Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the business landscape overnight, giving business more efficiency and significant productivity gains. According to IBM, 35% of companies are using AI, and 42% are exploring AI’s potential for future implementation.
But just because everyone else is using AI, does that mean your business should? And if so, how do you apply AI to benefit your business?
To help you decide the value of integrating AI, we’ll explore the different types of AI, reveal different ways you can apply AI to your business departments, and review the benefits and challenges your business competitors and counterparts are currently facing with AI.
Types of AI
As a recap, artificial intelligence is a cognitive robot controlled by a computer to solve problems and make predictions based on data it collects over time. The goal is to complete time-consuming tasks, so your staff can prioritize other projects, as well as meet objectives faster. AI fulfills the purpose by segmenting its role into process automation, data analysis, and artificial engagement.
- Process Automation: Complete administrative and financial tasks by collecting data from multiple IT systems, such as reading legal documents or recording data from an email.
- Data Analysis: Algorithms used to detect patterns within large amounts of data and interpret their meaning, such as predicting what a customer would buy or detecting fraud within an IT system.
- Engagement: Chatbots or ChatGPT connect with employees and customers using natural language processing (NLP) to address product inquiries, HR policies, or service recommendations.
How to apply AI to your business
While there are company-wide ways AI can be applied to your business, we understand your departments have different objectives and methods that they will apply AI. Here is how AI can be used:
Sales Department
Your sales department is always on the go pursuing hot leads, tracking call times, and investing in potential customers with incentivized campaigns. AI can improve the bottom line by:
- Using natural language processing (NLP) to create and send hundreds of original emails while tracking recipient responses and flagging hot leads.
- Develop sales projections that incorporate incoming trends and changes based on client interactions and previous sales results.
- Customizing the lead funnel to prioritize which prospects are more likely to convert, optimizing the time sales staff spends in the field.
Marketing Department
As marketers create content and spread brand awareness, AI becomes an extra set of “hands” while your marketing team prioritizes other projects and campaigns. Use AI to boost your marketing efforts by:
- Innovating personalized content that can be used for social media posts, blogs, newsletters, and email campaigns.
- Collecting specific data to make accurate decisions on how you want to reach your target audience more effectively.
- Providing suggestions when placing advertisements, edging out the competition, and selecting the right messaging for your intended audience.
Customer Support
Communicating with your customers about product issues, company information, updates, or a service need may be a top priority but isn’t always feasible. AI can add value to your customer relationships by:
- Analyzing the customer message typed in chat and replying promptly with resources you’ve previously created to help resolve the issue.
- Flagging urgent interactions that require an employee to reach out directly and work with the customer to find a solution.
- Recording customer feedback for the development team to create and optimize products and services
Office Operations
AI can refresh and streamline basic office operations for everyone in your business. Google, Scribe, Microsoft, and other large tech companies are integrating AI into their applications to save you time and stress and allow you to prioritize the more critical projects. Here’s how:
- Google has announced a “help me write” feature to be added to Gmail, an AI-generated tool to complete messages after the sender types out a couple of words.
- Scribe launched Scribe AI to create business documentation such as contracts, agreements, and letters in the proper format.
- Microsoft will add AI enhancements to three popular applications: Bing, Edge, and Skype, to help users save time when researching online and video conferencing.
As you can see, AI holds significant potential to help your business reach the next level. And yet, integrating AI initiatives come with challenges you must prepare to work around.
What challenges are businesses facing with AI?
While AI has streamlined business operations, many business owners are experiencing bugs and limitations that they must outsource or work independently to find a solution. If you are in the process of integrating AI into your IT systems, here are some challenges you might come across:
- Lack of understanding: Because AI is relatively new, not everyone will understand what it can accomplish for your business. Without a clear strategy, AI projects may be unable to complete tasks or provide specific data that meets expectations.
- Lack of AI talent: As your business takes advantage of AI’s benefits, you might discover a shortage of experienced technical talent. Consider investing in employee training or outsourcing AI integration and maintenance to an expert.
- Difficulty integrating: While you have a wide array of AI opportunities, finding one that meets business goals and can easily integrate with your applications and data is essential. Before signing the dotted line, check with your IT team or IT service provider that the AI software you’ve chosen is the best option.
(Screenshot taken from HBR)
Businesses have only begun exploring AI’s capabilities and how to leverage them to optimize customer relationships and internal operations, so it’s only natural to run into some challenges. If you are considering implementing an AI initiative in your business, include an IT service provider in the decision-making process as a resource to navigate options. In addition, they will verify what hardware or cloud solutions you need to support the initiative.
Despite these challenges, AI still brings valuable benefits to the table. Benefits that drive projects forward faster and with successful outcomes.
What are the benefits of implementing AI in businesses?
Although hurdles exist, businesses are integrating AI every day. Here are the results you can expect over time as you utilize AI:
- Improvement of customer service relationships: AI works around the clock, connecting with clients and prospects during off hours or when employees aren’t available. They collect feedback over time, so they can answer questions more in-depth the longer they are activated.
- Identify fraud and cybersecurity vulnerabilities: Instead of waiting for a hacker to strike, AI can detect patterns within your IT systems, discerning between malicious actors and your employees. AI anticipates a hacker’s moves and alerts your IT team before an attack occurs. They are then able to protect and secure your system or data.
- Segment data and customize analytics: As one of the most common uses in business, AI analyzes your data to report on consumer data, product success, or areas of improvement and predict incoming trends and outcomes, helping you make wiser decisions with your business.
- Optimize business operations: AI frees up employees’ workday to prioritize other projects they need to accomplish. AI also provides a platform when brainstorming new products or when popular services must be updated and refreshed.
(Screenshot taken from HBR)
It’s important to remember that project implementation results may take time. Establishing a large goal, with smaller tasks that take your AI project through a step-by-step process, will lead you to the end goal, allowing your AI to learn your business needs.
Hit the ground running with your AI.
Ultimately, it’s important to discuss with your staff the motivation and outcomes behind your AI implementation to ensure it will positively impact your team.
If you decide AI will benefit your business, an IT service provider like CoreTech will consult your business on your goals for AI. We will also vet which applications would work with other IT systems to meet your objectives. After selecting an application or system, we will ensure your hardware meets the requirements to implement and maintain your AI goals.
Are you in the process of deciding whether AI is right for your business? Schedule a meeting to discover how CoreTech can help.
