Road trips require a few things. Ample supplies of salty snacks. Tunes you can sing along to. And, most importantly, a good co-pilot sitting in the passenger seat. But what about your digital transformation journey. Can artificial intelligence (AI) be the right co-pilot to help you deal with all the data?

You’d better believe it can. Just like how the right road trip companion can transform a seemingly ordinary trip into a memorable adventure, AI can be a fantastic co-pilot in your efforts to effectively manage all your data. After all, the core belief of AI is that machines can perform in a way that mirrors human intelligence, including learning over time based on data (i.e., machine learning), says Forbes. Digital transformation is driving the appetite for data to huge proportions. Companies are starving for actionable insights. To try to get them, these companies are moving significant IT footprint to managed service providers (MSPs) and clouds while using modern technology like persistent memory, cloud storage, cloud analytics and business intelligence tools. Effectively managing this complex hybrid IT architecture at scale requires strategies to dynamically tune the infrastructure to meet ever-changing business needs. But with the amount of data we’re talking about, that’s more than any IT team can be expected to handle on its own. That’s where AI comes in. Use cases are increasing. According to IDC, AI spending will rise to $52.2 billion in 2021, reaching a 46.2% compound annual growth rate from 2016-2021. Think of the road trip companions you’ve had, and one probably emerges as your favorite co-pilot. Imagine what the AI version of such a co-pilot could mean in tackling your data challenges. The following are three reasons why AI may be the best co-pilot you’ve ever had.