Artificial Intelligence in Business
Introduction
In contemporary society, companies and businesses alike have come to terms with the realization that innovation plays a crucial role in the success of their operations. Innovative ideas help companies to grow and avoid instances of being stagnant in the field, such that they become reduced to observers or followers in their respective industries. Also, a business’ ability to employ suitable innovative strategies give the business an advantage over the competitors in the same field. However, successful innovation may present challenges to companies, especially upcoming companies. Therefore, it becomes necessary to monitor the results of change within a company to gauge whether the strategies are valid or not.
One such innovative approach is the incorporation of artificial intelligence into their operations. The importance of these developments is evident in fields such as medicinal chemistry and material science. The players in this field pit AIs against each other to help come up with answers to significant challenges in their areas of expertise. Such advancements have proven essential in the business world as the machines can predict trends in the business world, allowing businesses to stay a step ahead of their fiercest competition. Many people have a negative perception of artificial intelligence, viewing them as a means of dehumanizing human interactions. However, this assumption is rarely the case, as seen in many successful businesses. This paper aims at looking deeper into the advantages of employing artificial intelligence in a company’s operations.
Effects of Artificial intelligence on Customer Experience
According to Christopher Penn, there are levels of machine learning, namely, artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning. Artificial intelligence involves having machines perform the tasks that humans would typically perform. Machine learning is the process whereby machines learn on their own while deep learning consists of the chaining together of machine learning to get productive learning. Based on this knowledge, many corporations are adopting artificial intelligence services in their operations. These services aim to perform recurrent tasks within the organization in real-time. This approach allows the company to process large amounts of data within short periods. Therefore, the move aims at enriching human interactions, rather than avoiding it.
Artificial Intelligence has proven useful in many practical experiences for consumers. One notable example is the use of artificial intelligence in evaluating GPS data. For example, Google Maps uses real-time consumer data from individuals’ phones. On the same line, GPS insight helps different companies shorten the scheduling window for telecommunications corporations. By doing this, GPS insight allows response units to reach affected companies within short periods in cases of disasters such as fires and floods.
Based on these positives, it is clear that companies will invest more in artificial intelligence to give their consumers a much more fulfilling experience when using their products and services. As noted by Penn, the incorporation of artificial intelligence is not a futuristic concept. Instead, it is one that should be developing into all businesses that have the vision of making it big in the industry. This statement comes because all the necessary resources are obtainable and reachable. Furthermore, resources are not expensive.
Role of Artificial Intelligence in Revolutionizing Business
Various studies indicate that companies that have incorporated artificial intelligence into their systems exhibit higher success rates compared to those that have not to embrace technological advancement. Companies that realized the benefits of artificial intelligence invested heavily in analytic expertise aimed at ensuring the quality of algorithms. These measures ensure that the data moves swiftly can move swiftly among the various departments in the organization. The swift movement of data across the multiple departments ensures that the company meets its information and knowledge needs. Reliable senior management support for each artificial intelligence initiative is an essential feature that determines a company’s ability to excel at using artificial intelligence in planning new businesses and streamlining existing processes.
Customer-facing Activities
Artificial intelligence has had a profound effect on various customer-facing activities. These activities include service, support, and marketing automation. Other areas that artificial intelligence has influenced include supply chain management and information technology. The effects are already evident, and situations point towards the fact lasting for years to come. The results may get more significant with time. AI has made the distribution of order management systems more efficient. These systems help to identify the trends in consumer demand and come up with suitable strategies to manage the need effectively. Optimizing the supply chain supports the organizations to meet the consumers’ requirements effectively. Also, efficient AI systems help enterprises to plan their resources efficiently, thus maximizing the productivity they obtain from the available resources. The effect of AI in these areas is highly significant, and the expected trend is that the companies will continue to use artificial intelligence in these areas.
Competitive Advantage
Many business owners believe that AI systems have given them significant advantages over their competitors. AI systems can expose a business to new concepts and ideas for the betterment of the company’s activities. With the proper AI systems in place,
The business will have the capability to transition to new models that would change the competitive landscape for the benefit of the business. Many successful companies envision that their competitors will have to adopt AI models in a bid to catch up with them. The use of AI systems is cost-efficient and helps the business save a lot of money. This scenario allows the companies to offer goods and services at the customer-friendly process, increasing their popularity in the market. Consequently, the market size of such businesses increases, allowing the industry to make significant profits.
Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Industry.
