Artificial intelligence (AI) has become one of the most disruptive technologies of our time. Once considered fiction, AI is now a reality that is fundamentally changing how businesses operate and deliver value to customers.
As AI adoption continues to accelerate, even small and medium businesses can benefit from intelligent automation and data-driven insights. If you aren‘t already thinking about how AI can transform your business, you may be missing out on enormous opportunities.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll explore 7 impactful ways AI can help take your business to the next level in 2024 and provide actionable recommendations for getting started.
A Brief History of AI
Before we dive into the specific applications of AI for business, let‘s quickly review what artificial intelligence is and how it has evolved.
The concept of AI was first introduced in the 1950s. In the decades since, AI has gone through periods of intense hype and disillusionment known as "AI winters." In the 2010s, AI began to emerge from winter due to advances in big data, neural networks, and compute power.
Today, AI is fueling innovations across every industry. According to IDC, worldwide spending on AI solutions reached $50 billion in 2020 and is projected to more than double to $110 billion by 2024.
There are four main types of AI that each have different capabilities:
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Reactive machines – The simplest form of AI with limited abilities to perceive the environment and respond (e.g. IBM‘s Deep Blue chess computer)
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Limited memory – AI systems capable of learning from data to make predictions within a specific domain (e.g. chatbots, recommendation engines)
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Theory of mind – AI with the ability to understand human emotions and motives (e.g. affective computing, social robots)
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Self-aware AI – AI with a subjective experience, consciousness, and capability for self-improvement (does not yet exist)
Now let‘s explore some of the ways your business can benefit from applied AI technologies today.
1. Enhance Customer Experiences with AI-Powered UX Design
Delivering exceptional customer experiences should be a top priority for any business. Studies show 96% of customers say customer service is an important factor in their purchasing decisions.
However, designing seamless user experiences that delight customers takes significant time, testing, and guesswork. AI-powered UX tools can dramatically improve this process.
For example, solutions like UserTesting leverage machine learning to analyze customer behavior data and identify UX issues. Other tools like UXWritor use natural language processing to generate and optimize user interface text.
By incorporating AI-powered UX solutions into your design workflow, you can:
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Rapidly test and refine interfaces before rollout to improve usability
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Personalize experiences for each customer segment
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Optimize web content for readability and conversions
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Uncover UX issues proactively before customers complain
The end result is happier customers who enjoy engaging with your products and services.
2. Derive Actionable Insights from Customer Data
Business intelligence—gathering data to derive insights—is critical for identifying growth opportunities. With masses of customer data now available, making sense of it all can be challenging. AI analytics tools are up to the task.
Solutions like Google Analytics use machine learning algorithms to segment audiences, uncover trends, and deliver easy-to-understand reports. More advanced platforms like Alteryx can pull data from multiple sources, clean it, and reveal insights humans could easily miss.
Here are some ways AI analytics can benefit your business:
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Predict future customer behavior based on historical data to improve forecasting
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Surface hidden correlations between customer attributes and actions
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Identify under-served customer segments with unmet needs
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Optimize marketing campaigns and content for relevance
Don‘t leave money-saving insights buried in your data. Leverage AI to sift through information and take the guesswork out of strategic decisions.
3. Automate Repetitive, Tedious Tasks
Many business processes involve repetitive, mundane administrative tasks—a perfect job for AI automation. Intelligent algorithms can take over time-consuming tasks human employees dread doing.
For example, solutions like AWS Textract can automatically extract text, digits, and data from documents like forms and invoices. Bots can be programmed to handle customer service queries, freeing up human agents for more complex issues.
Other areas where AI automation thrives include:
- Data entry
- Scheduling meetings and appointments
- Updating customer records
- Generating invoices and reports
- Transcribing audio recordings
- Validating input data
Automating rote tasks allows your employees to focus their energy on high-value initiatives that require human judgment and creativity.
4. Boost Workplace Productivity
Speaking of freeing up employee time, AI solutions are emerging to help improve workforce productivity in all types of jobs.
For example, sales teams can use Chorus.ai to transcribe sales calls, analyze deal progression, and improve pitches. Engineers can tap into AWS DeepComposer to auto-generate music for videos and prototypes.
Even individuals contributors can boost their personal productivity. Writing assistants like Grammarly cut down on mistakes and speed up document creation. Calendar apps help manage schedules and reduce pointless meetings.
The common theme is using AI to handle lower-level tasks so employees can dedicate their efforts to high-impact activities. The result is more energized, engaged, and productive teams.
5. Revamp Sales and Marketing Strategies
Finding and persuading buyers takes up considerable time and resources for any business. AI-powered sales and marketing tools aim to make this process more efficient and targeted.
For example, solutions like Persado use natural language generation to create marketing copy tailored to different audiences. Media buying platforms like tellus leverage data to optimize campaign spend across channels.
On the sales side, Conversica deploys intelligent assistants to qualify leads through two-way email and SMS conversations.
Key ways AI can bolster sales and marketing results include:
- Generating high-converting marketing content
- Crafting personalized outreach messages
- Recommending optimal sales channels per prospect
- Analyzing conversations to refine persuasion strategies
- Predicting lead-to-customer conversion rates
The data-driven insights unlocked by AI allow businesses to fine-tune sales and marketing techniques over time.
6. Decode Consumer Behavior and Preferences
Today‘s consumers have high expectations and short attention spans. To remain competitive, you need a deep understanding of your customers—their habits, motivations, and shifting preferences.
AI analytics applied to sales and marketing data helps uncover these behavioral insights so you can offer buyers exactly what they want.
Sentiment analysis tools like Socialert can comb through social media mentions and reviews to assess brand perception. Web analytics platforms like Mixpanel track detailed user actions to optimize sites and apps. Recommendation engines learn from past transactions to suggest new products and content to explore.
In sum, AI equips businesses to:
- Identify rising trends and preferences
- Personalize offerings and experiences
- Predict next best actions per user
- Continuously refine strategies based on feedback
Getting inside the minds of customers gives businesses a competitive edge in delighting buyers.
7. Strengthen Cybersecurity Defenses
In today‘s digital landscape, cyber attacks pose an ever-present threat. AI-powered security tools offer an added layer of protection by recognizing suspicious patterns humans often miss.
Solutions like Darktrace use unsupervised machine learning to detect anomalies and emerging threats across enterprise networks. Email security platforms like Inky foil phishing attempts and business email compromise scams.
Other capabilities enabled by AI include:
- Identifying compromised user accounts
- Spotting malicious software behavior
- Analyzing security alerts and events
- Hardening systems against exploits
- Automating response workflows
AI-powered cybersecurity helps businesses respond to threats early before data gets compromised.
Ready to Explore AI for Your Business?
As this guide demonstrates, AI technologies offer tremendous potential to streamline operations, wow customers, and drive growth.
Here are three tips to begin exploring AI solutions:
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Start small: Look for contained business problems AI can help solve rather than overhauling everything at once.
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Pick an application: Choose one of the 7 AI applications we covered that aligns with your most pressing business needs.
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Find a vendor: Research vendors offering AI products tailored to your industry and use cases.
Even simple AI tools can make a big difference. Don‘t let uncertainty or perceived complexity hold your business back. Now is the time to tap into the power of artificial intelligence to take your company to the next level.
