Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a bit of a corporate buzzword and catch-all phrase for machine learning programs controlling automated processes.
Although humanity has not yet unlocked the full potential of AI, it is currently being implemented in the workplace as a valuable tool.
Here are 5 unique ways that businesses can take advantage of AI:
- Analyzing real-time data
- Recruiting
- Cybersecurity
- Customer Experience
- Automation
Analyzing Data in Real-Time
Imagine if one of your major suppliers was struck by a ransomware attack, removing a valuable portion of your supply chain for a week. What are the short and long-term consequences of such an act? What do you need to do?
Instead of doing a post-mortem after the impacts have become apparent to your business, AI can provide rapid analysis of the situation as it happens and offer insight into the expected effects. With that knowledge, your business can determine how to quickly react to complex situations with far-reaching consequences.
You might need to get an emergency shipment of materials from another company or merely wait out the shortage, depending on what the AI forecasts.
Rapid, Successful Recruitment
Businesses require employees that possess specific skills and personal characteristics to help meet their goals. Artificial Intelligence is stepping up in HR to find high-quality candidates for businesses. Such programs can sift through thousands of applicants to find ones that have the best chance of making a positive difference.
Using custom data points such as education, location, and personality traits, AI can source worthy candidates for interviews much faster than recruiters. Not only does a business get the benefit of finding better employees, but HR workers are free to pursue other aspects of their job.
Increased Digital Security Measures
In recent times, massive security breaches have crippled businesses in the United States and beyond. AI can be used to reduce the impact of such attacks.
For one thing, businesses can use AI to identify and prevent a common method of bringing down websites and servers: DDoS attacks. AI can actively throttle the amount of traffic to a website, preventing the site from getting overloaded by requests.
Artificial Intelligence can also crawl a company’s network to identify weaknesses in an IT system and generate reports showing business owners where they need to shore up their defenses.
Customer Experience and Insights
Artificial Intelligence is also being used to gather customer insights that can be used to provide personalized sales data for a specific client.
Imagine if a customer came into a restaurant and bought the specialty chicken sandwich at lunchtime. They pay with their credit card and use the restaurant’s reward system to log their transaction.
Over time, the AI system would recognize that pattern and could generate specific offers to get that person to come in more often. Perhaps your CRM software sends them an email mid-morning with an offer of 15% off that sandwich. That restaurant will be more likely to bring that customer back for two or three sales a week instead of just the one.
Now, imagine those insights on a much larger scale accounting for every customer in the CRM database. Those insights could put people in seats and give them the offers they need to keep them coming back.
Automating Customer Support
Customers want fast and effective support when they contact a business. Unfortunately, not every company has enough staff to cover every inquiry. As a result, AI is being used to transform customer support.
Anyone that has contacted a large business on the internet has probably interacted with a chatbot. Chatbots use a limited form of AI to funnel customers to the right area of the support system to ensure a fast, easy process. The quicker AI can get customers to the people that can help them, the better it reflects upon the business.
Furthermore, AI can identify and store valuable customer data in the business CRM while helping those customers, eventually building an actionable profile that can be used to convert sales.
Artificial Intelligence is beginning to make its presence known in the workplace. The impact that AI will have upon the world is just starting to take shape.
While we are somewhat far away from having a self-sustaining AI like those we have come to love and fear in fictional stories, the applications of this technology are numerous and intriguing.
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