7 Awesome Ways In Which Artificial Intelligence Will Empower Your Business

I don’t want to scare you.

But a technology has been seeping its way into your life very quietly for some time, and it has been strongly affecting how you work and do business.

And most organizations aren’t aware of just how widely it’s being used right there, under their noses, at their very own workplace.

The good news?

This technology isn’t in the slightest bit as threatening as people think it is, although it is very new and it’s changing the world faster than any technology has managed to up to this point.

But what’s important is this: If you use it as your business ally, you can literally turn every area of your company upside down, obliterating inefficiency, super optimizing operations, and saving a lot of money.

I am, of course, talking about artificial intelligence.

These days, 80% of executives believe that AI solutions can significantly improve productivity, so I probably don’t need to convince you of its immense power.

So, let’s look at how you can harness that immense power right now.

1. Customer Service

Droves of companies know just how important their customer service is, and how much it can affect their company.

But things can also go wrong very quickly.

The 2016 Microsoft State of Global Customer Service, for example, found that 60% of consumers completely stopped doing business with a brand as a result of just one poor customer service experience.

People don’t like to feel like they’re conversing with an unintelligent machine, waiting on the line, pressing buttons, being transferred multiple times before they reach the expert they need, etc.

Chatbots are the answer.

They can begin reading and analyzing customer data from the initial touch point and provide smart insights on how to effectively assist your customer.

Solutions like Nano Rep allow you to integrate your customer support with resources like Zendesk, Magneto and Salesforce and allow you to become available on the most popular messaging platforms, including Facebook Messenger, Skype, Slack and WhatsApp.

Why not consider it?

Another state-of-the-art application of AI is being used by Cogito to improve the emotional intelligence of customer support representatives, according to Forbes.

The company is using a fusion of machine learning and behavioral science to analyze millions upon millions of voice calls and improve customer interactions based on the data.

Who’s next?

The UK’s National Health System is going to trial an AI-powered chatbot on their 111 non-emergency helpline in North London for 6 months, so its 1.2 million residents can enter their symptoms into the app.

The app will then consult a large medical database and users will receive tailored responses based on the information they’ve entered.

2. Information Technology And Security

The top way businesses are using AI right now is in IT and security.

Around 44% of 835 companies surveyed by Tata Consultancy Services were already using AI to detect and deter security intrusions in 2017.

Forty-one percent are using it to resolve users’ technology problems…

Thirty-four percent to reduce production management work by automating it…

And another 34% are using it to gauge internal compliance for approved technology vectors, notes the Harvard Business Review.

IT consultancy Gartner also predicts that by 2020, at least 75% of security software tools will include predictive and prescriptive analytics based on heuristics, artificial intelligence capabilities or machine learning algorithms. 

What’s available right now?

Cylance offers cyber security products and services that proactively prevent, rather than reactively detect, the execution of advanced persistent threats and malware. This company is the choice of Fortune 100 organizations and government institutions.

HANA is SAP’s cloud platform and machine learning solution, which companies are using to manage databases of information they have collected, such as sales transactions or customer info, relational databases, apps and other sources.

3. Business Management

From scheduling conferences and team meetings to programming business trips and decision-making support, AI can help with business management activities. 

IBM estimates Decision Support will create $2 trillion worth of IT spending on top of what they’re already spending by 2025.

Domo is a fast-growing business management software company that has raised over $500 million in funding and has created a dashboard that gathers information to help companies make decisions.

The cloud-based solution can scale with the size of your company, and can be used by teams with as few as 50 members.

There are more than 400 native software connectors that allow Domo to collect data from third-party apps which can then be used to give context to business intelligence.

It’s a good option to consider, wouldn’t you say?

An alternative is Avanade, the solution from a joint venture between Microsoft and Accenture that leverages the Cortana Intelligence Suite and other solutions for predictive analytics and data-based insights on your business.

The insurance company Pacific Specialty tapped the gifts of Avanade to better advise the development of new products by understanding policyholder behavior and trends.

4. Finance and Accounting

According to Forbes, Accenture predicts that 80% of accounting and finance tasks will be delivered with automation in the next few years.

KPMG has certainly been using innovations from McLaren Applied Technologies in its audit processes (since 2015!).

KPMG is in the process of developing a powerful suite of tools for their audit and non-audit clients that use the predictive analytics capabilities.

The tools allow them to interrogate, assess and challenge the predictions that underpin the valuation of assets on their clients’ balance sheets.

KPMG also has an alliance with IBM’s cognitive computer, Watson, which can read thousands of pages of contracts or agreements and summarize them almost instantly, based on your criteria regarding what is and isn’t interesting.

In the meantime, you could use Reach Accountant.

5. Human Resources

Many HR reps know just how tedious and laborious the process of recruiting, interviewing and onboarding can be.

So, it’s no wonder HR is excited by the idea of applying AI to their department’s work.

Restless Bandit is a SaaS product that automates the tasks of screening applications, finding matches, reaching out to them and scheduling face-to-face interviews to greatly reduce the work involved in bringing a good potential candidate into the office.

Could it help your firm hire the best people?

6. Technical Procedures Across Multiple Departments

AI is also perfectly set up to increase the efficiency of technical procedures.

Companies are busy implementing it all over the world.

Japanese insurance firm Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance decided to replace its 34-staff member workforce with IBM’s Watson Explorer AI, stated Computer World UK.

The artificial intelligence system will calculate insurance policy payouts by analyzing medical certificates, surgery and procedure data and hospital stays and calculating the relevant payout.

The firm believes using Watson Explorer will increase productivity by 30 percent and save around $1.28 million USD per year in salaries.

The initial cost of setting up IBM Watson is estimated to be $1.85 million, and annual maintenance is expected to be around $138 million.

French multinational energy firm, Engie, is using a combination of drone and AI image processing technology to inspect its infrastructure to prevent damage to their high-pressure network.

And the Royal Free Hospital in North London is using Google’s DeepMind to build a mobile app that helps hospital staff monitor patients with acute kidney injuries.

Both Watson Explorer and Google’s DeepMind represent options you could use to improve the efficiency of your business.

7. Marketing & Sales

We’re left with one of the most important categories for the future of your business: marketing and sales.

Until recently, you couldn’t leverage AI to revolutionize your marketing and sales departments, despite the fact that both have been moving over to digital at lightning speeds.

Now you can…

Platforms like Adext AI apply Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to digital advertising to find the best audience or demographic group for any ad. Automatically managing budgets across different audiences on multiple platforms (like Google AdWords, and Facebook Ads), and optimizing every single ad about 480 times each day, which makes its current average improvement of +83% more conversions by the 10 days mark, a no-brainer.

Not only that, but it also guarantees Adext Partner agencies that it will get them a better cost per conversion (lower cost per sale or cost per lead) for all their accounts and campaigns, or the service will be FREE, and no management or optimization fees will be charged. That means the only opportunity cost would come from not trying it.

Now you know, so may your business boom with AI!