AI in business: How AI will impact businesses

From chatbots that field customer inquiries to fraud detection software that protects against cyberattacks, artificial intelligence (AI) applications in business are changing how managers conduct their operations. These changes will affect business practices at every level, altering the way we access information, make decisions, and prioritize tasks.

While this may sound overwhelming, AI-powered software is meant to simplify business practices by automating repetitive tasks and processing data for human workers. Used properly, AI can streamline your company’s workflows and help your business achieve its goals faster.

Let’s take a closer look at the role of AI in business, including its benefits and multiple applications. We’ll also examine the top trends you can expect to see in the future for AI in business, allowing you to remain on the cutting edge of the AI business revolution.  

What is AI in business?

Companies use AI to enhance and restructure essential operational tasks. It affects every department in your business, from management to customer service.

For instance, AI-powered software can rapidly process large amounts of historical and real-time customer and sales data. It then analyzes this data to predict future trends in customer behavior and product demand. Managers can use these predictions to make proactive decisions about how to market products, order inventory, and engage with customers.

AI can also perform repetitive tasks like data entry faster and with greater accuracy than human workers. By using AI for business automation, employees can spend more time solving complex problems or developing creative content. This increases job satisfaction for workers who prefer assignments that require critical thinking.

When dealing with clients, AI can analyze customer demographics and purchasing history to predict future behavior. It can then provide product recommendations and tailor content to fit individual needs, giving customers a more personalized experience. AI-powered chatbots can also interact directly with customers, answering questions and offering suggestions based on customer profiles.

Benefits of AI in business

In the short term, businesses can use AI to streamline workflows, increasing efficiency and cost savings. In the long term, AI systems can learn from company data and generate actionable insights that help businesses reach their long-term goals, including finding new sources of funding or expanding their operations.

For instance, medical facilities can use AI software for routine duties like scheduling appointments and managing patient records while healthcare workers focus on providing better care for their patients. This improves customer experience while reducing errors that can result from having humans handle data entry.

AI can also be used for cost optimization. Many companies use AI tools to monitor energy consumption and identify inefficiencies and wasteful practices. Those companies can then adopt more sustainable policies, lowering operational costs and saving money. 

Organizations looking to grow their operations use AI to help make long-term decisions. For example, nonprofits seeking additional funding use predictive AI tools to screen donors. By processing vast amounts of wealth and philanthropic data, AI can identify high-impact donors most likely to contribute to a specific nonprofit. It enables nonprofits to prioritize their top potential donors and focus on building lasting relationships with them, allowing their organization to grow.

Top applications of AI in business

AI-powered tools can be used at virtually every level of your company. We examine how popular AI applications can create business process optimization.

Predictive analytics

Predictive analytics uses computer algorithms and models to analyze historical data and predict future outcomes. Business owners and managers then use these predictions to make data-driven decisions and take proactive steps for their organization’s long-term success.

For instance, a company’s finance department might use predictive analytics to evaluate risks involved with an investment or loan. Managers can use predictive analytics to predict which employees might leave their company and adopt better retention strategies to keep their staff. A marketing director could use AI to identify which target audiences will respond best to their marketing messaging.

Natural language processing

Natural language processing (NLP) is a type of AI that focuses on helping computers understand and interpret human language. It comes in handy when your AI software needs to process and analyze large amounts of emails, social media posts, and customer reviews. 

Businesses use NLP tools to generate easy-to-read summaries of complex reports, improving communication in different departments. NLP can also be used to analyze customer sentiment in online reviews, surveys, and social media posts, allowing businesses to monitor their brand reputation and manage their public image.

Robotic process automation

Robotic process automation (RPA) uses software robots or bots to automate repetitive tasks like data entry. By incorporating machine learning AI into RPA, these bots can make decisions based on past data and adapt to new circumstances.

For instance, machine learning provides RPAs with image recognition and data extraction techniques. These techniques enable an RPA bot to recognize key information during invoice processing, even if the invoice layout changes, allowing it to perform its tasks accurately without sacrificing speed.

Other RPAs use machine learning to process payroll or help with employee onboarding. RPAs can also monitor inventory stock levels and track shipments, even sending out alerts when inventory runs low. Their ability to automate key tasks and respond to new circumstances makes them valuable in keeping business operations running smoothly.

Customer service chatbots

Customer service chatbots function as virtual assistants for clients. They can pull customer data from backend systems and analyze customer interactions, letting them answer questions and offer personalized recommendations. Chatbots also communicate in multiple languages, making them a useful form of customer support.

Advanced forms of chatbots, such as AI assistants, use NLP to better comprehend human speech and engage customers in more complex conversations. This ability helps them handle routine tasks like scheduling meetings and managing calendars. AI agents are an even more advanced software system that can manage complex problems, like network monitoring, with little to no human intervention.

Predictive maintenance 

Predictive maintenance uses AI tools like machine learning algorithms to analyze data from sensors attached to a factory conveyor belts, vehicles, and other company machinery. The algorithm analyzes data like vibration, temperature, and current, then makes predictions on when different machines might fail.

Having these predictions helps companies prioritize maintenance checks and extend the lifespan of their equipment. By reducing the risk of costly emergency repairs and unplanned downtime, a business saves money and avoids delays.

Fraud detection

AI algorithms can analyze large amounts of company data and identify patterns that indicate fraudulent behavior. This might involve suspicious login attempts, location changes, or large financial transactions. The AI system alerts employers, employees, or clients about such behavior. It takes steps to prevent fraud, such as requiring different forms of identity verification before letting a user into a secure system.

