As the world is quickly becoming digital, how internal business processes accommodate their data, including customer information, is becoming more critical. Since more people can reach your business online, a need to address copious amounts of information is set to arise.
This need gave way to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). AI that can be programmed to automate core processes is instrumental to businesses’ success nowadays. The COVID-19 even encouraged more companies to use digital advancement tools and technologies like AI. An IBM survey revealed that 43% of their respondents integrated AI technologies into their workflow.
Introducing AI to your business will help your team focus on impactful actions like improving your products and services. If you don’t know which aspect of your business can use this technology, we have a list of processes that can use automated assistance. This way, you can look at your own needs and address them with the appropriate AI solutions.
Six Business Processes AI Can Improve
1. Sales and marketing
Reaching your target market is integral for your business’ success, and targeted online marketing is one way to get to as many prospective clients as possible. AI already runs most pay-per-click ads to users that match your specific demographics.
Another way AI can help sales is by predicting which customers can lead to sales. It can be programmed to detect the language used and weed out a lead from the sea of users available online. AI can also segment your market to make your targeted campaigns easier to execute.
2. Customer experience
Utilizing artificial intelligence to better understand the needs, interests, and behavior of your customers and target audience allows your business to suggest products that they will most likely purchase or, at the very least, capture their attention.
Predictive analytics and machine learning algorithms can encourage customers to buy more products and add things to their wish list for later purchase.
3. Customer Relations
Most customers have encountered chatbots at least once over the past couple of years. These chatbots are run by AI and attempt to address the most common problems clients regularly face. Only after the bot exhausted all its options will it let a human take over the conversation.
Chatbots can offer a competitive advantage for your business because they can help speed up how you respond to your clients’ common problems with your products and services. It also allows your customer service team to provide the best service to customers with specific issues not covered by the bot.
4. Clerical Work
Company owners that have many people working for them understand the pain of having to deal with paperwork. Manually sorting these documents can take a lot of your team’s time that could have been spent on other productive activities.
AI can be programmed to perform tasks that would usually take time to complete by hand. For example, filing for new cards, requesting refunds, and ordering new supplies can be done by machines. Sorting documents is also a simple task for AI.
5. Recruitment
Finding the right candidate for a crucial job in your company is a task that is hard to imagine leaving to computers, but AI can help optimize the hiring process. This is especially true if the position you’re hiring for has a good number of applicants.
The AI can be programmed to find keywords within a candidate’s CV that deem them suitable or unsuitable for the position. This way, you won’t miss out on any outstanding applicants and make the entire hiring process more impactful for your company’s bottom line.
6. Security
Security is a critical matter for companies that work in industries that deal with money and sensitive information. Fraud is commonplace online, and a successful attack could cost businesses thousands—if not millions—of dollars.
Using machine-learning software to quickly identify anomalies and potential attacks to your systems will prevent cyberattacks and save your company and customers a lot of money. These machines can also be used to figure out the weak points that your company’s IT department can work on.
In addition, AI can be used to protect your company’s physical assets. For example, utilizing face recognition software can safeguard your warehouses against potential burglars that trespass on your property.
How Incorporating AI into Your Processes Improve Your Business
The processes mentioned above that AI can take over all points to process optimization. Since your employees don’t have to focus on repetitive tasks, they can provide a much better experience for your customers. Your workflow will be smoother and quicker as a result.
This focus immediately ties in with a better customer service structure. For example, chatbots can provide an instant solution to a common issue a customer may have without interacting with a human. This way, the only people your employees will work with are clients that have specific concerns.
These chatbots can also provide data mining opportunities that can be used to improve your inbound marketing tactics. For example, you can program your AI system to collate the information your client presents and segment them into groups that receive targeted campaigns that another AI can handle.
Once you’ve rolled out your campaigns to your leads, you can have the AI collate and organize the data into a more digestible format for straightforward reportage and analysis. The AI can also point out opportunities based on the trends it got from the data.
Final Thoughts
It’s not weird to think of AI as a vital investment for your business. In fact, you may have already integrated AI into your company’s processes without even knowing it. After all, these machines are built to help optimize your workflow and help your business grow.
The first step you should take is to identify what your company needs. After all, it’s likely that there’s already a suitable AI to address your concerns. Next, find the right software that suits your company’s specific situation.
Once you’ve set up the perfect AI ecosystem within your company, you can expect efficiency and profit to increase over time. After all, a well-coordinated company has nowhere to go but up.
