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Artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly moved from the realm of science fiction to daily business operations. From self-driving cars to complex chatbot systems, AI systems are helping build industry-leading business practices across the world.
While large corporations like Amazon have famously built their operations (and products like Amazon Alexa) on deep learning and AI research, this technology is now seeping into small and medium-sized businesses at all levels.
Misconceptions About Artificial Intelligence for Businesses
Artificial intelligence sparks a lot of assumptions, such as:
- “My business is too small for AI technology,”
- “A machine can’t take over any of the functions my employees or I currently perform,” and;
- “AI will completely take over jobs and leave people out of work.”
In reality, AI is currently augmenting the workforce in very important ways. Not only can it benefit businesses, but it can offer faster and more responsive service delivery, improving the customer experience. It can also predict and remove risk from some industries, improve accuracy, and allow people to reduce mundane or repetitive tasks so they can focus on creative and decisive activities. Finally, strong AI technology increases scalability for businesses thanks to its predictive and practical functions.
Applications for AI in Your Business
Although it’s easy to think of AI as the robots in your favourite sci-fi films, or a complex smart home system that controls every aspect of your office with a voice command, AI systems for businesses are currently aimed at completing specific tasks.
If you need better control over your AI systems, an IT specialist can help you with setup and maintenance. AI systems with individual abilities can often be integrated using support services from experienced managed IT services companies.
Website Chatbots
Website and telephone chatbots are extremely popular forms of AI technology for businesses that rely on rapid customer service responses. Can you think of even one business that doesn’t depend on quick customer service responses? We didn’t think so!
Chatbots can come in many forms, and having one installed on your website doesn’t have to be expensive. The return on investment is typically high because you’re able to connect with so many potential customers before they continue shopping online.
Although some businesses are hesitant to introduce chatbots because they think customers appreciate speaking directly with a human, chatbots can speed up the information-gathering process for customers significantly, reducing lengthy hold times by allowing the chatbot to perform these more tedious tasks and giving employees time to spend on higher-level projects and decision-making. In this case, it’s about finding the right balance between human and AI interaction.
Market and Customer Analysis
Since the dawn of time, businesses have wondered how to get into the minds of their customers. AI makes this task a lot less frustrating by gathering and analyzing data from your customers and potential leads. This data is extremely valuable to businesses as it provides people with key customer attributes to help better understand the proper target audience.
Advertising & Marketing
Personalization in advertising and marketing is becoming mainstream, and not only for search engines and online advertising companies. You can integrate an AI system into your current marketing tactics to help you create a sales funnel that works at a more personal level.
Financial Forecasting
Thanks to their capability of organizing and rearranging massive amounts of data, AI systems can help forecast financial aspects of your business like expenses and revenues, accounting for multiple factors in a fraction of the time it would take humans to do the same forecasting work.
Process Automation
One of the most popular ways for small and medium-sized businesses to integrate AI technology is in their processes. In addition to major time savings, process automation can help increase accuracy and decrease errors. For example, an AI system that sends out automated emails in response to actions on your website can help make the customer journey more personalized, streamlined, and effective.
Find IT Services in Edmonton for Your AI and Automation Needs
If the term “artificial intelligence” makes you nervous as a business owner, you’re not alone. Integrating AI into your workplace requires an expert touch to ensure you’re helping (and not hindering) your business and employees. Small details in the setup and maintenance are important when you have systems built for problem-solving and learning algorithms.
To learn more about AI applications for your business,