This type of fraud detection is particularly useful in the banking and healthcare industries, where sensitive data can be stolen or compromised. By monitoring transactions in real time and using advanced algorithms that can learn and adapt to new types of criminal tactics, AI can help stop fraud before a business loses money or private information.  

Sales optimization

AI systems can help improve sales by analyzing available customer data. For instance, a company’s customer relationship management (CRM) system contains a wealth of information on customer demographics and behavior. Integrating AI with the CRM allows AI algorithms to predict how these customers could act in the future, which helps inform a business’s sales strategy.

The algorithm can identify customers most likely to purchase a company’s product or service, directing the sales team to the best prospects. AI can then inform sales representatives of customer preferences, allowing representatives to tailor their calls and emails to client needs and increase the likelihood of conversions.

In addition, AI can transcribe sales call recordings and identify issues with how well representatives engaged customers and handled objections. These insights can be used in employee training to improve skillsets and increase customer satisfaction.

Competitor analysis

AI provides new tools for tracking and analyzing the activities of business competitors. Software tools can collect competitor data from public sources, such as websites and online articles, to track changes in competitor pricing, marketing strategies, and product features. NLP can also analyze customer sentiment based on social media comments and online reviews.

Analyzing this data provides insights into competitor business strategies and emerging market trends. Business managers can use these insights to make strategic, data-driven decisions to stay competitive or take advantage of new opportunities in their industry that competitors may overlook.

Legal research and analysis

Being able to quickly scan large databases of legal documents makes AI a useful tool for identifying important clauses and inconsistencies in documents and contracts. This technique saves time in document review and alerts law teams to potential risks and areas for further negotiation.

AI can monitor business operations to ensure compliance with all laws and regulations, particularly in areas like payroll. This type of monitoring can also extend to intellectual property (IP) management and help identify copyright and trademark infringement on business IP. To further protect company assets, AI can create early drafts of contracts and patents using standard templates.

Payroll processing

Making sure employees are paid accurately and on time can be challenging if your staff needs to process payroll manually. AI streamlines this process by collecting employee data directly from your human resources management systems and time-tracking tools. It can make payroll calculations quickly and even directly deposit payments into employee bank accounts.

Changing laws and new tax regulations also create problems in payroll processing. AI can stay updated on regulations and make any necessary changes in its payroll calculations. If employees have questions about their paychecks, AI-powered chatbots can access their records and answer any questions, saving time for your human staff.

Future trends in AI for business

As AI technology continues to advance, its applications and importance in the business world will increase. Companies should keep an eye on the following trends, which are expected to have a big impact on businesses in the future.

Generative AI employs machine learning to create images, text, music, code, and other content based on prompts from human operators. While it’s currently being used to help create chatbots and online articles, it’s projected to eventually automate a large portion of website and mobile app design.

Chatbots will also become more sophisticated and autonomous as they evolve into AI assistants that use NLP to understand more complex tasks. AI agents are an even more autonomous form of software that can make complex decisions and complete tasks with minimal human intervention. Such tasks include everything from collecting payments to engaging clients to managing complex workflows.

All this raises ethical questions about the future role of AI. Business leaders must establish regulations about how AI is used in business operations so that AI doesn’t replace but rather augments the existing workforce. Companies need to be transparent about their use of AI and monitor AI systems for biases that create prejudices against different groups or generate inaccurate predictions due to faulty data.

Meanwhile, workers must develop their creativity and critical thinking skills so they can ask questions and produce solutions that AI can’t on its own. By learning how to use AI tools to explore new ideas, businesses can shape a future where insights come from humans and AI.

How we develop AI can help address these ethical concerns. Designers and ethicists need to develop advanced algorithms that identify and address biases in data and AI models. Data collection must provide diverse and inclusive forms of data so algorithms do not produce biased results. The data itself needs to be protected and remain compliant with data privacy regulations.

Under proper oversight, AI can grow in a way that maintains public trust as companies use its abilities to further business goals responsibly.

Streamlining business processes with Jotform AI tools

Jotform’s AI-powered tools help your business collect and manage data more efficiently, saving you time as you streamline essential business processes.

For instance, Jotform AI Agents transform your forms into conversational experiences where the AI can collect information from customers and answer their queries. There’s no coding required – you can train these AI Agents yourself with data from your documents or URLs. 

Jotform provides a wide variety of AI Agents to fit different business needs. For example, our Transportation Request AI Agents can streamline the process of managing travel requests by collecting travel-related information from your customers through conversational interfaces. Using NLP to understand complex travel requirements, your AI Agents can handle basic shuttle services or even fleet management coordination.

Similarly, our Vehicle Inspection AI Agents can learn from your inspection protocols and data, allowing them to identify common car issues and suggest appropriate actions that comply with company standards. Other Application AI Agents offer help in fields as diverse as banking, animal rescue, insurance claims, and visa applications.

Interested in automating your repetitive tasks? Jotform Workflows is a no-code workflow automation tool that lets you build customized workflows in minutes. You can automate payment requests, approvals, notifications, and more using features like conditional logic to trigger appropriate actions.

Conclusion

Integrating AI-powered tools into your practices provides benefits for your business. Chatbots and RPAs automate repetitive tasks, saving you time and money. Predictive algorithms identify growth opportunities that help expand your operations and allow you to reach your goals.

However, companies that benefit the most from AI are those that use AI to improve worker performance. AI systems can generate insights from large datasets, but it’s still human employees who use those insights to make smart and ethical decisions for a business. Understanding this fact helps you build a beneficial relationship with AI that keeps you on the cutting edge in your industry.