How AI Automation Benefits Businesses

Emerging technologies have businesses on the constant lookout for a potential paradigm-shifting solution. A solution that can help a company improve its processes, increase efficiency, and cut down expenses. One of these new emerging technologies is artificial intelligence, which is used to power the automation of numerous business processes.

Could AI automation unlock new opportunities for companies despite the industry they are in?

That isn’t an easy question to answer, especially when it can help you decide whether to consider implementing solutions that feature AI automation or not. We’ve put together everything you need to know about AI and automation technologies to enable you to make an informed decision.

What is artificial intelligence?

The term Artificial Intelligence refers to a sophisticated algorithm or software that enables computers to perform tasks like humans. AI is capable of mimicking our abilities to make decisions and solve problems.

Here is one of the first and most complete definitions of AI:
“AI is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence, but AI does not have to confine itself to biologically observable methods.”

AI can be programmed to carry out very specific actions ranging from the most simple to the most comprehensive ones. The ability to simulate human intelligence and use it to solve thousands of problems made AI a versatile solution with countless business use cases, including automation.

What is the difference between AI, automation, and machine learning

Many people use AI and machine learning (ML) interchangeably. However, these are not the same things. ML is a subfield of AI. ML enables machines to process the data and learn from it. ML systems can process copious amounts of data and use it to create their own deep learning algorithms and solve complex problems.

AI is what enables ML, or, in other words, ML is one of the applications of AI. AI is in the driver’s seat of ML systems and allows them to continue to learn as you feed them the new data. These systems can learn from experience and improve on their own.

How does automation fit in, then?

We had the roots of business automation in the industrial revolution when we started using machines to streamline routine tasks, improve efficiency, and increase productivity. Today, automation refers to software solutions capable of following pre-programmed instructions and rules at scale, such as in automation support.

Now, there are automation software solutions that use AI and ML to better replicate human agents and decisions. AI-based automation software excels at scale when it becomes infeasible for humans to perform tasks manually.

How can AI help your business increase its revenue?

Now that you know what AI is and what makes it different from ML and automation, you are probably starting to see its value in terms of improving your business. There are numerous ways AI can help you improve your operations. To truly understand the power of AI, here are the most noteworthy ways it can help your business increase its revenue.

It is cost-efficient

Cutting-down operational costs and increasing revenue streams go hand-in-hand. Ending up with a solution with a price tag that scales up with your operations can significantly decrease ROI. Fortunately, AI is not one of those solutions. It’s quite the opposite as it’s cost-efficient and can also help you pinpoint daily operations where you can use cost-cutting strategies.

Even if developing custom AI software solutions to automate tasks specific to your organization, rather than off-the-shelf products, involves upfront investment, it could potentially be a very sensible one.

Take automation paired with AI, for instance. Once you automate repetitive tasks, you will be able to empower people in key positions to tend to more pressing matters. Even if you try to penetrate a new market, you won’t have to worry about investing in new apps, and scalable automation can save you millions.

Helps with productivity

One of the main reasons businesses implement AI-based solutions is because of the promise of increased productivity. Given how automation works and the benefits it offers, it is very easy to understand how AI can boost productivity.

With the help of AI-based solutions, you will be able to give your staff more time to spend on projects and tasks that matter and add value to your brand. At the same time, you don’t have to make any trade-offs, as AI will allow for task automation in no time. A perfect example is VoiceSage’s messaging platform to automate actions such as calls.

Not to mention the computational power capacity of AI. It can scan through the data and get tasks completed faster than any employee can, thus improving productivity across the board.

Enhances customer experience

Improving customer satisfaction has become one of the primary efforts for many organizations. In a customer-centric world, delightful customer experiences can help your company stand from the crowd, generate more leads, and ensure repeat sales. However, fine-tuning customer experience can be challenging, especially when your company starts growing.

AI and automation can help you streamline many processes for your customers, making them faster and more convenient. Take customer services software with automation capabilities, for instance, can automate ticket routing, significantly decrease response times, and improve the overall quality of live customer service.

AI can help you transform your processes and enable your customers to save time and have an overall better experience when interacting with your brand.

Allows for streamlined customer service

Streamlining customer service is a challenging strategy for many companies. It’s simply because their customer services include both mundane tasks and complex tasks that require soft skills and personalization. You need to be able to improve both aspects of customer service to achieve optimal results.

Implementing artificial intelligence software can help in this instance as well. For example, VoiceSage rich messaging and interactive voice messaging solutions offer AI-powered bots to help companies streamline customer service.

AI is capable of handling all those mundane customer service tasks by itself. Your agents will no longer have to spend time and energy on completing these tasks. Instead, they’ll be able to focus on what matters the most – approaching every customer as an individual with unique needs.

