We hear so much about artificial intelligence (AI) these days. But business owners have different takes on this concept as per their niche.
Some don’t know how the applications of AI in business can influence bottom-line discussions. Others stammer when asked what the tech means or how it works.
If you’re somewhat in the dark about the benefits of artificial intelligence in business or don’t know how AI works, maybe because of the misinformation out there, this piece is for you.
Key Takeaways
AI eliminates repetitive tasks, allowing professionals to do their best work without watching the clock.
AI doesn’t work on its own. It needs datasets and customized training to provide useful results.
AI outperforms a lot of regular staff, so yes, it will lead to layoffs. But overall, below the surface, it’s generating a new pool of creative jobs.
How Artificial Intelligence Works?
Artificial intelligence underpins three basic technologies; Machine vision, conversational AI, and Robotics.
Independently, each AI tech can either sense, comprehend, or act. But laced with machine learning, they can work together and learn from the environment instead of just receiving commands. Here is a brief overview of the three technologies that underpin AI:
- Machine vision: technologies that allow computers to see and interpret images like the human eye. Eg, facial recognition techs.
- Conversational AI: technologies that use natural language processing to understand speech and written text. Eg, generative AI like ChatGPT.
- Robotics: technologies that take away any work regarded by humans as dangerous or hazardous, repetitive, or just boring. Eg, automation tools like HubSpot.
Top Applications Of AI In Business
1. AI in Marketing
Creating marketing messages that convey the right emotion can be a drag, especially if they’re inaccuracies in your consumer persona or behavioural analysis. But it doesn’t have to be. AI in business is changing the marketing dynamics; below are a few takeaways:
- Predict customer churn: customers stop using a product for a myriad of reasons, mostly unknown to you – until now. One of the major benefits of artificial intelligence in business is it can help mitigate churn rates. Simply sign-up for an AI customer data personalization tool such as Cortex – or any other suitable platform – build a customer churn prediction model and export your data. Within minutes, you’ll be able to predict and prevent churn.
- Run seamless competitor analysis: learning about the competition is easier said than done. Basic knowledge about their SEO ranking or social media presence can keep you filling in spreadsheet data for hours. Automation software waves goodbye to such tedious and boring marketing tasks. AI can help you effortlessly categorize competitors’ tweets, blogs, and other digital materials by topics, trends, and themes.
- Speak to one customer at a time: just like you and me, consumers love to feel seen. They react better to marketing messages specifically tailored to their needs. In a nutshell, confidently creating hyper-personalized content at scale was impossible before the dawn of AI. Nowadays, with tools like Adobe Target and Blueconic, you can find that one customer out of a million and give them what they want.
2. AI in Customer Support
Chatbots are no longer news to the ears. We all use the internet, so I’m guessing you’ve at some point come across the little pop-up – usually at the right side of a website – telling you to leave a message; we’re available 24/7. That’s AI in action. There is voice AI, too.
But while one of the major benefits of artificial intelligence in business is that it’s making automated support seamless, you can take it a step further; there’s more:
- Identify behavioral patterns: if you have got a detailed record of purchasing history or buying habits stacked in a folder somewhere far away, probably collecting dust, now is a good time to pick it up. Predictive AI tools can help you anticipate customer sentiment and identify patterns, leaving you with proactive insights on how to improve each customer’s buying experience.
- Detect and translate customer language: the world is interconnected, especially for SaaS brands. So on multiple occasions, consumers not familiar with your mother tongue might be at the other end of the line. Don’t fret! You can use AI natural language processing (NLP) tools to detect and translate foreign languages before it gets to your support team.
- Synthesize existing information: having a ‘knowledge base’ or ‘FAQ page’ about your offerings makes buying a breeze. But that also means you must spend countless hours creating these materials. Well, with the application of conversational AI in business, you can generate answers to common questions about your product within seconds.
