What Is the Future of AI in Business?
The general public has become familiar with popular AI apps, such as chatbots and image generators, as those tools have gained acceptance over the first half of the 2020s. However, AI technology also has a variety of applications within the business sector.
Key Takeaways:
- Businesses can use artificial intelligence (AI) in numerous ways
- AI can improve company efficiency and operations when used effectively
- Companies can use AI in data processing, user interactions, customer support, marketing, and a variety of other applications
- AI technology is rapidly changing and carries challenges and opportunities
- Your company can take advantage of numerous AI apps
AI-Driven Business Efficiency
AI can make your company more efficient and streamlined and provide other benefits.
Because AI can work with and learn from large amounts of information, it can interpret data, provide answers, and execute actions quickly and accurately. AI is exceptionally useful for repetitive, time-consuming tasks, and it can often outperform humans despite its limitations.
In other words, AI-driven companies that choose to work with the new technology can improve their operational efficiency while reducing human error.
Specific Efficiency Applications
There are numerous ways to use artificial intelligence for heightened efficiency.
Businesses can use AI-driven strategies to streamline logistics and supply chain organization. This includes fulfillment tasks, such as sorting, labeling, packing, order picking, and routing, plus inventory management tasks, such as counting, data entry, and ordering.
Sometimes, AI can perform tasks autonomously. In other cases, companies might use AI to find optimal approaches for activities that they conduct manually. No matter what area you work in, it’s possible to use AI to automate and speed up operations.
AI in Decision-Making
Businesses can use AI technology for a variety of decision-making purposes.
Artificial intelligence can provide data-driven insights and analysis on a variety of subjects. AI technology is capable of processing a vast amount of information, and it can arguably handle data more effectively than experts working with traditional methods.
AI-driven companies can use artificial intelligence to monitor and interpret operations, finances, customer activity, and more, thereby simplifying critical business decisions.
Furthermore, AI technology is useful in risk management. For example, companies can use AI to detect fraud, analyze market risks, assess credit, better comply with regulations, and protect against cybersecurity threats. AI can assess nearly any area of risk for your business.
Transforming Customer Interactions
Companies can improve customer interactions with an AI-driven strategy.
As noted, AI chatbots are becoming increasingly popular. Companies can take advantage of this trend by offering chatbots and virtual support agents.
AI chatbots can handle a large volume of customer service messages on a 24/7 basis, which can eliminate the need for a large local or outsourced customer service team. Your company can also have its chatbot service forward messages to real customer support agents, ensuring that real people deal with the most important issues directly.
Companies can also use AI as a recommendation engine. This approach can tailor user experiences by suggesting purchases in customer accounts, composing individual emails with recommendations and custom information, or by otherwise predicting user preferences.
AI in Marketing and Sales
AI can be used in predictive sales analysis to boost sales and revenue. This approach involves collecting a variety of data on sales, marketing, finance, and other areas, then applying machine learning to generate insights and predictions.
This can help you improve sales forecasts, better understand customer activity, produce more effective resource allocations, and plan more effective marketing campaigns.
Companies can also use AI to generate marketing content, such as advertisements, social media posts, product descriptions, images, and more.
However, companies should consider the possible drawbacks of AI in public-facing content, such as a loss of authenticity, possible inaccuracies, and reduced priority in web searches. Backlash against the use of AI in creative areas is currently widespread.
Future Trends in AI Technology
The Internet of Things (IoT)
Artificial intelligence can be used in conjunction with the internet of things (IoT), a term that refers to networks of devices that work autonomously and free from human input.
When used together, both types of technology can enhance device connectivity and data exchange. For example, IoT alone may involve a network of devices that allow entry to a warehouse upon delivery and automatically activate sections of the building. With the addition of AI, the network might learn the needs of delivery drivers and grant permissions in a complex way.
Not every company needs to use AI in conjunction with real-world IoT systems. However, the trend may broadly benefit the sector you work in or the larger economy.
Natural Language Processing
AI is also rapidly improving in the area of natural language processing (NLP), meaning that the technology can understand spoken and written language.
These improvements may make it easier for businesses and their members to interact with AI-powered services, especially when interactions are otherwise highly technical.
AI-powered chatbots and virtual support agents are one example of natural language processing. However, companies can potentially use NLP in other areas — for example, to translate requests from customers who speak in a foreign language or summarize documents in plain language. The possibilities of NLP for AI-driven companies are virtually limitless.
Ethical Considerations and AI Governance
Use of AI comes with several caveats.
One issue is bias and fairness. Even though many AI services have controls and limits on their output, they may produce material that is unfair, inaccurate, offensive, or simply unpredictable.
For example, Google and OpenAI have attracted controversy over AI-generated images that portray a lack of diversity or historically inaccurate diversity.
Google and OpenAI have addressed these issues. However, the problem is more serious for small and private businesses, where AI might not come under immediate public scrutiny. Adverse effects of AI, such as discrimination and misinformation, can impact businesses, their employees, and their customers in ways that are not noticeable until it is too late.
Privacy and Security
AI-powered services may put your own data at risk — either by allowing companies to profit from your data or by leaking your data inadvertently.
You should look for reputable AI-powered services. However, because AI is new and largely unregulated, even the most popular services may use data in questionable ways.
You might also choose to use AI services strictly with data that isn’t highly sensitive. However, using artificial intelligence in a limited way may defeat the purpose of the technology, which is most effective when used with massive amounts of data and information.
Furthermore, AI services can harvest any public data on the internet, possibly violating your content rights even if you never use an AI service.
Options for those who are harmed by AI technology are still unclear. Companies and individuals alike have sued AI companies over alleged data theft and privacy violations. However, legal action is a last resort, and it is unclear whether every type of legal case is viable.
Challenges and Opportunities
Companies and their employees will face various challenges with the growth of AI technology.
AI may reduce the number of people needed to perform certain tasks. At the same time, it could shift job roles by creating demand for workers who can apply AI effectively.
The issue may be compounded if employers develop unreasonable expectations around their employees’ AI capabilities — a perception often called the “skill gap.”
However, artificial intelligence presents new opportunities despite these challenges. Businesses should keep pace with AI developments by watching for news developments, attending industry events, and funding professional development, as with any other industry.
Companies should also consider whether employees have AI certification and formal training. At the same time, they should also consider that employees may have exceptional skills that fall outside of formal certifications due to the rapidly-changing nature of AI.
Useful Applications of AI
AI-driven companies may opt to use major business-oriented services.
Saleforce’s Einstein AI is useful for companies that need to perform data analysis and use AI in many other areas. Zapier, meanwhile, offers AI tools that are useful in automating workflows.
However, it can be difficult and expensive to use business-oriented AI. Smaller businesses may instead focus on specific AI productivity apps for key activities, such as task and project management tools like Asana or scheduling tools like ClockWise.
Zendesk and Chatfuel AI are popular services for customer support, while apps like Recombee can help your company provide users with suggestions and recommendations.
If you need to generate content, consider Jasper, Copy.ai, and Anyword for written materials, or DALL-e, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion for image generation.
Conclusion
AI has the potential to transform business in a variety of ways, including in areas such as decision-making, customer interaction, marketing and sales, and governance.
Additionally, new developments, including IoT integration and improvements in natural language processing, are expected to make AI systems more versatile than ever.
Companies can adapt and innovate with AI technology through countless AI services, both free and paid, listed in this article.
Be sure to look for a service that meets your needs affordably and conveniently.
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