When you think of artificial intelligence, your mind might conjure images of futuristic robots or computers that are able to act as humans do. But AI isn’t just an idea for the future. It’s making a real impact on businesses today and could factor even larger in the years to come.
An Accenture Research study found that AI has the potential to boost profitability by an average of 38 percent across select industries. It could also lead to a $14 trillion economic boost in additional gross value added by 2035.
So how do businesses most effectively take advantage of this technology to facilitate growth and efficiency? It’s not as complicated as you might think. There are several areas where you can implement AI today. Here are some tips for making the most of it for your own business.
Reduce Time When Recruiting
Growing a team is one of the most important functions of any business. However, sifting through dozens or hundreds of resumes manually can be time consuming. AI can sift through and screen resumes or applications, and match qualifications with the job requirements. In the end, you and your team will be making a human decision on candidates to interview and ultimately hire. But AI-powered recruiting software efficiently narrows down the candidate pool in the beginning.
Make Faster and Better Decisions From Your Data
Analytics for measuring things like your website traffic or marketing campaigns are ubiquitous today. The volume of data grows every year, and the challenge now is not in getting data, but in making sense of it for business decisions. Basic analytic tools can still leave you with raw data that you must then decipher.
However, as Becoming Human explains, there are different levels of analytics available today thanks to artificial intelligence.
- Descriptive analytics simply gives you the raw data. (Minimal AI)
- Diagnostic analytics can indicate some of the reasons behind the numbers.
- Predictive analytics makes predictions about what could happen in the future based on the data.
- Prescriptive analytics offers real world solutions.
- Cognitive analytics actually automates the solution. (High AI)
As the above progression illustrates, the more AI is involved, the less manual time and effort that’s needed for analysis and problem solving.
Answer Customer Questions Automatically
You can’t automate all of your interactions with customers — even online. But in certain circumstances, AI can help you answer customers’ questions on common issues or concerns. This can give you more time to dedicate to the more complex issues.
Chatbots specifically can provide customers with quick answers to common questions that might simplify their buying decisions. In fact, a PointSource study found that 34 percent of shoppers are likely to spend more money online when AI is deployed tactfully. Of course, it’s also important for companies to be transparent about their processes. Don’t try to deceive customers into thinking they’re speaking with a live person. PointSource’s data also found that honesty about chatbots was important, as was the ability to escalate communications and speak with a real human if necessary.
Personalize the Online Experience
As companies collect data about consumers, AI can be used to create experiences that are personalized for each individual. For example, you could send out promotional emails only to customers who have viewed specific products that recently went on sale. Or you could optimize your website to show different landing pages based on each customers’ browsing history. According to Dynamic Yield, 92 percent of marketers believe that personalization can be a valuable tactic.
Optimize Content Creation
Last but not least, natural language processing (NLP) technology allows AI to turn general data into real human language. So it allows computers to recognize speech and then form responses into coherent sentences and paragraphs. This can help businesses to automate at least part of their content creation processes such as for creating FAQs and knowledge bases. This helps you support customers better, with less effort.
As the above five examples show, artificial intelligence can shave off time and lead to faster processes in your business.
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