AI will allow businesses to automate a multitude of menial tasks, saving time and efficiencies for increased productivity and profitability. For businesses, the use of AI will gain them access to data and insights at the click of a button, rendering them more reactive as a business and more active for their customers and suppliers.
When we consider how we manage a team, communicate within that team, deliver services, and manage finances, it’s important to observe how digital transformations have revolutionised those functions in recent years. Manni Singh, CEO of Bobble Digital says: “AI and humans will need to work together”, and from there AI will have a profoundly positive impact on the future of business.
Here’s Bobble Digital’s take on how AI is set to shape the future of business.
The Role of AI and Digital Transformation in Business
Developments in digital transformation account for everything from how you work internally with your team to how you manage your day-to-day running contracts with companies and suppliers. When you consider the impact of COVID and the way that operations have changed due to recent digital transformation, have a look at the accessibility of your business and how you communicate.
It is the responsibility of business owners to evolve alongside digital transformation with modern technologies like AI applications. The incorporation of AI tools will help businesses to become more accessible, available, productive, and efficient – giving them the ability to streamline their results and profitability.
Artificial intelligence forms the “very foundation of computer learning”, harnessing enormous amounts of data to make optimal decisions in a fraction of the time it would take humans. Responsible for everything from medical breakthroughs in cancer research to pioneering climate change research, AI is central to the future of business.
With over 65% of all organisations accelerating their use of digital technologies in 2022, industry sectors investing in AI include transportation, manufacturing, healthcare, media and customer service.
At Bobble Digital, we have seen retail and e-commerce sectors struggling to maintain physical stores while adapting to digital developments. We also see charities and public sector industries labouring to incorporate digital technologies into the workplace.
Public sector companies have historically struggled to implement change due to restrictive government guidelines breeding outdated local councils and the large scale of their organisations. Private companies however are more able to implement digital changes more efficiently due to a larger budgets and fewer barriers throughout the decision process.
Benefits
Time Saving
“The biggest benefit for AI and digital transformation is time saving.” When considering the benefits of AI, our company founder Manni consistently referred to time and efficiency. Time saved by automating and using platforms which allow you to better communicate internally, gives you the opportunity to improve your internal business resources – which will help to future proof your organisation.
Every business must tackle certain tasks that require swathes of manual effort – think of jobs that require formatting and coding. Implementing AI will help to generate time in your workspace, which can be better spent addressing these valuable tasks.
When considering the role of AI in data analytics, Christopher Burgess, founder and CEO of Future Technology IP Ltd stated, “AI could run through a spreadsheet of 10,000 rows in a fraction of the time it would take me to look at them, let alone begin to recognise patterns.” As a result, the time saved from implementing AI tools produces “opportunities for efficiency.”
The reason that companies work with certain suppliers is often not due to the cost of that supplier, but the time saved for the business. As business owners, we hire accountants, lawyers, and HR companies to save your own time that could be better spent elsewhere. How is AI any different?
Ahead of The Curve
In our current digital age, our digital devices are geared towards mobiles, laptops, and tablets. Bringing artificial intelligence applications into your company will put your workforce at an advantage in five years’ time when AI and digital transformation become standard practise.
Expert Assistance
Another benefit of using AI, and a great example of that – let’s say you’re an e-commerce business and you’re selling tens of thousands of products on your website per day. You need to know your margins, what is working, what is not working, what your customers like, and what they don’t like. Implementing AI in terms of data analytics will allow you to quickly understand which products “are hot right now, and which products are not.”
You may also wish to create an AI tool designed specifically to look at keywords and how many people are on Google searching those specific keywords right now. This automated system would therefore use real time data to help you understand the trends on certain keywords and whether they’re cost effective at a cost-per-click in relation your product.
Essentially AI can assist your business strategy by looking at Google, your website, your sales data and your customer data, in a matter of seconds. Whether it’s changes to your homepage, the specific products that you push, or an ad campaign for Facebook, AI delivers real time data with unwavering efficiency.
Limitations
Budget
Given how artificial intelligence is portrayed in some of our favourite sci-fi films, it’s easy to assume that the biggest limitation of AI is the threat of robot apocalypse – in reality, it’s the cost. Investing in AI doesn’t happen for free, and in fact it requires specialist people that understand the technology behind it to operate it.
As your organisation spends the first few months understanding, implementing, and learning from the data, business owners must accept a lack of short-term return. As a result, “the biggest limitation for AI and digital transformation right now is the cost of implementing it.”
Budget is undoubtedly a barrier for smaller businesses. But as more and more businesses integrate AI into their company systems, these solutions will become more profitable, and more cost effective for smaller organisations.
A Threat to Internal Work Culture
Another limitation highlighted by Manni was the impact that AI might have on “internal work culture.” It’s clear that if companies are bringing in more AI and digital transformation tools to automate the work of an individual, employees might feel as though their job is at risk.
It’s important for business owners to manage internal work culture to showcase the benefits of AI and oversee the expectation between what AI digital transformation will do, and the continued need for human input.
Opportunities: AI and The Future
An enormous takeaway from our discussions with Manni is that “AI and humans will need to work together.” There’s a lot of speculation regarding AI and how vast it can grow – including anxieties that it might advance out of control. But automation in terms of advanced coding and innovative technology is a momentous opportunity for businesses.
AI should be used with your team to increase productivity and utilise your staff in areas that cannot be automated. Let’s say that an employee is struggling to decipher reports or specific data analysis that can be finished in a fraction of a second with automation; that same employee can instead spend their time interpreting and finding meaning in that data.
Imagine that those employees that waste time crunching numbers and collecting data analytics were able to actively implement practical solutions and change. As an organisation investing in AI, your workforce can take on more work per person without compromising the quality of the service.
When contemplating the opportunities of AI and digital transformation, everything from the software that you use to communicate to the cloud-based systems you use to access documents is enhanced. Digital transformation will undoubtedly penetrate every business and organisation globally – it’s your job to stay relevant.
As part one of a two-part blog series, AI and Digital Transformation: The Future of Digital Marketing will be published tomorrow to continue our discussion of artificial intelligence and digital transformation. Head back to our blog page for a specialised take on AI in digital marketing.
As part one of a two-part blog series, AI and Digital Transformation: The Future of Digital Marketing continues our discussion of artificial intelligence and digital transformation. For a specialised take on AI in digital marketing, part two is available to read now on our blog page.
