7 ways businesses are successfully using artificial intelligence now

What once sounded like the premise of a science fiction movie is now becoming a fast reality: Humans are employing robots to do their work.

Except it’s not as dramatic as it sounds.

What’s really happening is that businesses are using artificial intelligence to their advantage. Britannica defines AI as “the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings.” It’s both a tool for efficiency and a source of concern for some fearing job displacement.

But for others, it’s a game-changer, enhancing performance and opening doors to new opportunities. Here’s how businesses are leveraging these tools to boost efficiency, cut costs and drive growth over time.

Accounting

If there’s one area where it’s particularly important to reduce human error, accounting is it. After all, when dealing with money, you want to be as accurate as possible. That’s one reason why businesses might use AI for accounting purposes — but it isn’t the only one.

“Many accounting software tools now use AI to create cash flow projections or categorize transactions, with applications for tax, payroll, and financial forecasting,” Elysse Bell writes for Investopedia. “It can help reduce input errors, catch duplicate or suspicious transactions, and identify opportunities to save money.”

Customer service and support

With AI, businesses can tell their customers that they’re available 24/7 for support and really mean it. That’s because most of the time, a chatbot or other automated response is standing by to act as the first line of service. This frees the customer service agent up for other tasks or allows them to provide more personalized attention to a specific customer when needed.

“Chatbots are much more than digital assistants,” Donna Fuscaldo writes for Business News Daily. “They can help your small business save money, close sales, and connect with customers in an increasingly digital world.”

An MIT survey of 599 executives across the globe found that 80% of them saw “measurable improvements in customer satisfaction, service delivery and contact centre performance” in implementing AI into their customer support.

Cybersecurity

With business operations relying heavily on technology and the internet these days, cybersecurity has never been more important. And it’s not something you should wait to address.

Continuing in her article for Investopedia, Bell writes, “AI-powered cybersecurity tools can monitor systems activity and safeguard against cyberattacks, identifying risks and areas of vulnerability. It can also help security teams analyze risk and expedite their responses to threats.”

Data analysis and insights

There may be some people who live for pouring over spreadsheets and analyzing every last piece of data to make predictions about consumer behavior and future trends. But with AI at your disposal, you no longer need to do that. In fact, the AI route will most likely be more effective and efficient.

As Annette Chacko writes for Sprout Social, “AI analytics uses machine learning algorithms to analyze big data, which enables it to process large volumes of complex, unstructured raw data quickly, accurately and easily.”

For example, Chacko explains how hotels looking to serve a surge of summer guests might analyze customer messages, emails, reviews and guest profiles to learn exactly what they want. They might realize that what guests want most is child care facilities onsite to help them enjoy their stay even more.

Content generation

More and more businesses are finding ways to use AI to create content for them. This might include email messages, marketing campaigns, videos, graphics and other types of media. As just one example, in an article for Forbes Advisor, Katherine Haan says that one in three businesses plan to use ChatGPT to write their website content.

While this can certainly be a helpful and time-saving tool, U.S. Chamber of Commerce writer Miranda Fraraccio urges people to be careful how they use it.

“Using AI to build content can streamline the creation process, but there needs to be some human intervention to ensure its accuracy,” Fraraccio explains. “Review and refine AI-generated content as needed before sharing rather than posting it as is.”

It’s also important to note that many AI software that produce content don’t write like humans do. Scrutinizing AI-generated content to ensure it sounds genuine and conversational will ensure your content’s success in the eye of the consumer.

Sales and marketing

AI implications on sales and marketing are an extension of the content generation section. Once you analyze big data sets about your customers, you can use that data to help your sales and marketing teams know how best to reach out to them. One obvious example is that businesses can use a customer’s interests, preferences and browsing history to make suggestions for products to buy.

Writing for Forbes, Michael Eslamboli explains why marketing teams might also monitor social media platforms and track mentions of their brand for reputation management.

“The speed of information transmission means a single incident can have global repercussions almost instantaneously,” Eslamboli writes. “Proactively managing your online presence is critical for building trust, credibility and loyalty in an era where digital reputation is synonymous with brand value.”

Human resources

By now, you’ve caught on to the idea that one of the biggest benefits of using AI in business is to save time by streamlining processes. Human resources is certainly an area that could use help with offloading some mundane tasks.

Writing for Workable, Keith Mackenzie points out seven ways AI could help in this regard. These include recruiting, performance reviews, the onboarding/offboarding process, talent development/training, workforce planning and virtual assistants.

The benefits of aiding the human resources department with AI is so that employees will have more time to manage relationships and inner-company transitions.

Learn how to leverage AI for your business

As AI continues to evolve, its role in business will only continue to grow as well. Learning how to harness these tools can help you unlock new opportunities for growth and success. For more ideas on how to leverage AI for your business, be sure to tune into the Salt Lake Chamber’s free AI webinar on Wednesday, June 26, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.