>. Retrieved from cscb.ca</ref> that can help Trade Chain Partners (TCPs) with getting to valuable information faster. The proposed chatbot will help TCPs with understanding CBSA regulations as they relate to questions asked by the TCP. The chatbot will help with the CARM initiative’s stated goal of “modernizing and streamlining the process of importing commercial goods into Canada”.</p>
<h2>Implications for Government Agencies</h2>
<h2>Implications for Government Agencies</h2>
<h4>Value Proposition</h4>
<h4>Value Proposition</h4>
<p>A CMP plays an essential role to enable resource visibility, simplify cloud management, and optimize the utilization of resources in a multi-cloud environment.</p>
<p>Shared Services Canada (SSC) could gain value from conversational UI internally, by allowing it to deal with employee technical issues in a self-serve fashion. It can also allow external individuals to gain information quickly about SSC and refine their questions, without having to navigate an information rich website they may be unfamiliar with. Usage data collected from user interactions can help with getting insights on how to improve service delivery to stakeholders, clients and Canadians.</p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">The strengths of many CMPs vary depending on the vendor, however core CMP capabilities provide: Cost Insights and Efficiencies; Resource Management and Automation; Improved Governance and Security; and Providing Integration.</p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">The most frequently asked questions can point out what information needs to be made better available, and if new services need to be created. Additionally, an overlooked benefit of DAs and chatbots, is that they do not judge the questions being asked, don’t appear impatient and may be more approachable than live assistants. This could increase user interaction as they would feel more comfortable asking questions they might have otherwise been too hesitant to ask.</p>
<p><b></u>Cost Insights and Efficiencies</u></b></p>
<p>DAs can also increase employee productivity<ref>Gibbison, M. (2017, January 11). <i>[https://diginomica.com/7-ways-digital-assistants-and-ai-will-help-transform-public-services 7 ways digital assistants and AI will help transform public services]</i>. Retrieved from diginomica.com</ref> and help them focus on the core tasks of their mandate. DAs and chatbots alike can be used to fill out forms and can prompt users when a section has been filled out incorrectly and submit them on a user’s behalf to save time.<ref>Clifford, C. (2014, November 23). <i>[https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/240076 How Much Time Do Your Employees Spend Doing Real Work? The Answer May Surprise You. (Infographic)]</i>. Retrieved from entrepreneur.com</ref></p>
<h4>Challenges</h4>
<h4>Challenges</h4>
<p>Deploying, integrating and maintaining a CMP solution isn’t as simple as it sounds. Businesses want to take advantage of the benefits the cloud can offer, however they still need to manage their cloud operations and resources even with a CMP. Integrating a CMP, or suite of CMPs, across a multitude of environments and varying legacy models can be extremely challenging.</p>
<p>The launch of Conversational UI’s in the GC provides a few challenges. Using either voice-activated assistants or chatbots designed using platforms like API.ai and Wit.ai means that the GC will be using Google’s or any other company’s cloud computing network to process the information submitted to the conversational UI. SSC will need to assess the security and privacy implications this brings forth. If the Conversational UI were to be designed without the use of these platforms then that would mean a sizable investment into designing one as well as maintaining it, unless an open source solution is adopted.</p>
<p>Organizations will need to understand that a CMP will greatly amplify the need for well-thought-out governance procedures and compliance measures. While CMPs can help simplify existing governance management, it doesn't alleviate the need for pre-established governance models to be in place already on the network. Considering the wide availability of Cloud Computing services, and the lack of organizational governance controls over employees engaging with such services, governance can be a source of problems.</p>
<p>The challenges with digital assistants are extremely important to note due to their level of severity. One of the issues with digital assistants is the security threat they can pose. Since the majority of DAs are voice-activated, they are vulnerable to attacks such as the DolphinAttack<ref>Arntz, P. (2018, July 18). <i>[https://blog.malwarebytes.com/security-world/2018/07/whats-the-real-value-and-danger-of-smart-assistants/ What’s the real value—and danger—of smart assistants?]</i> Retrieved from blog.malwarebytes.com</ref>. The DolphinAttack is based on the fact that Dolphins can hear frequencies that humans cannot.<ref>Khandelwal, S. (2017, September 7). <i>[https://thehackernews.com/2017/09/ai-digital-voice-assistants.html Hackers Can Silently Control Siri, Alexa & Other Voice Assistants Using Ultrasound]</i>. Retrieved from thehackernews.com</ref> Cyber criminals are able to resonate commands to devices such as Siri at a frequency inaudible to the human ear, yet clear to DAs.<ref>Khandelwal, S. (2017, September 7). <i>[https://thehackernews.com/2017/09/ai-digital-voice-assistants.html Hackers Can Silently Control Siri, Alexa & Other Voice Assistants Using Ultrasound]</i>. Retrieved from thehackernews.com</ref> By doing so, these cyber criminals are able to use the DA’s to visit malicious websites, or pose questions to the DAs that are critical to the operation of the GC.</p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">CMPs and cloud services are still evolving, it is too optimistic to assume that a perfect solution or one specific CMP exists for all enterprises. While single-view CMP offerings can provide capabilities and insights across multiple cloud environments, with the added advantages of consolidation, they also have limitations regarding functionality and support across all hosting, deployment and service models.</p>
