AI for Business: How AI Helps Business Growth

Organizations rely on artificial intelligence (AI) to reshape the way they conduct business. According to a survey conducted by MIT Sloan School of Management, 85 percent of executives who responded said artificial intelligence will help them gain a competitive edge. 

By implementing artificial intelligence in business processes, business leaders will likely witness great improvements in business functions, customer experience, and profits. If you are a business leader, read this guide and find out how AI helps business growth and general business operations in today’s industries. 

What Is AI?

AI, short for artificial intelligence, is the mimicry of human intelligence by machines. Some common applications of AI are self-driving cars, chatbots, and Netflix recommendations. Artificial intelligence can be divided into four types, which include reactive machines, theory of mind, limited memory, and self-awareness. 

The field of artificial intelligence is broad. It consists of machine learning, robotics, natural language processing, and automation. It’s important to note that machine learning branches into unsupervised learning, supervised learning, and reinforcement learning. AI cuts across multiple industries such as communication, cyber security, sales, education, and even the healthcare field.

The Role of AI in Business

Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a huge role in business. The impact of AI in businesses is felt across many departments. AI can easily help improve marketing, cyber security, and the financial services of any company. Through artificial intelligence, business leaders are able to improve customer experience, detect fraud, make decisions, automate work processes, and conduct predictive analytics. 

Why Is AI Important for Business? 

• Security. As businesses migrate online, the number of security breaches also increases. Through artificial intelligence, businesses are able to safeguard their data from malicious threats. It helps in vulnerability assessment, network security, phishing detection, and prevention control. This is especially important for financial services. 
• Customer engagement. One of the most prevalent uses for artificial intelligence among businesses is the use of chatbots. In order to deliver a personalized experience, businesses rely on chatbots instead of using costly human capital to communicate with customers. 
• Decision making. Through AI, business leaders are able to make more informed decisions. AI helps in conducting research and analysis of competitors and the business environment. This information helps business owners make the best decisions to grow their profits. 
• Price forecasting. There are multiple factors that influence the price of your products or services. Your brand reputation, quality, operating costs, and even demand can affect the price of your products. AI helps you determine the standard prices for your products in your niche by compiling information. 
• Automation. AI provides businesses with the ability to automate different business processes and procedures. This allows enterprises to cut down on inefficiencies and extra labor costs.

How AI Helps Small Businesses

• Improves customer relationship management. Small businesses can rely on AI to help improve engagement with their clients. Even many of the top B2B companies on the B2B procurement marketplace are using AI to enhance different processes and improve efficiency.
• Automate repetitive tasks. Small businesses are often short on helping hands, so they can use AI to improve productivity. AI helps in compiling reports, transcription, and event schedules. Small business owners should leverage the benefits of AI to keep staff motivated and working on what really matters. This will greatly reduce turnover as well. 
• Boost Security. Since hiring cyber security professionals comes at an extra cost, small business owners can rely on AI to increase their security. Through it, leaders can pinpoint malicious attacks, especially through emails, and curb them before they can cause extreme damage. 

What Can AI Do for Your Business?

Today, artificial intelligence plays a huge role in business development. Many business leaders rely on AI and machine learning technologies to guide them in their respective industries. If you want to incorporate the use of AI in your business, you can learn about 10 things AI can do for your business below. 

10 Things AI Can Do for Your Business

1. Improve Engagement 

Artificial intelligence has led to the automation of various services in organizations. As much as this has not received a warm reception from employees, it has greatly impacted service delivery. Through AI, clients receive more personalized services faster, which increases their engagement and customer satisfaction. 

2. Automate Business Functions

AI has greatly impacted the workforce. It has automated physical and digital tasks of an organization that are beyond human capabilities. Robotic process automation technologies, commonly referred to as RPAs, have greatly impacted administrative and financial tasks. Through AI, businesses are able to complete tasks without relying on human intervention. 

3. Business Insights

Businesses are able to analyze data more proficiently using artificial intelligence technology. Through cognitive technology, they can easily make valid customer predictions, detect fraud, and analyze the safety or quality of products. AI algorithms can detect patterns in large amounts of data to draw important conclusions. This can help with marketing campaigns and any general business process.

4. Improve Supply Chains

Through AI, business owners are able to determine which products to stock for their businesses. They rely on machine learning algorithms to develop efficient and cost-effective supply chains. The ability to predict future outcomes means businesses will never run the risk of overstocking or undersupplying. 

5. Improved Security

Artificial intelligence can easily help with surveillance. Through it, business leaders can identify potential problems and risky conditions within the organization. They are also able to make valid recommendations to mitigate any security breaches. 

6. Quality Control

Multiple businesses rely on AI for quality control or improvement. Manufacturers rely on machine vision and deep learning models to improve the speed, accuracy, and quality of their products. 

7. Protect the Environment 

Businesses can now use AI to protect the environment more easily. Through machine learning, sensors, and satellite imagery, businesses are able to pinpoint pollutive sources faster. They are also able to conserve natural resources and provide alternative sustainable options. 

8. Sales Forecasting 

Business owners can rely on AI to gain actionable insights about their clients. Oftentimes, sales professionals miss certain aspects of their client’s needs. AI is able to determine the exact needs of a client and even pinpoint problems the clients are facing. This greatly helps improve the overall direction of the company. 

9. Improved Feedback 

Most businesses have a hard time understanding the needs of their clients. Through sentiment analysis, businesses are able to determine the exact opinion of the public regarding their product or service. 

10. Competitive Edge

Through artificial intelligence, business owners are able to track the actions of their current and potential competitors. Having competitive intelligence helps businesses thrive whether they are dealing with products or services. This tactic also adds to the business growth strategy. 

Examples of How AI Helps Business

There is a wide range of real-life examples of how AI helps a business. Its impact can cut across multiple departments of an organization. All of the world’s top companies are using AI in some way, shape, or form today. 

For example, Amazon uses artificial intelligence to power its virtual assistant, Alexa. In addition, the company also uses AI to predict shoppers’ purchasing patterns on Amazon. Further, you may be familiar with the Amazone Prime Air project, which aims to deliver packages straight to consumers via autonomous drones. 

Conclusion: Why Use AI for Business?

You should use AI for business if you want to remain competitive in the field. The impact of artificial intelligence on business profits cannot be overlooked. It is important for business leaders to adopt new methodologies that will help them connect more to their clients. With more and more businesses cropping up, it will be challenging for companies to remain afloat using traditional concepts and methodologies. 

In addition, AI plays a huge role in ecommerce and marketing. Business owners can rely on the tools and technologies for personalized services, price optimization, fraud detection, image recognition, predictive customer service, and even content curation. A business can rely on AI to improve customer interactions by implementing chatbots on the website. They can also gain insights on customer contact platforms and enhance service delivery.

If you are not familiar with artificial intelligence or machine learning concepts, you should look into joining an artificial intelligence bootcamp. Bootcamp providers design market-led curricula that address the current demand for artificial intelligence skills in the industry. This means you will acquire relevant knowledge to help positively impact your business. The bootcamp programs are often short and immersive.   . 

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