On the lead up to this year's 2019 AI Awards, here is my round-up from the 2018 AI Awards and information on why McKesson are being called ‘pioneers’ for their work with cutting edge technology. All thoughts, views and comments are my own.



Two Months, Two Awards

On 19th October 2018, McKesson Cork won "Multinational of the Year Award" at the IT@Cork Leaders Awards 2018. Rory Lankford, General Manager at McKesson Ireland, gave a great overview on how McKesson Cork have evolved since 2001 from a nine-employee software distribution company to McKesson's first Enterprise Technology Hub outside of the United States. Just on month later, on the 22nd November, McKesson continued their success by winning the "Best Application of AI in a Large Enterprise" at the 2018 AI Awards.



Figure 1: McKesson, Two Awards, Two Months



AI Awards

The AI Awards was setup by the non-profit organisation AI Ireland. The aim of these awards is to increase the public awareness of artificial intelligence (AI) by bringing academia and industry together to showcase and recognise the hard work and dedication in the field of AI within Ireland (AI Awards, 2018a).



The AI Awards were split into different categories representing start-ups, academia, research and industry. McKesson Labs, a newly formed software innovation team within McKesson Technology which focuses on innovation, design, developer services and automation products, applied to the "Best Application of AI in a Large Enterprise" category for our range and vision of cyber-security applications aimed at protecting critical patient data.

Application Presentation

It was announced on the 20th September that McKesson were successful in being shortlisted to the final four. James Hurley, Director of Engineering and Graham Baitson, Lead of Innovation Labs travelled to the Gibson Hotel, Dublin to present their submission and answer grilling questions on all aspects of the application from the judges.



Figure 2: AI Awards Large Enterprise Finalists and McKesson Presentation Team (Graham Baitson, Lead of Innovation Labs & James Hurley, Director of Engineering)



Award Ceremony

All the hard work had been done as it all boiled down to this moment. The moment that everyone had been waiting for. A packed house as over 200+ industry professionals, academics and enthusiasts came together to celebrate the very best of AI in Ireland at the inaugural AI Awards (AI Awards, 2018b). Three incredibly strong contenders, gripped to the edge of their seats, waiting to snatch victory from within our grasp. Our faith now rested in the opening of that precious gold envelope. But who will be the winner? We anxiously looked at each other during the famous "and the winner is" pause, of what felt like an eternity. MCKESSON !!!!! We had done it. We had won.



Figure 3: McKesson - 2018 Winners of the AI Awards "Best Application of AI in a Large Enterprise" Category (Graham Baitson, James Hurley, Amy Garde, Denis Canty, Glenn Fitzpatrick)



Top Comments

It was clear to see the hard work that the AI Awards team have put in to make this event a success. Their aspirations had come to fruition as the entire ceremony had gone precisely to plan. In addition to the awards, the event was filled with thought-provoking and inspirational talks. The following are some of my favourite moments.



Figure 4: Mark Kelly, Founder of AI Ireland



Figure 5: Cathriona Hallahan, Managing Director at Microsoft



Figure 6: James Hurley, Director of Engineering at McKesson



Figure 7: Una Fitzpatrick, Director of Technology Ireland - Ibec



Figure 8: Alessandra Sala, Head of Analytics Research at Nokia Bell Labs



Figure 9: Petronel Bigioi, SVP Engineering and GM at FotoNation



Figure 10: Orla Cullen, Product Management - Predictive Analytics at SAP



Figure 11: Ken Finnegan, Director of Innovation at Harbour Innovation Campus



McKesson Labs

We’re experiencing an era of unprecedented change in healthcare. New technology, new services and new ideas will be needed in order to deliver improved outcomes for businesses and patients. McKesson is at the forefront of that transformation.



Figure 12: 2018 McKesson Labs, Cork



Mission

Denis Canty, Senior Director of Engineering at the time, joined McKesson back in July 2017 with the ambition of creating a team to collaborate globally, maximise existing technologies and carry the flag of disruption to drive technology through the business. McKesson Labs had been born. McKesson Labs initially formed two technology hubs located in Cork, Ireland and Scottsdale, Arizona to focus on the pillars of innovation, design, developer services and automation products. McKesson Labs collaborate closely with cross-functional teams globally, partner with companies, engage with local universities and participate in conferences in order to understand and create products that reduce cost, drive revenue growth, and potentially create new revenue streams for McKesson.



