Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere these days. While the technology is still nascent, AI will undoubtedly play a central role in almost every business sector shortly. Proof of this fact is the presence of AI in several applications despite its current functionality barely scratching the surface of everything it can do.
From IoT to sales and marketing, AI is making an impact on the way companies approach their businesses. Here are four ways AI is currently revolutionizing businesses.
Heavy industries were amongst the first to adopt IoT technology. From tracking part lifecycles to quality control, IoT plays a central role in the manufacturing and supply chain. The average IoT device transmits usage data to a control center that assimilates these datasets for further analysis.
While this picture sounds great, it has a few limitations. For starters, collaboration is tough when one control center has access to several data sets. For example, an IoT device attached to an industrial pump will generate datasets measuring flow output and part quality. These datasets are monitored by different teams and setting alerts for usage thresholds is challenging.
AI is changing this picture by allowing companies to create custom alerts for different teams within an organization. It also solves the issue surrounding the large volume of data. Human eyes take several hours to validate and parse these datasets. AI can crunch numbers in an instant and quickly alert operators of flawed use or potential risks.
Startups like Sternum are adding observability of this kind using AI to ease the work of IoT builders.
Sternum has developed an AI-based learning engine that uses data from user-defined traces to create a profile of desired device behavior and to highlight important and abnormal patterns. The system starts collecting data as soon as a device is connected and, after a short learning period, starts acting as a second set of eyes, providing alerts about unusual activities that would take human operators hours, or maybe days, to uncover — if at all.
Thanks to these advances, companies can unleash their IoT devices even more to gather larger datasets and apply lessons learned from analytics better.
The result is a safe operating environment that produces results at optimal efficiency.
B2B sales are integral to a company's success in those fields. However, B2B reps face significant challenges. For starters, buying cycles are lengthy and involve multiple stakeholders. Deciphering buying intent is challenging because sales conditions might change from a product demo request to a callback. For example, a competitor might release new features that bring more questions.
While companies cannot change the length of their customers' buying cycles, they can give their reps more firepower in the sales process. AI-assisted selling is now a game changer in B2B sales and SDRs are better off for it.
Predictive AI can now offer sales reps buyer intent predictions based on their previous actions. By measuring engagement with marketing material and conversations, AI platforms can guide reps in figuring out the level of challenge present in closing a sale.
Complementing predictive AI is prescriptive AI. While the former gives sales reps action items based on what happened, the latter crunches data in real time and offers reps a way forward. It offers a path for sales reps to close the deal.
Platforms like Demand Science track prospect behavior and pinpoint gaps in a company's current sales process. The result is a smooth customer experience and more opportunities converted to sales. In some cases, AI platforms even use natural language processing to engage prospects while reps are away.
Thus, prospects remain engaged and reps can follow up with additional information, helping them close the sale even faster.
Chatbots have represented AI in the customer service field for a while now. However, recent developments have pushed AI further up the chain in customer service, helping companies reduce less-critical customer calls and service reps prioritize important ones.
AI can now engage with customers across several channels. The humble chatbot has become far more powerful and answers complex customer queries more than ever. For instance, an AI chatbot powered by Dialpad can retrieve data from previous conversations, customer order data, and dispute conversations to offer insights into statuses and much more.
The platform also engages with customers on voice channels. For example, a customer can dial a number and have common queries resolved by entering information that AI processes and relays via voice. The result is fewer call volumes and greater customer service efficiency.
AI is also great at detecting when a customer wishes to speak to a human being instead of being engaged with a robot. Often, customers struggle to retrieve a phone number or email that puts them in touch with a human. AI can quickly offer this number as an answer to a simple question.
Accounting is a highly arcane field where the smallest error can compound issues. Large corporations cannot risk restating their financial results for fear of brand damage and other repercussions such as stock price nosedives.
Currently, AI embedded in accounting platforms automate bookkeeping and clerical tasks such as account payables matching. For instance, once a payment is cleared, AI classifies it per the right journal entries and matches the payment receipt to the invoice and PO.
As a result, accountants have all the information they need at their fingertips. More sophisticated platforms, such as the one under development at Vic.ai go a step further and automate accounting entries. The result is less clerical work for accountants and more time for analysis of financial performance.
AI also makes reporting easy. CFOs seeking financial insights into their performance can ask for data in natural language and receive a custom report with the ability to drill deeper into data.
The AI revolution has begun and we're witnessing one of the biggest steps forward in technology. While time will tell us where business will end up, there's no doubt that AI is here to stay and add greater efficiency to common workflows.