Not so long ago, at least in the grand scheme of things, artificial intelligence (AI) was a term present only within the works of great science fiction author Isaac Asimov and his contemporaries. Today, though, AI has changed, is changing and will continue to change the way in which we lead our daily lives and the way in which businesses operate. The team here at Nutbourne, a London managed service provider, wanted to explore the various ways in which modern businesses are using AI to their advantage to make quicker, smarter decisions.
What Is Machine Learning (ML)?
Machine learning (ML) is one of the key parts of modern AI; it has the capability to significantly help businesses. ML is a vastly complex field. In broad strokes, it can be thought of as computer algorithms that improve themselves over the time through the continual addition of more data. That word data is the key here and it’s one of the reasons that AI has been able to take off in the way that it has over the past few years.
AI and ML, in particular, relies on utilising huge quantities of data to consistently improve. Data storage has cheapened over recent times and become more accessible as companies realise just how valuable data now is. If you’re looking for the world’s most powerful/influential currency these days, there’s a strong argument to say that data would take the crown. The following examples include just some of the broader applications of ML in real life:
- Speech recognition technology.
- Image recognition technology.
- Smart email replies.
- Fraud prevention.
- Plagiarism detection.
How Can Businesses Benefit?
More than perhaps anywhere else, however, ML is transforming the way in which businesses operate. Companies are looking to make ever smarter decisions and make better use of the data they have available to them; ML sifts through, processes and utilises that information in increasingly remarkable ways. The following are all ways in which AI and ML in particular are being used by companies:
Cybersecurity Solutions
Previously, when it’s come to spam detection and filtering, rule-based systems have been used in order to protect our inboxes. Now, however, thanks to ML systems and the ever-improving ‘neural networks’ they possess, they’re able to create new rules to keep pace with the increasingly sophisticated spam messages they’re being faced with.
Chatbots
Machine learning chatbots have been around for a relatively long time now. Think of Siri on an iPhone, for instance! But they’re increasingly being used within businesses, as well. ML chatbots utilise something known as natural language processing (NLP). This enables them to offer informative and helpful answers to user queries maintained within the context of the dialogue. The more indistinguishable between chatbot and human? The better the AI software.
Intelligent CRMs
Customer relationship management (CRM) software is used by companies to enhance and optimise the customer experience throughout the entire duration of their interaction with a company. They’ve been around for decades now but ML is now drastically improving them. Machine learning is helping to reduce both ticket volume and solve-time. It does this by analysing and learning from past enquiry and ticket solutions
Other ML software is improving the follow-up customer experience, and though not yet at a stage to replace human marketing, certain software is now able to obtain important follow-up information like phone numbers and feedback through the use of their human-like persona.
AI and ML is even being used in aiding the training of new human employees. Guiding new sales reps, for instance, through best practices and techniques is a way of getting new employees up to speed whilst enabling existing employees to continue on with their normal workload as much as possible.
Dynamic Pricing
In the worlds of retail and transport (ride-hailing companies like Uber, for example) one of the most exciting developments in its integration with AI has been the emergence of dynamic pricing tags. With certain ML software, companies are able to analyse and ‘mine’ previous historic data and use it – in conjunction with real-time data – to offer the smartest pricing options/decisions for your business.
Contact Us
Successfully integrating AI into your company has the potential to drastically improve a business, provided it’s done correctly. Consulting with an MSP as to what you’re looking to achieve as a business before you purchase ML software is always the safest, smartest business decision.
If you’d like to find out more about our work as a managed service provider in London, get in touch! Contact Nutbourne today on +44 (0) 203 137 7273. Alternatively, you can fill out one of our online enquiry forms on our website. We look forward to hearing from you!