Agent-Based Intelligence Infrastructure

Abstract

Today’s enterprises must go beyond traditional goals of efficiency and effectiveness; they need to be intelligent in order to adapt and survive in a continuously changing environment (Liebowitz, 1999). An intelligent organization is a living organism, where all components and subsystems work coherently to enable the enterprise to maximize its potential in its goal-driven endeavors. Stonier (1991) suggested that intelligent organizations must have not only intelligent individuals, but also “collective intelligence” that is created through integration of intelligence from sub-units of the organization. Researchers have developed frameworks for building organizations around intelligence, as opposed to traditional approaches that focus on products, processes, or functions (e.g., McMaster, 1996; Liang, 2002). Analogous to intelligent biological life, an intelligent organization has a life of its own. An intelligent enterprise understands its internal structure and activities, as well as external forces such as market, competition, technology, and customers. It learns and adapts continuously to the changing environment. The learning and adaptation are achieved through real-time monitoring of operations, listening to customers, watching the markets, gathering and analyzing data, creating and disseminating knowledge, and making intelligent decisions.