Whether you are on the verge of creating your business and settling for a service portfolio or are already familiar with the importance of continued business growth and security, artificial intelligence (AI) can improve your company on a multitude of levels. According to Adobe, 47% of digitally-matured organizations have an AI strategy in place, with 31% of enterprises planning to provide artificial intelligence services in the next 12 months.

Both eCommerce and cloud-based businesses have a lot to gain from AI in terms of back-end workflow management and client servicing as a whole. However, making the pivotal decision and opting to integrate machine learning into a pre-existing business strategy might seem too disruptive or costly at first glance. With that in mind, let’s take a look at what makes AI an important factor in the leadership of your company as well as it's business growth and security plans in the coming years.

Basics of AI and Machine Learning

In order to figure out what you can achieve by implementing AI into your online business, let’s tackle some basics before moving forward. Artificial intelligence algorithms are not a new trend on the market. In fact, they are quite prominent in a plethora of online businesses and eCommerce platforms, mainly in the form of chatbots. According to Tech Jury, AI integration can increase business productivity by up to 40%, while 41% of consumers believe that AI will enhance their lives in one way or another down the road.

As we’ve mentioned, AI can be spotted quite easily in its chatbot form where it serves the purposes of visitor engagement on your website. As such, it is based on machine learning technology which means that any data it gathers for the duration of its engagement is used to learn and adapt for the future. AI can provide your business with a dynamic new way of engaging consumers, managing in-house operations and keeping your data safe while doing so. If it’s all well and good, where does the pushback come from?

Weighing AI against Employees

When it comes to the moral and ethical implications of pushing AI into your business growth and security plans, you shouldn’t worry too much. AI will not and cannot swap real-world professionals and hands-on experience in your company. However, it can be used to bolster your employees’ productivity, make their client servicing easier and ensure that all of your projects get done on time.

According to Finances Online, 71% of company executives stated that AI brought game-changing effects to their businesses, while 72% of industry leaders consider AI a factual and objective business advantage compared to their industry peers. The best way to make sure that AI is taken full advantage of in your business plan going forward is to onboard your employees in regard to its capabilities.

Ensure that everyone is aware and capable of using AI features in-house for managerial and data analysis tasks in order to lower downtime and increase overall productivity on a day-to-day basis. No one should be afraid of AI taking their jobs and leaving them unemployed – use the best of both worlds and your business growth and security will remain at top efficiency.

Business Growth and Security Improvements Brought on by AI

• Enhanced Customer Servicing

Now that we have a clearer understanding of what AI represents in the business market, let’s talk about several advantages and improvements its integration carries with it. As we’ve mentioned before, one of the hallmarks of artificial intelligence and machine learning in online businesses are chatbots. Customer support, ticket servicing and general 24/7 online assistance is a must for any company worthy of its business reputation.

Artificial intelligence algorithms can not only ensure around the clock support coverage but also provide customers with momentary responses to their problems or questions. As is the case with machine learning, AI can gather relevant data which can be integrated into its scripts for future references and more high-quality responses. Likewise, existing chatbot scripts can be translated into a plethora of languages through platforms such as The Word Point, further enhancing your business’ customer servicing features. And while AI can provide transformative effects to your support system, real-world agents should still be kept on standby for special cases.

Likewise, some customers might have complex issues, return requests and other minute problems which can be too daunting for AI to handle autonomously. As such, AI can serve as the front-line assistance for your customer support department and make sure that your employees have time to focus on the most important tickets while the machine learning chatbot handles everything else servicing related.

• Streamlined Data Gathering & Management

Back-end data management is an important factor of any business plan, especially when it comes to growth and scaling over time. Implementing AI into your business can improve your overall data gathering, analysis and long-term management activities across the board.

According to Enterprises Project, 80% of project management tasks will be handled by AI by 2030, with global AI spending estimated to reach $77.6 billion by 2022. There is already a clear want and need for AI-assisted data management in all aspects of business growth and security, starting with day-to-day workflow delegation down to calculating financial risks and investments.

Even though these tasks can be performed by real-world experts, AI can streamline the operations so they take a fraction of the time they would require if done manually. In this regard, financial experts and managers can serve as the business plan factors which make the final call on the future of the company with far more informed and objective data to work with thanks to AI algorithms.

• Faster Cyber Security Threat Identification

Running your business online and choosing not to feature cybersecurity protection on your website or servers is a bad decision. Even if no one, in particular, targets your website with malicious intent, random malware and worms can still come across your business and wreak havoc on your company’s data.

However, should you decide to use AI algorithms in your intranet and internet workflow, those cybersecurity threats will be detected in a timelier manner. Coupled with reliable antivirus software, AI will ensure that threats are identified quickly and dealt with automatically without your employees worrying about them. This is one aspect in which AI can only do so much when it comes to social engineering faults, however.

Employees should be instructed to pay close attention to their internet usage habits, email engagement and data sharing while handling important business information. Coupled with an up-to-date antivirus database and AI to ensure cybersecurity, your employees will have a much safer and versatile environment to work with, increasing their overall productivity and workflow management as a direct result.

• Better Informed Financial Decision-Making

Financial investments are a natural part of business growth and security in an ongoing manner. In many aspects, they are essential to running your business efficiently. However, it can be difficult to make informed decisions which won’t impact your business’s wellbeing in a negative manner.

Artificial intelligence can thus be used to audit your current financial status, analyze previous resource fluctuations and to calculate whether or not an investment is a good opportunity for your business. As with other AI integration opportunities we’ve discussed, the data which can be extrapolated by machine learning algorithms should never be taken at face value.

Financial experts should still be consulted to give their opinion on the generated data, whether in-house or through a third-party agency. Whichever approach you opt for, AI can indeed be of great assistance in ensuring that no investment or expense is ill-fated through objective data analysis and suggestions based on your previous business plan habits.

• Efficient Recruitment & Onboarding

Lastly, any business plan focused on growth has to accommodate for future employment onboarding programs. In this regard, AI can also improve your processes by streamlining a lot of the selection and training activities.

You can create the selection process around AI analysis and instruct candidates to fill questionnaires or tests based on certain principles. Afterward, these documents can be scanned and ran through AI algorithms for comparison and analysis based on existing employees and their skillsets.

Once the talent is selected, onboarding can be handled by AI in scheduled intervals in conjunction with an intranet learning platform akin to Lynda. Your HR specialists can focus on interviews and review AI data for a more informed decision in terms of hiring new talent. Recruitment and onboarding should be handled by employees however and not delegated to artificial intelligence in its entirety for logical reasons.

Over to You (Conclusion)

When all is said and done, there are a lot of improvements and implications in introducing AI to your ongoing business growth and security. The fact of the matter is that AI technologies are here to stay as they are now far more than a curious innovation.

Make sure to audit your company, business culture and service portfolio thoroughly before you decide on how and in what capacity to implement AI. Before you know it, you will have a clearer business plan for your company’s future thanks to newly-introduced artificial intelligence systems which will effectively eliminate existing bottlenecks and create new industry leadership opportunities for your brand.