In today's world, the paradigm of new technologies is changing so quickly that it is becoming difficult for business to keep up with consumer demand. Take, for example, customer interaction in sales. According to recent studies, consumers now prefer to communicate in real time, as they make their own purchases, which means that simply having an online store is no longer enough, you need to have feedback.
Business and Technology
For startups hoping to increase a loyal customer base, it is important to meet all the constantly expanding customer requests, but at some point there can be so many of them (requests) that the offer may simply not cope with the volume. An entrepreneur who does not have a sufficiently developed base will not have enough employees and resources to timely meet all the needs of customers.
However, the development of technologies that has already become breakthrough in recent years is keeping pace. The introduction of artificial intelligence and machine learning into the framework of traditional enterprises largely solves this problem. The implementation of conversational AI in the communication space makes it more flexible both for customers and the enterprise itself, offering consumers instant results and reducing the burden on the business, removing the need to pay personal attention to each individual person interested.
AI companies
Nowadays, there are many examples of large companies that successfully implement innovations in their landscape with a focus on artificial intelligence. For example, recently, customers of the well-known American television provider Dish Network rated the company's virtual agent even higher than real specialists from the call center. In 2016, tequila maker Patrón launched an Alexa bot that provides users with recipes and interesting facts related to tequila. This seemingly trivial tool today has more than 36,000 users and receives about 7,000 requests every month. Users immediately appreciated the possibility of instant feedback.
Nevertheless, despite the daily development, for most entrepreneurs, AI is still something unusual. According to surveys, only about 21 percent of companies around the world today are introducing artificial intelligence into their business. It would be an understatement to say that this is an unfair situation - more startups should use AI and gain competitive advantages.
How can artificial intelligence help business?
Nowadays, entrepreneurs can no longer just sit back and wait for innovations to pass by them, especially when it comes to artificial intelligence. There comes a time when you need to be proactive in order to save a business. Below are examples of why AI is becoming more competitive compared to traditional business methods.
1. AI provides faster feedback.
According to statistics, 90 percent of consumers indicate in surveys the speed of customer service is a more important indicator than the accuracy or meticulousness of a specialist. Thus, it is more important for customers to quickly deal with an order or service than to be 100% sure of who is serving them.What can it talk about? Firstly, the development of AI and automation will gradually optimize the process of communication with the client, providing instead of individual representatives of the company a full-fledged customer service system. Secondly, the service process itself will shift from full-format communication with a company employee to receiving immediate answers, focusing on more specific issues.
Therefore, companies should focus on developing messaging bots for applications like Facebook Messenger, iMessage, and the like, as well as creating their own extensions for smart home speakers such as Google Home or Amazon Echo. These smart speakers are quickly becoming an integral home attribute for people, in fact replacing them with radio today. So those companies that today will quickly curb this wave - they will become winners in this race.
2. AI provides a better understanding of the consumer.
Statistics show that most of the expenses on corporate software are spent primarily on working with clients, while cloud CRM systems, in particular, are quite expensive (which makes sense, since sales and customer service are the cornerstones of any successful company). However, this means that it is vital for the business to get the most out of these costs.
It’s not enough to simply collect sales data and customer information. With the help of AI, you can take this data and analyze it to more accurately determine the sales goals that are updated in real time. Also, thanks to the deployment of artificial intelligence, it is possible to determine how customers feel not only at an individual level, but in the aggregate.
Such an analysis of consumer sentiment will help a much larger number of customers determine their true desires. It is understanding of the consumer’s real intentions that will help increase sales, improve service and change the annual business plan.
In fact, AI is already being introduced in many companies today, evaluating human emotions. For example, the Amazon Alexa team is working on the possibility of detecting the emotional color of the voice, and Affectiva is studying the human voice and facial apparatus for measuring feelings.
3. Overcoming language barriers.
Language remains one of the most serious barriers for international business, especially for small startups. However, artificial intelligence has the power to break this barrier. Take, for example, the following study: when eBay introduced the smart neural interface, which translated the names and search terms in 2014, sales of this device grew by 10.9 percent. These statistics are noteworthy in that before that, eBay already had a translator, but it did not have AI.
For businesses, the ability to cross linguistic boundaries presents unlimited opportunities for the adoption of new employees. Large companies, such as Microsoft and Google, already offer automated translation tools - not yet perfect, but more and more close to this. Moreover, absolutely any business now has the opportunity to work with customers around the world, thanks to AI and machine learning.
Conclusion
It is important to understand that investing in AI today is hardly a key agenda for the development of modern business. Dividends will not be long in coming and they will be great: this is an exponential increase in sales, improved services, and reduced outflows of both customers and employees. Only by introducing AI can a business strive for a stronger, more profitable future.