AI’s benefits go well beyond the bottom line
When businesses of all sorts begin to discuss the potential benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI), greater profits are often at the head of the agenda.
That’s entirely understandable. No one would argue that adoption and implementation of varied forms of AI can boost bottom lines.
To that end, a report released last year by global IT services vendor Infosys suggests global organizations can make $467 billion in incremental profit if they are able to optimize AI and data practices. [ Kerner, Sean Michael, “Integrated AI can generate $460 billion in incremental profits, report finds,” VentureBeat, Nov. 26, 2022.]
But profits are only one of the positive outcomes businesses can enjoy when they implement and leverage AI.
Speed and Adjustment Capability
As the speed with which business takes place continues to grow faster at an exponential rate, businesses of all sorts will be that much more pressed to keep pace with the market as well as competitors. That makes more efficient development and subsequent commercialization of products and services critical, challenges that artificial intelligence can strengthen. Given its capacity to streamline processes and free up more time for innovation, AI can greatly cut the time required to push great ideas from the abstract to the tangible.
One of AI’s greatest strengths is its capacity to quickly dissect and analyze enormous amounts of data. While that information can obviously be used to refine and strengthen existing capabilities, it can also enable businesses to adjust faster to shifting market conditions, scaling up or down by matching demand to supply. For instance, Airbnb employs artificial intelligence to constantly monitor pricing patterns, improve search rankings and analyze consumer behavior and habits.
Adjustments can also occur in other ways, such as in opening up completely new development avenues. For example, an autonomous vehicle manufacturer could leverage the data it collects to investigate potential opportunities in insurance. Concomitantly, an insurance company employing AI could break down underwriting data to uncover risk-averse potential in vehicle fleet management.
A Boon to Customer Service
If nothing else, consumers seemed convinced that AI can greatly improve customer service. According to a study by software provider Redpoint Global, 73 percent of consumers surveyed said AI had the potential to better their customer experience. Additionally, 48 percent said they would interact with AI more frequently if it would make their customer experience with a brand more seamless, reliable, and convenient.
Several well-known companies already have a firm foothold on the AI/customer experience dynamic:
- Teaming up with Baidu, Kentucky Fried Chicken has implemented facial recognition which can predict what a customer in China will want to eat. Analysis includes time of day, estimated age of the person, and gender, among other factors.
- Volvo’s Early Warning System analyzes more than one million events every week to predict which car parts will need to be changed or repaired. That allows Volvo owners to proactively schedule service rather than scrambling to make repairs once a breakdown occurs.
More Effective Talent Recruitment and Management
Companies are also using artificial intelligence to improve varied areas of human resources, from the recruiting stage to gauging employee sentiment and satisfaction to retaining top performers. Here are some examples:
- Recognizing that conventional recruiting methods were inadequate when identifying specialized tech talent, technology recruiting concern Celential.ai created its own AI sourcing system. Celential.ai’s talent database includes more than 15 million tech candidate profiles from the U.S., Canada, Latin America, and India. Leveraging billions of data points using machine learning algorithms, the system quickly zeroes in on qualified matches to a job description. It then develops and sends personalized contact messages which highlight mutual fit to engage candidates.
- Seattle-based Textio’s platform uses natural language processing and text analytics to analyze job postings, emails, and other business communications. The system looks to eliminate sexist, racist and ageist language and unconscious bias in recruiting and hiring practices. The end objective is to widen talent pools and, as a result, an increase in the diversity of applicants.
[Businesswire, “73% of Consumers Believe AI can have a Positive Impact on their Customer Experience,” Jan. 31, 2023.]
Obviously, these and other benefits of AI can ultimately translate to healthier, growing profits. But the solution isn’t quite as cut and dried as it might seem. As research performed by MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group documents, AI’s potential advantages mandate sufficient investment in both talent and infrastructure. Phrased another way, without consistent commitment—be it in leadership or financial backing—AI’s capacity to improve varied elements of a business can prove limited or, worse, unrealized.
Copyright (c) 2023 by Faisal Hoque. All rights reserved.