<p class="inline expand mw-collapsible-content">These voice activated DAs can be prone to spying. Cyber criminals can compromise the DA’s system, allowing them to hear top secret conversations and use built-in cameras to see those involved. In addition, most of the newer DAs are constantly listening. They use low power processing that is constantly listening for a command to be posed.</p><p class="inline"> The background audio recordings and legitimate questions are all sent back to a main database owned by the DAs operator, and then the security of these files is in the hands of those operators (ex: Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung, etc.). If any of those companies have a security breach, sensitive information from the GC could be accessed and shared with malicious actors. On a smaller scale, this has accidentally happened when an Amazon Echo device misinterpreted a conversation being held in another room, and sent the entire audio file to a contact stored in a contact list<ref>Machkovech, S. (2018, May 24). <i>[https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/05/amazon-confirms-that-echo-device-secretly-shared-users-private-audio/ Amazon confirms that Echo device secretly shared user's private audio]</i>. Retrieved from arstechnica.com</ref>.</p>
<p class="inline-spacer"></p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">The value of CMPs is in delivering the maximum level of consistency between platforms without compromising depth of functionality. Organizations will face the challenge of balancing the competing requirements of depth of functionality with cross-platform and cross-environment consistency in selecting the appropriate CMP or suite of CMPs.</p>
<p class="inline">Other security flaws with DAs involve the use of “skills”. Skills can added to a DA from a skills store operated by the DA owner. Some of them are user submitted and this can pose some problems. Voice squatting<ref>Umawing, J. (2018, May 30). Researchers discover vulnerabilities in smart assistants’ voice commands. Retrieved from blog.malwarebytes.com: https://blog.malwarebytes.com/cybercrime/2018/05/security-vulnerabilities-smart-assistants/</ref> is when the DA can be exploited through the way it launches skills. If a malicious user submitted skill is similarly spelled and pronounced like a legitimate one, the user may accidentally invoke the malicious skill. For example, a command like “Hey Alexa, open Capital One” could also be interpreted as “Hey Alexa, open Capitol Won” and the command might open a malicious skill.</p><p class="inline expand mw-collapsible-content"> There is also the possibility of “voice masquerading”, where a harmful skill impersonates a legitimate one and could trick the user into giving out sensitive information. Piggybacking off of this technique, is the concept of “faking termination” where the harmful skill will pretend to deactivate, but in reality it is still listening and recording information in the background.</p>
<h4>Considerations</h4>
<h4>Considerations</h4>
<p class="inline">Utilizing Cloud Computing without adequate management, oversight, and governance is poor IT practice, the risks to the networks, data centres, and data itself are tremendous. CMPs can help effectively and efficiently manage cloud services across providers and deployment models.</p><p class="inline expand mw-collapsible-content"> A CMP supports SSC in its role as Cloud Broker – in forecasting and monitoring, as Cloud Enabler – in advising and optimizing, and as Cloud Provider – in invoicing, metering, and capacity management.</p>
<p>The draft of the Responsible Artificial Intelligence in the Government of Canada White Paper<ref>Karlin, M. (2017, October 16). <i>[https://gccollab.ca/file/view/161410/enresponsible-ai-in-the-government-of-canadafr Responsible AI in the Government of Canada]</i>. Retrieved from gccollab.ca</ref> from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat outlines some very good considerations for institutions within the GC looking to deploy chatbots:</p>
<ul>
<li>Chatbot conversations should be introduced with a brief privacy notice that is compliant with the Treasury Board Standard on Privacy and Web Analytics<ref>Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. (2013, January 31). Standard on Privacy and Web Analytics. Retrieved from tbs-sct.gc.ca: https://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=26761</ref>. This notice should provide a link to a page with more information on the information collected in the course of the conversation, including any metadata, for example: time and date, duration, whether the conversation was ended by the user or the agent, whether and when the discussion was escalated to a human, etc.</li>
<p>SSC should be aware that the CMP market is large, complex, and ever-changing. Some products are directly available from Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) or from their catalogue offerings via their partners. Other products focus directly on supporting the management of Hybrid-Clouds and multi-Clouds, and are separate offerings that may or may not be offered within a CSP catalog. Other products call themselves CMP products, but really support the goals of CMP (e.g. service management, reporting), but were never designed and architected with a primary objective of being a CMP product. CMPs focus on providing broad functionality across the cloud management domain, but their functionality scope is increasingly being challenged by the quick pace of innovation of hyper scale public cloud providers. When purchasing and deploying a CMP, SSC should have the plan and strategy to handle the imbalanced development between CMP and the cloud technology.</p>
<li>Whether the bot is able to provide a professional tone as a representative of the Government of Canada. Machine learning chatbots may learn language that is potentially unprofessional, abusive, or harassing if exposed to sufficient examples. Where possible, institutions should work with vendors to prevent them from learning this behaviour, whether using a keyword blacklist, or other methodology. It is important to be continually monitoring chatbots’ performance in this regard.</li>
