Unlock New Levels of Operational Efficiency Through AI

In today’s digitally modernized and highly competitive world, businesses need to be on top of their game to survive and make profits in the longer run. There is absolutely no room for individuals or organizations that have failed or are still reluctant to adapt the realities of artificial intelligence (AI) and the impact it has already made on countless business sectors and industries.

Statista reports that the AI industry will witness an increasingly upward trend in the next decade. In 2021, the industry was valued at nearly $100bn, and by 2030, it is expected to surpass $2tn. That is a twentyfold increase - a growth magnitude that hasn’t been projected for a lot of industries out there.

The aforementioned AI market trend gives a very clear picture of how artificial intelligence is going to have an impact in the near future. But first, we will dive more into the concept of AI itself, what it is all about and how will it impact businesses in a broader perspective?

Artificial Intelligence or simply AI, is a collection of machine processes and patterns that stimulate human-like behavior. The common traits or characteristics it may include are learning, problem-solving, rational decision-making, forecasting through mathematical and logical reasons with the data available. Based on three cognitive skills learning, reasoning and self-correction, AI programs and algorithms work in cohesion using data that has been turned into actionable information to perform tasks, resolve problems and make forecasts.

During the past few years, artificial intelligence has evolved in a quite a number of technologies and solutions. Each branch of AI that we see today has it’s own logical concepts, uses and applications.

Machine learning (ML) is a branch of AI that primarily focuses on using available data or algorithms in a way that makes it capable to learn, just the way humans do. This results in improved and more accurate results over the passage of time. Some prime examples of machine learning concept are the YouTube recommendations that we see on our mobile devices these days.

Deep learning is one of the subsets of machine learning that involves neural networks and it is based on imitating the behavior of human brain in order to learn from big data sets. Deep learning assists in a number of AI applications nowadays, such as predictive analysis, fraud detection tools, digital assistants, etc.

NLP is the branch of AI that assists computers understand and interpret the language of humans. Over the years, human-to-machine communication have paved way for a number of other AI-based applications and uses in different business sectors worldwide. NLP has remained a major component of it.

Robotics is a concept that is based on operation of machines that have the ability to perform physical tasks for or on behalf of a human. In recent years, artificial intelligence and machine learning - in combination with robotics - have made it possible for big manufacturing sectors to carry out tasks of large magnitude with zero or minimal human intervention.

In today’s world where we hear a lot about the impact of AI in our everyday lives - the term ‘automation’ is one that is most commonly used. In layman’s terms, automation is a concept that talks about eliminating or minimizing human intervention in tasks and applications that can be carried out by a physical robot, a programmed software.

A relatively newer addition in the field of AI, facial recognition is a machine’s ability to identify a person’s identity using their face. This technology is based on 2D and 3D images - transforming analog data into digital data, eventually using multiple mathematical formulae and codes to recognize a person’s face.

Facial recognition technology is widely used in mobile devices and security cameras these days to identify people quickly and accurately.

Another commonly used AI technology in the modern-day world is speech recognition that involves a machine’s ability to convert human speech into machine-readable format. This can help people with disabilities to interact with a computer and get desired outputs, that might seem fairly difficult otherwise.

A chatbot is a program that imitates human conversation to interact with a user and resolve their problems in real-time. These days, chatbots are widely used by businesses to ensure 24/7 availability to their potential or existing customers through various digital touchpoints such as websites, apps, phone support, etc. Chatbot improves customer service, increases efficiency, and enhances lead generation.

Ways of Using AI Effectively

Let us now have a look at how businesses today can effectively use AI-based systems to improve various aspects of their processes and mechanisms.

Cyber Security: Over the years, businesses have been able to protect themselves from spam, malware and other types of cyberattacks through increased role of AI in the field of cybersecurity.

Since AI has the ability to handle large sets of data, and in many cases without human intervention, companies and organizations are able to implement security screening mechanisms for far lower costs in comparison to employing multiple human resources for the same job. Common examples are incident response applications, CCTV crime prevention systems, AI-powered biometrics technology, home security systems, etc.

Customer Service: According to a 2020 Mckinsey research, AI technologies could be adding more than $1tn of value each year - enhanced customer service being a big part of it. During the pandemic, we saw a massive increase in AI-based customer service innovations and implementations of which, chatbots and digital assistants were the most prominent.

Today, there are a number of business sectors, industries and organizations that are effectively using a hybrid model in customer service, meaning that during a customer’s journey, they might go through various touch points where they will be interacting either solely with an AI-powered system, a human or a combination of both.

In fact, another report suggests that 75% of customers use multiple touch-points in their experience. This means having AI-powered mechanisms not only benefits the customers, it can actually benefit employees as well through realtime suggestions and recommendations to deliver accurate information.

Digital Automation: We do hear a lot about the Application Programme Inter-faces (APIs) - that is what digital automation is all about!

Digital automation is defined as the ability of technology systems to access user interface of other internal or external applications in order to execute both simple or complex business processed to achieve desired results.

In today’s world, the use of APIs has made our lives a whole lot easier, where our mobile apps or software can easily fetch data from other applications using this concept.

Sales & Marketing: In recent years, AI has played a vital role in sales & marketing in the corporate sector. According to a salesforce report, sales managers and leaders label choose AI as the technology that they are expected to adopt faster than any other that are introduced to.

Another study found out that successful sales professionals are almost 5 times more likely to be using various AI tools and methodologies to assist them in their sales journey, as compared to the ones who have been underperforming. AI-based systems can make valuable sales predictions, give recommendations and identify specific target groups that can make the lives of salespeople a whole lot easier.

Marketers enjoy similar benefits from modern-day AI-powered marketing solutions, processes and methodologies. With tools like SurferSEO, smartly.io and jasper.ai, marketers are now able to create marketing copies, content and automation processes that enable them to reach the right customer more quickly and cost effectively.

Future of AI & Automation - In a Nutshell

There is not a lot of doubt when it comes to recognizing and accepting the role that AI has already played, and the impact it will have on every industry in the years to come. Taking into consideration all the big investments being made in different fields of AI, it won’t be a surprise anymore if we start seeing AI taking over major business sectors sooner than we might have perceived.

Businesses need to identify and implement relevant AI technologies and tools into their systems in order to deal with the ever-changing needs and trends of their customers, competitors and everything else that will determine their profit maximisation in the longer run. And for some, it could be very well their survival.