Minimizes human error

While we are talking about repetitive and mundane tasks, there is one very important fact. Human errors that come out from repetitive tasks contribute to almost 50% of all errors employees make. Imagine being able to get rid of, or at least minimize, these errors. Can AI help you do it? AI and automation are not capable of performing all tasks.

So far, we’ve learned that an AI excels at automating repetitive tasks such as ticket automation, purchase process automation, and employee onboarding. With an AI at your side, you will be able to practically reduce the risk of human error in repetitive tasks to a minimum.

Predicts market trends more accurately

Markets are more volatile than ever. Add the harsh competition to it, and you have a recipe for uncertainty. To predict market trends, you need to gather relevant data. The problem is that you need to analyze big data and do it ever so continuously.

How do you make such a demanding operation feasible in terms of resources?

In this circumstance, AI can help you do market data analysis on demand, even if you have to analyze data from several pipelines in real-time. More importantly, AI does it automatically and with absolute accuracy no matter how robust the data are.

Analyzes data faster than humans can

Being able to analyze any data on-demand improves business intelligence efforts. However, it’s more than just being able to analyze them. To get actionable insights in time, a company has to study data extremely fast, which means that a human agent drops out of the equation as the data starts to pile up.

The benefit of using an AI is that you don’t have to worry about the data processing speed. A computer can comb through them, identify patterns, spot trends, and generate reports faster than any human.

Recognizes and prevents cyberattacks

Companies from all industries are aware of increasing cybersecurity threats. However, many can’t afford industry-grade security solutions to prevent the attacks. They have a reactive approach and try to minimize the damage and survive the aftermath of such an attack.

AI has revolutionized cybersecurity. It hasn’t only made it more affordable but has also improved it. AI-based cybersecurity solutions work on auto-pilot with minimal interference from human agents. They work as the first line of defense because they can recognize and prevent cyberattacks.

Furthermore, AI cybersecurity solutions enable business continuity and make sensitive data safer than ever.

Where can you find AI in business today?

The use of AI has spread to many industries. It doesn’t come as a surprise, given how many unique benefits this technology offers to companies. If you are curious, below, you will learn where you can find AI in business today.

Industry and manufacturing

AI automation has found some remarkable use cases in industry and manufacturing. It appears that many processes in this niche can benefit from it. AI has enabled manufacturers to use self-optimizing machines that can completely automate production processes on several assembly lines at once.

Another use case for AI is to analyze the production facility data to accurately forecast efficiency losses. Companies also use it to detect quality defects. Thanks to AI, the organizations in this vertical can benefit from predictive maintenance and plan better.

For instance, the BMW Group uses AI to automate image recognition and improve quality control. Furthermore, AI is an essential component in developing autonomous vehicles and creating a fully self-driving car.

Healthcare

AI has proven a valuable asset in healthcare too. There are many use cases, so let’s focus on the most noteworthy ones. First, AI helps medical practitioners make better clinical decisions. AI-powered systems help clinics improve primary care, streamline the triaging process, and even predict heart failure.

There are even virtual nursing assistants able to carry out several tasks, such as directing patients to the best care unit. Hospitals are also using business automation to streamline tasks related to electronic health records, automate medication refills, and push important notifications to patients.

Science and research

Science and research seem to be the most fertile grounds for AI implementation. That’s mainly because AI’s abilities perfectly reflect the needs of scientists and researchers. With the help of AI, scientists can put their hypotheses to the test without even leaving their offices, as AI helps them emulate and discover the outcomes of experiments.

AI also allows scientists to gather and analyze data more efficiently. Thanks to AI, researchers can now use dozens of data points to ensure their insights are accurate and predict the outcome of crucial events such as climate change and population sustainability.

Sales forecasting

To excel at sales forecasting, a company needs to have the data and means to process it efficiently. AI can assist in solving all the challenges related to sales forecasting, so companies use it for predictive analytics.

AI allows companies to automate data collection and execute data pipeline orchestration. But, more importantly, AI helps them give meaning to the data and accurately predict sales figures for upcoming weeks and months. Even giants, such as Samsung, use it to improve demand forecasting.

Travel and delivery

AI in the travel sector has several use cases. OTAs are using AI assistants to facilitate online booking, travel companies use AI-driven apps for flight forecasting, and everyone uses AI for data analytics. The new AI-related trends include personalized travel planning and smart baggage handling. Mindtree’s PaxPulse leverages AI to satisfy travel partners with personalized experiences.

In the delivery niche, the most common AI use case is for track route optimization as it reduces costs and delights customers simultaneously. The logistics companies also use AI to automate document processing, scheduling, tracking, and report generation.

Conclusion

You can see the benefits of automation and AI across many industries. It can help you achieve various goals ranging from running a cost-efficient operation and improving productivity to minimizing human error and analyzing data on demand. Since AI is a young technology, we expect to see even more interesting uses of AI-enabled automation in the future.