<li>Institutions should be mindful that people in rural or remote locations may encounter latency that will affect their ability to respond to the chatbot’s queries. It's important to ensure that response times from the user are permissive.</li>
<li>Institutions should be mindful that people in rural or remote locations may encounter latency that will affect their ability to respond to the chatbot’s queries. It's important to ensure that response times from the user are permissive.</li>
<li>Chatbots need to be accessible. They should use plain language so as to be understood by users with lower levels of education or comfort with Canada’s official languages. It is also important that chatbots be able to be read by screen readers, or are able themselves to communicate vocally, for persons with visual disabilities.</li>
<li>Users should be provided with a clear escape from the conversation. If a user finds that a chatbot is no longer useful, or is incapable of answering their query, there should be a clear means to transfer the conversation to a human agent (if available), or to send email correspondence. Additionally, if a chatbot has answered a query and the user has ended the session or refrained from answering another question, the chatbot should politely end the conversation.</li>
</ul>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">The same white paper also lists questions that should be asked before the creation of a chatbot:</p>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">SSC must ensure an appropriate CMP strategy is founded on industry and public standards, within a solid CMP framework, drawing from such foundational best practices, including: Object Management Group’s – Cloud Working Group Practical Guide to Cloud Management Platforms (Cloud Standards Customer Council, 2017); the GC Cloud Computing Security Risk Management Approach and Procedures; the GC Right Cloud Selection Guidance; the GC Cloud Computing Adoption Strategy<ref>Government of Canada. (2019, June 17). <i>[https://www.canada.ca/en/government/system/digital-government/modern-emerging-technologies/cloud-services/government-canada-cloud-adoption-strategy.html Government of Canada Cloud Adoption Strategy: 2018 update]</i>. Retrieved from canada.ca</ref>; the ITSG-33 – IT Security Risk Management: A Lifecycle Approach<ref>Canadian Centre for Cyber Security. (2018, November 5).<i>[https://cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/it-security-risk-management-lifecycle-approach-itsg-33 IT Security Risk Management: A Lifecycle Approach (ITSG-33)]</i>. Retrieved from cyber.gc.ca</ref>; and the Shared Services Canada – Cloud Service Broker Concept of Operations (ConOps) – October 3, 2017<ref>Tremblay, D. (2017, April 21). <i>[http://cradpdf.drdc-rddc.gc.ca/PDFS/unc280/p805540_A1b.pdf System Concept of Operations (CONOPS)]</i>. Retrieved from cradpdf.drdc-rddc.gc.ca</ref></p>
<p>SSC will require a diverse skill set to deal with the array of tools across multiple functional categories and many cloud platforms to effectively leverage CMPs capabilities in functional categories and cross-platform consistency. CMPs are change enablers, where unique skills and expertise are required in order to effectively and efficiently audit, consume and Broker Cloud Services. Plans need to be carefully developed and coordinated, including skills training, processes, workflows and culture, so that incremental sustained progress can be made to successfully manage and realize the benefits from Cloud computing.</p>
<ul class="expand mw-collapsible-content">
<li>Is there a clear business driver for the chatbot?</li>
<li>Are the most common inquiries known and easily answerable? </li>
<li>What can be automated without taking away from the user experience and satisfaction?</li>
<li>What is the sensitivity of the information that the chatbot will likely receive or relay?</li>
<li>Will the interaction be an entirely scripted one, or allow the user to ask open questions?</li>
<li>Will there be an escalation process to a human live chat?</li>
<li>Can interactions be stored in your Customer Relation Management software? Will it enable engagement across other channels (e.g. email, phone, in-person)?</li>
</ul>
<p class="expand mw-collapsible-content">As for DA’s, on top of the challenges already listed, it’s important to monitor if DA’s are enabled on the mobile devices being issued to government employees. Taking into account all of the known security risks, mobile devices could be a new vulnerability if the pre-installed DA’s are vulnerable to attacks, and if the information collected from conversations is sensitive and is shared back to the DA’s database. DA’s on mobile devices should be disabled to prevent any data leaks and to cut off new attack vectors.</p>
<p>In accordance with the shift towards adopting open source tools, the GC should consider testing and adopting open source DAs. As with their commercial counterparts, they are continuously evolving thanks to user input and also have the same capabilities, without the risk of information being sent back to a central database. They also support custom “skills” that can potentially be made by the GC to cater to specific problems.</p>
<p class="inline">Ultimately, conversational user interfaces are still being developed and refined as more and more companies are developing their own solutions. This means that over time, the challenges introduced by the technology with become less significant and the solutions will become more useful and intuitive.</p><p class="inline expand mw-collapsible-content"> At present, there are many applications for chatbots in client facing contexts (ex: client to website), but less so for internal contexts (ex: employee to HR).</p><p class="inline"> Digital assistants are a potentially disruptive technology that will save time but also might cut back on the need for employees whose sole tasks could be completed by a DA. There is currently not much enterprise use for digital assistants when compared to the consumer market. There is a lot of potential for DAs to help in the enterprise sphere, but it has yet to be realized.</p>
<h2>References</h2>
<h2>References</h2>