One of the good things that technology has brought to the modern world is that it gives us the chance to do things the easy way. The dawn of artificial intelligence (AI) has proven this fact to be true. With computerized systems, business owners can improve their customer experience and increase their profit margins.
If you’re still on the fence about AI technology, here are the five benefits that you need to know about it that might help you in your decision:
1. Personalize customer experience
Providing a personalized shopping experience to your customers increases engagement, promotes customer loyalty, and helps improve the company’s profitability. With the promising results it offers, it’s no wonder why many companies spend most of their time and resources on providing customized offers to each of their customers.
One of the functions of artificial intelligence is that it helps identify customer’s behavior on your website. In other words, they can track their movements and even identify what types of products they’re frequently viewing. From the data collected, artificial intelligence can create individualized customer offers and display products that customers like and are more likely to purchase.
2. Save time and money
AI technology never gets tired. They don’t get bored, and they don’t need breaks from time to time. In other words, it can do its job 24/7. You can rely on them to give you updates or attend to your customer’s needs, even when it’s in the middle of the night. You can rely on them to analyze large chunks of data within milliseconds “ a task that, if done manually, could take days to finish. With AI, companies can automate routine and repetitive tasks, thus reducing labor costs.
Automating processes with the use of AI also results in more efficient business operations. Machines are less likely to commit mistakes, which helps the company save a lot of money. For instance, Google’s LYNA (Lymph Node Assistant) has achieved a 99% accuracy for detecting metastatic breast cancer, according to VentureBeat.
AI doesn’t use emotions or opinions and relies mostly on the available data to make decisions. This ensures that there is no bias in the decision-making process leading to better outcomes and lesser errors. Ultimately, this will help save money in the long-run.
3. Improved Forecasting
AI analyzes multiple sets of data and converts it into information that business owners can use to improve their business operations. It can detect sales patterns and identify which products are high in demand within a certain week or month. Artificial intelligence can also predict whether the demand will increase or decrease using the data collected from your customers and the industry as a whole. This information is vital since it tells you exactly how much inventory you should order so that you won’t have leftover stocks.
Artificial intelligence isn’t only useful in retail. Corporate financing and banks also use AI-powered technology to predict the fluctuations in currencies and stock prices. In the healthcare industry, artificial intelligence is being used to predict disease outbreaks using data collected from social media posts.
4. Offer real-time assistance
The ability to respond immediately to customer inquiries and address concerns is vital for improving customer satisfaction. In the transportation industry, such as airlines, trains, and buses, AI-powered apps can provide their clients with their travel information, such as estimated time of arrival, flight or bus number, or real-time updates on the bus or airplane’s location. The system can also send automated updates should there be any changes in their itineraries.
Many companies also use artificial intelligence to offer assistance to their customers. A lot of companies like HubSpot, SMB Compass, Nordstrom, and other companies are using AI to provide real-time assistance customer support interaction. With a custom-made chatbot, you can automatically generate personalized product recommendations or even help your customers make a purchase from your store.
When the market is extremely competitive, having an AI-powered system helps boost your company’s customer service. A study by Zendesk involving 1,044 U.S. consumers shows that 42% are more likely to purchase more after a good customer service experience. In contrast, lousy customer service resulted in 52% of the consumers not buying products from stores.
Challenges of Artificial Intelligence
Despite the attractive benefits artificial intelligence offers, it does have its set of downsides:
1. Difficult to Troubleshoot
Technology, regardless of how intelligent they are, is not perfect. They tend to malfunction at times, and determining the root of the problem could take time. Sometimes, the experts may have to modify, add, or manipulate the algorithms to get it up and running again, making troubleshooting even more challenging and complex.
2. Initial Investment Can be Expensive
With all the benefits artificial intelligence brings, every company can expect that it won’t come cheap. Setting up your AI-powered systems requires the help of highly-trained AI professionals who will then spend time to build and customize it according to your company’s needs. Plus, the company would have to train some of its professionals to leverage the benefits of AI technology, which translates to more money they will have to spend.
Final Thoughts: Growing Your Business Using AI
There are countless benefits that artificial intelligence gives businesses. Whether you’re in the transportation, restaurant, or financing industry, taking advantage of AI could yield excellent results for your company. You can use it to capture leads, answer customer inquiries, and improve customer experience. With AI, you can take repetitive tasks out of your workers’ hands so they can focus more on things that need more attention.
However, with all the good AI brings, you must also be ready to face the high costs of set-up. You would have to pay for professional fees that could go up to thousands of dollars. But beyond that, it’s a powerful investment to have in scaling your business.
Artificial intelligence will most likely play a more prominent role in the future, especially for businesses. As technology continually develops, AI technology would eventually be integrated into people’s daily lives. If you want your company to be ready for the future, investing in AI would be a great start.