Given the nature of their operations, companies in this line of business, they are expected to experience the most influence from the development of artificial intelligence systems. This industry is perhaps the most computerized as it involves sending and receiving messages and data over computer networks. Artificial intelligence services are instrumental in facilitating these processes. For example, the use of computerized voices to indicate when someone is unreachable on their phone has helped saved a lot of money and human resources. It would be unreasonable to have someone waiting in line to monitor all cell phones that are unreachable so that they can pass the message to the caller. Computerized voices do this work fast and efficiently, helping telecommunications companies attend to several people at the same time. This move makes people develop firm faith in such companies because they help them meet their communication needs reliably. Consequently, the number of mobile subscribers increases every year as they adopt these efficient modes of communication. Therefore, artificial intelligence has helped the industry develop over the years.
Implementation Strategy
The benefits expected from the implementation of artificial intelligence are many. Several companies acknowledge the importance of such systems and the potential benefits that they could bring to their businesses. However, as of 2017, very few companies had successfully implemented the use of artificial intelligence into their operations. A survey indicated that only twenty-three per cent of respondents had successfully adopted the new innovative strategy into their business operations. Another twenty-three per cent reported that they had plans underway to help them incorporate AI into their activities. The remaining fifty-four per cent had no adoption plans in progress. Out of this figure, twenty-two per cent had no current plans.
From the above statistics, it is evident that many people have not yet realized the full potential of their businesses due to the lack of AI systems in their companies. The lack of innovation may be due to several factors within the organization. For example, some companies may not have enough money to set up the required technology to handle the systems. Proper incorporation of AI systems requires a company to invest heavily in the project. The amount required may seem overwhelming, especially for developing companies—however, the rewards associated with the successful implementation of AI systems.
Another possible reason is the fact that the idea team may not be performing its functions effectively. It is the role of idea teams to come up with the right ideas to help propel the organization to glory. The right ideas would give the company a competitive boot over its rivals in the industry. Some companies may not have the correct information regarding the advantages of AI systems in their operations. They may view the venture as being extravagant and unnecessary. Therefore, companies need to conduct more research to discover the benefits that they can accrue from such a lucrative innovation.
Some companies may fear that after implementing artificial intelligence systems, they may have to retrench some of their most loyal workers. This scenario creates an ethical conflict because such employees have dedicated their lives to serving the company for all the years they have been together. Their current job serves as their only source of income to help them feed their dependents. After losing their jobs, they would not have anywhere else to go, and life would be difficult for them and their families. Based on these thoughts, companies become hesitant to include AI systems in their budgets for fear of being responsible for their employees’ misery. However, this idea may be greatly exaggerated as there is a solution to this. Incorporating AI systems does not necessarily mean that people have to lose their jobs.
On the contrary, this innovation may create new employment opportunities for other people who are skilled with computers. The current employees may retain their jobs, but with the lesser workload. Also, it is possible that these employees can receive training exercises to help improve their competency in handling computers. By doing so, they learn a new skill that could be instrumental in other areas going forward. The acquisition of the new capability allows them to retain their jobs, although they may receive higher pay.
As many companies continue to lag in terms of AI adopting, some companies that have great idea teams already delved into the operation and successfully added AI into their systems. Such companies are enjoying periods of prolonged success as their competitors look on. The AI systems have made their work more accessible, allowing them to carry out many functions simultaneously. These simultaneous acts result in more productivity for the company and its operations, allowing it to stay ahead of completion. Other companies can learn from such organizations, prompting them to follow in the same footsteps as they also look to be successful as their counterparts. Therefore, it is only a matter of time before more companies leap faith and trust AI systems to ring them the same levels of success that their counterparts have enjoyed over the years.
It is relatively simple for companies to overcome the challenges that come their way in terms of adopting the use of AI systems in their operations. The initial cost of setting up these systems is relatively high. However, the benefits expected in the long run usually justify the amount that the company invested in the project. Therefore, a company may decide to take a loan that would facilitate their operations in their line of work. Once the loan is approved, the company can implement the systems, and once the profits start showing, the loan can be quickly repaid.
The issue of retrenching workers is not a significant concern because the company does not have to fire workers to incorporate AI systems. The function of AI systems is to enhance the productivity of employees, rather than replace them. Once companies have the right policies in place, it would be unnecessary to make people quit their jobs as they would use the new systems to perform their tasks more efficiently. The employees would help the company reach greater heights, pitting them in the same playing field as the rest of the big names in the industry. These systems are slowly gaining prominence in the contemporary business world. They are instrumental in helping companies keep up with emerging trends.
Maturity Groups
The survey conducted revealed that there are four levels of maturity groups concerning the understanding of AI systems. There is a group of companies that have fully understood the operations of AI systems and have successfully incorporated them into their activities. This group is known as pioneers. These organizations are at the forefront of integrating AI-related activities into their orders, and they use the new system both in the services they offer and in their internal operations. This group accounted for nineteen per cent of the total respondents. Another group of companies fall into the category of investigators, who have a good understanding of AI systems but have not employed these systems past the pilot stage. This group accounts for thirty-two per cent of the respondents.
