There is a misconception that artificial intelligence (AI) is a complex technology that only benefits large enterprises, but these days it’s prevalent in our daily lives – from Siri and Alexa to Netflix recommendations and driving directions.

No matter which industry you operate in, customers are expecting AI-enabled experiences. Incorporating AI into your business can save time spent on tasks, lower costs, increase results, improve flexibility, and reduce risk, so there are a myriad of benefits.

Here are five ways you can easily integrate AI into your business.

Customer service 101
AI is predicted to power 95 per cent of telephone and online conversations by 2025. One of the easiest ways to use AI for customer service is with a chatbot. Whether it’s on your website or as simple as Facebook Messenger, you no longer need to hire a developer to set it up. Particularly useful for businesses that don’t have a customer service team, chatbots save time for staff and improve customer experience by speeding up response times. This is most effective for frequently asked questions like opening times and delivery locations, that can easily be automated, it’s like a customer service representative that works 24/7.

Automate CRM and improve sales
Customer-relationship management (CRM) platforms keep track of customer interactions across various channels (phone, email, social media) so relevant data for each customer is recorded, speeding up the sales process. Integrating AI into CRM tools means businesses can further automate tasks, aggregate sales insights and deliver actionable predictions. CRM platforms like Salesforce use AI that provides businesses with recommendations to train sales teams and optimise lead generation. It can even automatically adjust marketing campaigns based on customer feedback.

Personalise your marketing
AI-powered algorithms make it easier for businesses to deliver personalised marketing – from email marketing, search marketing, targeted displays, social media ads and voice search. With AI integrated into eDMs, you can send customers tailored follow ups e.g. discounts on items viewed, flagging that items in their cart are running low. People are also increasingly searching for products with voice commands, so integrating voice search technology like Amazon Alexa can boost SEO. It’s easy to take advantage of this by optimising your website to cater to voice search. AI makes marketing more human-like, which is what customers want.

Synthesise big data and turn it into action
Better data drives better decisions, and with AI you can easily turn data into action. If your business uses various applications – website platforms, social media, Shopify and more – AI software can consolidate data from all these places to analyse customer interactions. For instance, the Trellis Intelligence Platform uses machine learning to analyse huge amounts of data quickly and identify trends in customer behaviour. It delivers alerts when it detects an issue, and makes predictions on future behaviour. The platform provides a real-time explanation of any decision made, so you can understand the reasons. This analysis would otherwise require the human eye, but now time can be better spent on developing solutions to respond to those alerts.

Get ahead of the competition
It’s important for businesses to keep across what competitors are doing, but this can be a time-consuming, manual process. With AI, you can easily track digital activity of other businesses, across social media, websites, video content and more. For example, Crayon is a market analysis tool that gathers data about competitors and then distills it into easily digestible reports. Taking advantage of these insights means businesses can keep across changes in their industry and respond if needed, staying ahead of the competition.

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Source: Inside Small Business