Despite 70% of organisations spending $1 million or more on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), AI and machine learning are still largely misunderstood terms. Standard definitions to consider are:
- AI is a process of programming computers to make decisions for themselves, including making predictions and identifying patterns.
- Machine learning (ML) is a subset of AI that creates algorithms that improve with experience.
This article explains the range of benefits that AI and ML can bring to your business, from everyday tasks, to customer interactions, to security. Please remember that new forms of AI and ML are being developed all the time, so make sure to look out for further ways to use AI and ML in the future.
1. Automating mundane tasks:
Most businesses are beginning to see the benefit of AI and ML by using them to automate their mundane and everyday tasks. This laborious work bores staff and reduces the time they can spend using their full creative potential.
The most common tasks that are automated by businesses using AI and ML are the following:
- Administrative chores, including finance and accounting.
- Maintaining records for compliance.
- Recruitment and retention risk analysis.
- Business analytics.
- Customer engagement in sales and customer support.
We cover some of these forms of automation in more detail during the remainder of this article.
2. Enhancing customer service:
Using AI and ML to communicate with customers has been used worldwide to improve the speed with which customer queries are dealt with. Gartner data has shown that 15% of all customer interactions are currently fully powered by AI.
The most visible way that businesses use AI and ML to become more responsive is through live chat. This service attempts to answer customer queries in “chat” form. It redirects only complex enquiries that it cannot deal with to human customer service operatives, hugely reducing their workload.
Predicting customer behaviour is a less visible way that AI and ML is used to engage with customers. However, it provides just as much value by allowing businesses to tailor their services to specific customer needs.
3. Increasing sales:
AI and ML are not only great for improving interactions with pre-existing customers. It can also help your business to find new customers.
The clearest and easiest way to achieve this is with AI-targeted advertisements. 90% of customers stated they engaged more with companies that recognised them and provided relevant offers based on their previous interactions.
This form of sales is best if your business leverages e-commerce to make sales. If your business requires close human connection to make sales, you can still benefit from AI and ML. Lead scoring programs can instantaneously identify the value of leads. This means that your sales team will not waste their time on low-value leads.
4. Improving decision making:
AI and ML can also potentially impact your business by altering the fundamental decisions that define your business’ direction. By analyzing past data and patterns, the technology can provide insights that would not be otherwise apparent. This form of AI and ML has been used to help businesses:
- Adjust inventory levels and pricing.
- Identify risks and opportunities.
- Providing information for strategic changes.
Making these kinds of decisions requires insight that would require an enormous time commitment from human workers. Only AI and ML allow you to respond to insights in real time.
5. Enhancing security:
Our final way that AI and ML can help your business protect itself is to enhance security. Most companies will already have strong cybersecurity measures, but unless you are keeping up with cybercriminals in the technological arms race, you are vulnerable.
Cybercriminals are using AI and ML to automate attacks and improve their intelligence on how best to exploit vulnerabilities. You need to be using AI and ML as a fundamental part of your cyber-defences to hold back this threat. This technology is used in cybersecurity to achieve the following:
- Detecting malware within systems and removing it.
- Detecting suspicious behaviour and communications that could be phishing attacks.
- Catching zero-day threats before they turn into attacks.
- Mitigating the effects of DDoS attacks.
Your business likely already benefits from this approach to cybersecurity. Windows Defender uses ML to identify and catch threats. However, there are a range of other ways that AI and ML can protect your business that are worth researching.
The Future of AI and ML
AI and ML are relatively recent innovations in business. It has only had a tangible impact over the last ten years. In light of this new interest, new AI and ML tools are constantly being made available.
Soon, all businesses will be expected to use AI and ML in some form. If you are not already incorporating AI and machine learning into your business, now is the time to start.
If you want to find out how we can help your business through AI and ML, please get in touch with us today. We would be happy to discuss your specific needs and see how we can make these cutting-edge technologies work for you.
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