Innovation
How Is AI Being Used In Business?

Artificial Intelligence is bandied around the office. There’s plenty of information online, but do you know where your business is using it?
Machine Learning, Biometrics, and Robotic Process Automation are in use right now and growing in popularity, not just with big businesses but also startups, SMEs and everything in between. Most areas of business will be using AI including:
- Technology
- Human Resources
- Marketing and sales
- Customer support
- Accounting and finance
Will AI be replacing your job soon? That depends on your role. In customer service, AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can handle customer inquiries and complaints, provide support and guidance, and assist in resolving issues. If you’re role is first-line support, you may need to find a new role!
Marketing is more effective with AI used to analyze customer data, identify patterns and trends, and personalize marketing and sales campaigns.
Operations and logistics is another area of business in which AI is making big gains. AI can optimize supply chain management, inventory control, and logistics, improving efficiency and reducing costs.
Finance and accounting. No organization wants to learn one of its own has stolen from them. AI can be used for fraud detection, risk management, and financial analysis, providing real-time insights into financial performance and identifying potential issues.
Areas of AI
AI tech including Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Biometrics and Machine Learning (ML) have leaped into organizations and they are now considered invaluable. If you were to consider a different role being a data scientist would be useful as companies ramp up their data science teams to convert their data worked on by AI into helpful business insights.
Machine Learning
A branch of AI, this tech, has been around for a while.
Machine Learning (ML) develops techniques so computers can automatically learn and improve from experience. It’s used right now to predict and classify data; hence it’s been a game-changer for advertising platforms like Google Ads.
Analysis of vast quantities of data in quick-smart time while delivering accuracy has relieved many of us from jobs involving mundane, repetitive tasks.
ML gets its data from APIs, algorithms, other machines, and big data tools, to name a few sources, but not all machine learning algorithms are the same.
Machine learning algorithms:
- Supervised – can apply what’s been learned to new data.
- Unsupervised – explores data and describes hidden structures within datasets.
- Semi-supervised – somewhere between the two mentioned above
- Reinforcement – allows software and machines to pick the optimum response within a specific context to improve performance.
More detail found here: ML algorithms definitions.
Many platforms are available now, and you’ll know many of the companies in this space: Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and a few you may not know that well, including Adext and Skytree.
Biometrics
This AL tech is focused on improving communication and understanding between us and machines. It uses measurements and analyses human behaviour. Interactions, such as touch, speech, images and even body language, are in their sights.
Like ML, this is a big field of AI with huge potential, particularly in market research.
Robotic Process Automation
Think AI workers. That’s this technology. Robotic process automation (RPA) is another area of AI that’s a game-changer for employment, and many of the jobs we used to do, still do and will no longer do. Already RPA has found its way into many industries, and AI workers (machines) have replaced humans in the workforce.
Humans used to do prosaic and repetitive tasks, which machines now do in part or in full. For example being an accounting administrator may not be what it used to be if your employer is using AI to number crunch and do the analysis and reporting.
Chat Bot
AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can handle customer inquiries and complaints, provide support and guidance, and assist in resolving issues. The ‘chatbot’ is now ubiquitous on websites for products and services and online sales support. Here is a good read on how using a chatbot could benefit business and change the customer experience.
Live Chat is a more human form of the chatbot, and when you’ve experienced it as a customer, your level of appreciation goes up a notch or two.
There is a flip side to businesses using live chat and chatbot tech. Customers now used to it expect your business to deliver immediacy and efficiency every time.
With RPA, businesses see many upsides, with reduced overheads and improved productivity.
There have been clever marketing for it, mainly to dissuade adverse reactions from workers fearful of job displacement. Businesses and workers are encouraged to see it as a solution that promotes better use of human workers though new roles that are infinitely more interesting and fulfilling while also doing wonders to the company’s bottom line.
Summary
AI is everywhere, including customer service, marketing and sales, operations and logistics, HR, finance, R&D, and IT.
Depending on how you view your business, career and life, the future with AI is either exhilarating or a bit scary. Whichever way you look at it, there’s no stopping these new technologies.