AI Award Winning Application

As attackers start to utilise the vast array of complex tools and technologies that are available, cyber-attacks become more sophisticated, so much so, to the point where humans are struggling to identify safe from malicious data. McKesson feel that the integration of advanced technologies will enhance the security of patient critical data by accelerating the ability to distinguish and classify safe from malicious data. 



By leveraging next-gen technology, ever-evolving intelligent solutions can be created with the aim to combat potential data breaches. By using a combination of software robotics, sentiment analysis and investigative computing, automation products can be developed to identify malicious threats and act as augmented AI sentinels. This ecosystem of cognitive agents can continue to strengthen McKesson's defence perimeter by dynamically controlling the various internal protection mechanisms. By complimenting the above with Human in the Loop (HITL) and smart reinforced tagging, the overall security hygiene can be vastly improved, increasing the capability for the detection and awareness of malicious data activity, thus reducing incident response times. This is a clear example of applying advanced AI technologies to compliment automation in delivering improved security posture for a Fortune 7 company, whilst also gaining financial savings.

2019 AI Awards

The deadline for applications is August 30th so make sure you get your submissions in to be in with a chance of winning. McKesson are delighted to show our continued support and support this year’s event, along with some great names.



Figure 13: 2019 AI Award Sponsors



In addition to sponsoring this year’s event, James Hurley, Director of Engineering and Graham Baitson, Lead of Innovation Labs are one of the judges for the 2019 AI Awards. We are really looking forward to being part of the experts panel in deciding this year’s winners.



Figure 14: 2019 AI Award Judges



Final Thoughts

On October 2018, Denis Canty was promoted to the Vice President of Technology Labs, and as a result, McKesson Labs continue to grow in numbers, talent, applications and also locations, adding hubs in Las Colinas, Texas and Alpharetta, Georgia. If you want to join the team and be part of this journey, then please have a look at the current open positions.



AI is paving the way to create applications that once seemed science fiction. But with these application comes the ethical implications that cannot be ignored. We are going to need the brightest minds to solve the future of the worlds problems and ensure that technology is used for the good of mankind. We are living in a challenging, exciting and also potentially scary time where there's so much uncertainty to what our future has to offer. It's important that we are all part of the future and have our say through our contributions. So until our next victory, Kathy McElligott, Executive VP, CIO / CTO of McKesson has perfectly described what can be achieved when hard work and determination meets collaboration.

"A perfect example of the innovation derived when great minds collaborate across teams and continents" - Kathy McElligott, Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer / Chief Technology Officer at McKesson



References

• AI Awards. (2018a). AI Awards. [online] Available at: https://aiawards.ie/about-us/
• AI Awards. (2018b). AI Awards 2018: Six winners revealed at Sold-out Ceremony in Dublin. [online] Available at: https://aiawards.ie/ai-awards-2018-six-winners-revealed-at-sold-out-ceremony-in-dublin/
• Figure 3: McKesson - 2018 Winners of the AI Awards "Best Application of AI in a Large Enterprise" Category (Graham Baitson, James Hurley, Amy Garde, Denis Canty, Glenn Fitzpatrick). Conor McCabe Photography.
• Figure 4: Mark Kelly, Founder of AI Ireland. Conor McCabe Photography.
• Figure 5: Cathriona Hallahan, Managing Director at Microsoft. Conor McCabe Photography.
• Figure 6: James Hurley, Director of Engineering at McKesson. Conor McCabe Photography.
• Figure 7: Una Fitzpatrick, Director of Technology Ireland - Ibec. Conor McCabe Photography.
• Figure 8: Alessandra Sala, Head of Analytics Research at Nokia Bell Labs. Conor McCabe Photography.
• Figure 9: Petronel Bigioi, SVP Engineering and GM at FotoNation. Conor McCabe Photography.
• Figure 10: Orla Cullen, Product Management - Predictive Analytics at SAP. Conor McCabe Photography.
• Figure 11: Ken Finnegan, Director of Innovation at Harbour Innovation Campus. Conor McCabe Photography.