Artificial Intelligence in Business

AI has stepped in every aspect of human life. You can find its impact by means of various tools and apps in health care, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and many more. So how can a business enterprise be far behind? In recent times, with the assistance of AI, companies can use algorithms to identify trends of the customers. Armed with this information, they can gain valuable insights from a large quantity of data and then make decisions on advertising campaigns. Yes, the challenges are large. It is not easy to first obtain data, analyze them, discard the unwanted and then turn to usable data for the benefit of the company. The major challenge companies face is in the incorporation of machine learning systems to their business. The hard tasks are the proper organization of data, collection, and testing of algorithms. Yet, CEOs of business enterprises are optimistic about the procedure.

Imagine, the time when mobiles were first introduced in India. It was bought only by the rich and elite. The common people did not pay much attention because they thought it was complicated software. But 15 years down the line, every person in Indian in even the remote village has a mobile, that too, a smartphone. The same patterns applies even in AI. The new technology may seem complicated, but in due course of time, AI may get modified to simple procedures and techniques. Even a small enterprise may be able to use AI for better prospects.

There are tech giants such as General Electric, Siemens and SAP that are developing platforms and simple systems to include intelligence and analytics. In this article, we have given examples of AI implementation in the business sector.

Business Intelligence – HANA (cloud platform)

This platform is used for the management of information in databases collected from various resources. Please note, the data collection should end in a positive result. Or else the collection will be just that – stored data. The HANA can take the system from various sources such as sensors, mobile, desktop computers, financial transactions. It can then check on financial transactions for irregularities. For example, take Walmart. It has a huge number of stores (11,000). How do you think a transaction gone wrong can get noticed? It will require weeks of manual work. On the other hand, HANA can detect the change in seconds.

DOMO – Business Dashboard AI for Making Decisions

The company DOMO’s product by the same name can help companies take crucial decisions. The application is cloud-based. Even a small scale company numbering about 50 employees can use it effectively. Large corporations can also use the same platform. In fact, the data is collected from third-party sources such as apps. It is then analysed to get an insight as per the need.

The platforms for taking data may vary depending on the company. For example, Salesforce, Shopify, Facebook, and Square. So a merchant can extract data from Shopify to gain insights into the mind of the customer. Then the strategy for advertising campaign can be done to generate revenue.

Mr. Roboto is the platform designed by Domo with the combination of machine learning, AI and predictive analytics. Mr. Roboto can offer insights and recommendations to key decision makers at companies. They, in turn, take account of other factors and can effectively predict leads and revenue from sales.

AI in Sales – Apptus

Have you searched for a song on youtube? You get the song and listen to it. Next time, when you come to youtube, the same song will be displayed and along with it, other songs that have a similarity. You can have another example. You are searching for a product on Amazon website. You also get to view other products similar to the one you search for. In short, Amazon wants you to make a purchase. This is one aspect where you search for a product.

Suppose, if the business gets a model where a customer can be persuaded to buy the product. A new tool has come which can recommend a product. Yes, it is Apptus. It gives recommendations to companies about customer’s preferences and also gives the predictions. It gets to know of a customer’s preferred product and then lays out the time for showing the buy- prospective ad.

A machine learning can analyze algorithms and make predictions on the buying opinion of the customer. In fact, you can trust deep learning technology to give an accuracy of 96 percent. Yes, the process has not yet reached perfection. But compare the percentage to the human tendency. Humans can only reach the level of eighty percent.

AI for Business Insights – Avanade

Avanade is a predictive analytics platform that can give data-based insights for companies. In fact, it is a joint venture of Accenture and Microsoft. Insurance company Pacific Specialty made use of Avanade for designing an analytics platform. The reason, the company wanted its employees to get more insight and information on the business. By getting valuable insights on policyholder behavior and trends, they wanted to design new packages and products to generate more revenue.

The AI tools have thrown light on other aspects. They are making the humans focus on more productivity and creativity instead of doing manual tasks. Yes, as per a survey conducted, the shift in tasks can lead to the generation of more revenue. It will also lead to change in job descriptions and roles for employees. So far, AI has made an impact more in manufacturing, industrial sectors.

Applications in Heavy Industry – AI

Just visualize the words – heavy industry. In other words, heavy machines. They can complete the daily tasks worth millions of dollars in a single day. And if they fail, the work can come to a halt. Sensors are required in vehicles, production plants and machineries to determine their working conditions and times of failure. Now IoT has stepped into the industry. Every machinery right from consumer gadgets, trains and trucks can also get connected. There is a new system in question called as Predix (from General Electric) to monitor the performance data of machineries and equipments.

Please note, that this system is not for small scale companies. It can ingest large amount of data to predict failures in any heavy equipment in the future. For example, Intelligent Pipeline Solution by Accenture can monitor oil pipelines in every corner of the globe. It can take data from various sources such as pipelines and assets.

Shall we look at the other examples?

The AI tool can give an alert regarding maintenance for cars, trucks, devices and drilling machines. It can also help in rescheduling the machines for service and maintenance.

Conclusion

AI is here to stay for sure. Yes, there are some challenges, but once streamlined, it can become an integral part of every business, right from small scale to business conglomerates.

Let us imagine a situation. You stay in Bangalore. Being an investor, you have put your money in companies which deal with home improvement. In short, these companies offer doorstep services for home repair. Let us imagine, a customer has an air conditioner which needs maintenance. Now, he does not have to search for the technician who provides the best AC repair in Bangalore. He can download the app of your home services company and place a request via the app. The maintenance work gets completed in a short time. Also, you have invested in other businesses. Now, it is impossible to keep track of the profits and money flowing in from many businesses. You can, however, make use of the AI tool to streamline financial transactions and keep them in proper order in the form of reports. During the filing of Income taxes, the reports can help you fill the declaration form with ease.