The Purple Giraffe team love Artificial Intelligence (AI)! We use it as much as we can, and strongly believe other businesses should be using AI too. Your business has likely implemented AI already, seeing as there are many kinds of AI tools available to businesses in 2023.
From chatbots, machine learning and data analytics to downloadable spell checkers and everything in between. AI is an unavoidable part of business processes now, in the best way possible.
There are three main types of AI uses that your business should be aware of and using: automation, data analytics and natural language processing (NLP).
Automation
Things like chatbots on websites, scheduled maintenance or updates, and personalised marketing emails (we thought you’d like this…) are all examples of AI automation. AI learns how and when to perform a task through machine learning. This is a process where technology reads and learns from data to improve its functionality.
Data analytics
AI uses algorithms to identify patterns in both your business and your clients. This allows it to gain insights on things like understanding buyer behaviour and industry trends. It can even break down large pieces of information into easy-to-digest information, saving you the headache.
Natural language processing
Handy apps like Grammarly or Amazon’s Alexa are great examples of AI NLP. This is where a machine simplifies the work you do, by learning to understand the human language. It then either improves your work (spell checking) or carries out a task for you by listening to your verbal queues.
Common uses of AI in Business
Now that we’ve established the three main types of AI, let’s take a deeper look into how they improve business operations.
- Chatbots provide 24/7 customer service, answer customer queries and resolve issues
- Analyse data to create personalised marketing campaigns
- Identify potential leads and provide sales teams with insights into customer preferences and buying behaviour
- Process inventory levels, and predict demand to streamline administrative operations
- Prevent fraudulent activities, like credit card fraud, identity theft, and money laundering
- Automate tasks like resume screening, candidate matching, and scheduling interviews
- Automate repetitive tasks such as data entry, customer service, and social media management
Concerns surrounding AI in Business
Although AI is a wonderful tool that businesses embrace, there are some concerns about using technology instead of a person to complete a task. AI can be biased towards certain groups or people based on the data it’s trained on. Which can lead to discrimination and unfair treatment of people.
As AI is, well, not human, it makes it difficult to understand and communicate with, therefore, leading to an awkward conversation when you go to reply to direct messages your AI chatbot started.
The major concern for most people is losing their job because of AI. This is due to the automation of certain tasks through AI making some human-based tasks irrelevant.
While the above concerns may seem daunting, AI cannot replicate all human skills and abilities like emotional intellect, creativity, and critical thinking. The chances of ChatGPT replacing the person writing this blog are low because ChatGPT’s ability to edit blogs is non-existent (we asked ChatGPT ourselves).
Using AI is a smart business decision despite its flaws as it’s been proven to increase productivity, cut down costs and pick up human errors like misspelled words and incorrect data entry. Businesses that use AI to their advantage, are more efficient and accurate. The way we see it is if using AI can improve the services we give our clients, then it’s a smart tool to use.
