10 ways artificial intelligence helps businesses

There is consensus among executives of the world's largest companies on the significant impact that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to have on companies. There are multiple studies available that attest to this. It is also pointed out that these are not changes in an uncertain and distant future, but factors that are already changing the competitive landscape of sectors and companies.  

This was not the case in the beginnings of AI. From the time the term was coined in 1956 until the mid-1990s, AI experienced a kind of "technological winter" with little progress. Researchers and programmers knew what they wanted to achieve and the concepts were clear, but the technologies that were to accompany and support AI were not yet available.

Although the development of AI in its early years was scarce, currently the growth curve is becoming almost exponential thanks to the improvement in the availability of technologies that make the science of AI grow and develop. Fundamentally, these are technologies that enable the massive use of data (Big Data), storage and processing capacity (Cloud) and the interactivity of the elements of complex systems through common protocols (APIs).

In this context, the following are being developed multiple ways to apply artificial intelligence in companiesmany of which are still being explored. For this reason, if we have started this entry by talking about "10 ways in which AI helps companies" it is to favor our rational-decimal logic and for the idea of completeness that certain numbers grant us, although it is true that we will necessarily fall short and, what is worse, quickly outdated if we try to list concrete applications.

Therefore, it is not a matter of making assumptions out of a "crystal ball", but rather of observing what is happening and its evolution in the various sectors in which it is being applied. For descriptive purposes, we can divide the impact of AI in the enterprise into three main areas:

1. Clients.
2. Operations/Services
3. People.

How does Artificial Intelligence help companies?

1. From the customer's perspective

The main objective is to increase sales based on knowing the customer better and being able to predict their needs. The implementation of AI will enable us to better understand the risks of losing them, as well as their own financial risk. In this way, we will be able to improve the ways we communicate with them.

In summary, the impact of AI from the customer's perspective will help in:

1. The ability to predict customer needs and individually designed offers for each customer.
2. The possibility of anticipating your risk of loss.
3. Interaction through multiple channels or media that can predict the required responses.
4. Knowledge of the financial and risk capacities of each client.

2. From the operations perspective

The application of AI focuses on reducing the cost of operations/services through increased automation. In fact, if we consider globally the perspective of operations, the efficiency path is even greater, especially in those industrial processes that tend to self-control.

In short, the impact of AI from the customer's perspective will favor:

1. The creation of products and services based on the customer's needs, which can be dynamically updated with new data.
2. The integration of AI into industrial processes to ensure their self-monitoring, combined with the Internet of Things (IoT) so that decisions are made by automatic processes.
3. The implementation of very open technological and data architectures to enable immediate integration with third-party data and solutions. 

3. From the perspective of the people

Finally, from the perspective of people in organizations, we can also observe trends that will affect the necessary competencies, decision-making in organizations and the organizational structure of the company itself.

In summary, the impact of Artificial Intelligence from a people perspective will help in:

1. The way organizations are changing to integrate and/or secure people with data and AI skills.  
2. Security, management and internal control processes have a greater predictive component.
3. The space for innovation and creativity expands because the operational control function is left in the hands of algorithms that learn about the fit of their own recommendations, freeing up time for new ideas.

No two AI solutions are alike

There is no AI solution The data are different, the customers are not the same, and the decisions to be made are not the same. 

One of the most interesting factors in the application of AI in companies is precisely its "artisanal" content, not in the sense of manual work, since this does not exist, but from the perspective that each customer is unique and should be treated as such.

This reality means that, paradoxically, in the face of a massification of predictions and automatic decisions, there is more room for innovation and creativity. 

Indeed, it is this creativity that should drive the development of AI to new states.