Thirteen per cent of the respondents had decided to implement AI systems at their pilot stage. However, their understanding of the subject is limited, and their actions are more of trying and learning from their errors. They hope to learn much about the systems as they go along with their activities. This group is called the experimenters. The final group accounts for thirty-six per cent of the respondents. This group of companies has limited to no knowledge of what AI systems are and how they work. Therefore, they have made no efforts towards incorporating such models into their operations. These companies have earned the name, passives due to their inactivity in the field of AI systems.
Pioneers and investigators are getting the most out of these systems because of their ability to incorporate them into operations that help them create new sources of business value. These two groups are more likely to recognize the benefits of AI to their business compared to experimenters and passives. Pioneers are the most likely to acknowledge these benefits, consequently showing more willingness to invest in the program. Pioneers have more advanced adaptability skills that enable them to become more willing to incorporate changes provided they give them benefits and significant competitive edges. The rest of the participants in the industry remain behind, trying to catch up to the pioneers who are already enjoying successful spells.
By using pioneers as points of reference, several companies have acknowledged the role of AI systems in facilitating the success of big companies. The increased importance makes them eager to have the same systems in place so that they can also reap the benefits. One notable feature is the ability of AI systems to perform repetitive tasks efficiently and in good time. This feature requires employees to undergo advanced training to allow them to handle the AI-related functions efficiently. This training provides room for career growth while giving the company a broader market to which to sell its products or services. Early adoption of these concepts would allow employees to dedicate their time to perform the more challenging tasks while AI systems perform the routine tasks that are easy but take up much of the employees’ time. Undoubtedly, the more challenging tasks offer better rewards for employees who accomplish them.
AI Adaptation Techniques
The introduction of AI systems into the business world is a relatively new concept that many people are yet to comprehend fully. The trend has offered a competitive boost to companies that discovered these systems early enough. The companies wasted no time in incorporating the systems into their operations and are reaping the benefits of their investments. However, there is still room for improvement as the technical field is very dynamic. Also, other companies can hope to successfully implement the systems, allowing them to catch up to the companies that were quick to adapt to the changes. They can achieve this feat by gaining a proper understanding of the different aspects of AI systems.
Conversational AIs have become a common occurrence in many of the top businesses in the world. The computers have a set of answers that they have been programmed to give in response to specific questions that customers may have. These are customer support bots, and they ensure that customers get prompt reactions so that they do not get tired of waiting and lose patience with the company. Also, these bots can buy time before an agent becomes available to attend to the client. These chatbots also play significant roles in sales and marketing.
However, the experience provided by these AI systems is yet to reach the expected human feel that customers may expect to receive. Therefore, researchers are coming up with ways to improve customer experiences as they interact with these chatbots. Some of the aspects that they highlight include increasing the variety of responses that the bot can give. This feature would effectively eliminate the repetitiveness that may customers have to deal with as they interact with these bots. Another feature they would like to incorporate is the addition of an emotional feel to the conversation. The bots would need to have features that enable them to show empathy towards the customers they are responding to. This feature would allow the customers to feel appreciated and understood as they air their grievances. Also, these features would allow the incorporation of AI into psychotherapy sessions.
Another aspect of AI is Natural Language Processing. This feature is vital in the functioning of AI systems, and actions are in place to help make these features accessible to all companies. Such measures include the development of pre-trained language models. These models play the role of making these services more affordable, faster and easy to implement. Events continue to flood this industry as people continue to find ways to make the systems more efficient by increasing their computing capacities while maintaining high-efficiency levels.
Conclusion
From the findings of the research, it is evident that AI systems are continuing to establish their position in the success of business entities. The businesses that are quick to adapt to the changes have seen periods of prolonged prosperity, allowing them to establish their position at the top of the industry. The other companies that are yet to realize the benefits of such systems remain behind their rivals. However, more companies will move towards adopting AI-related operations.
References
Altman, I. (2017). The Top 10 Business Trends That Will Drive Success In 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianaltman/2017/12/05/the-top-business-trends-that-will-drive-success-in-2018/#47ac5d81701a
Columbus, L. (2020). How Artificial Intelligence Is Revolutionizing Business In 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2017/09/10/how-artificial-intelligence-is-revolutionizing-business-in-2017/#3cbaa0815463
Yao, M. (2020). What are Important AI & Machine Learning Trends for 2020? Retrieved 12 May 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/mariyayao/2020/01/22/what-are–important-ai–machine-learning-trends-for-2020/#1d6ab1562323