Artificial Intelligence continues to expand its presence in the business operations of companies large and small as it delivers to users numerous advantages. That said, business owners and leaders are advised to be mindful that integrating AI into their operations is more complex than installing Software as a Service products; both SaaS and AI require prospective users to determine where and why certain capabilities are desired. For example, there should be a clear understanding of which business function(s) could enhance productivity, perhaps, or save significant time, if it/they operated more efficiently. However, ramping up for the introduction of AI requires a deeper dive than what is required for introducing an SaaS application. A good place to begin your AI decision-making is to answer these questions:

• What problems do you think AI will solve?
• Which business functions do you think AI will improve?
• Which key performance indicator metrics will be chosen to evaluate the impact of AI on your organization?

Business functions that often benefit from AI

Artificial Intelligence is a powerful tool that, when used strategically, can significantly improve the operational efficiency of business processes and in particular, can enhance the ability to make data-driven decisions that can guide your response to critical business questions or opportunities. AI also has many other useful capabilities, from automating repetitive tasks such as inventory management, by calculating optimal inventory levels, to enhancing the customer experience by way of a website chat bot that quickly and accurately answers questions posed by prospective customers and also deliver personalized messages to customers that encourage engagement and loyalty.

Begin your company’s assessment of AI by examining the role AI might have in your business operations—where and how do you envision it can potentially benefit your company? Addressing the above questions should be helpful. Furthermore, studying AI use cases across major industries will provide insight into where your organization might focus. Starting with small and easily measured processes will allow you to gauge both the effectiveness of AI in your operations and your (or your team’s) ability to work with the technology. AI has produced good results in these business functions:

• In marketing, AI will support market research, including data analysis, marketing content creation, generating marketing campaign visuals and marketing campaign support, such as personalized content creation and automating lead generation tasks. More than 90% of companies begin their AI journey with marketing.

• In sales, AI supports competitive analysis, predicts trends and may possibly lead you discover a potentially lucrative niche market.

• In technology, AI will assist in software development and system architecture design, speeds-up innovation and improves outcomes.

• Freelancers will find AI tools useful for project management, budgeting, invoicing and automating customer emails.

• In manufacturing, AI monitors machinery conditions, predicts failures and analyzes real-time data, enabling preventive measures that reduce costly downtime.

Advance planning helps AI implementation

Once you decide which business function will benefit from AI and would also be a good place to start, create an AI onboarding plan to support the success of your roll-out. Furthermore, if you have employees, factor in the attitude your staff may have regarding AI, which is an important consideration that can help or hinder your plan to introduce AI. Transparency is a must as you consider, and then decide, which business function(s) you’d like to see become AI-powered.

1. Ensure that AI will seamlessly integrate into business processes

AI is considered a disruptive technology, but integrating AI should not disrupt how your business operates. Implementing AI is meant to improve your existing business processes. A well-planned AI data integration strategy will ensure that the technology will work efficiently within your business operations. In other words, AI must work with current systems, not against them. Before introducing AI, you are advised to confirm:

• Does AI work with your current software and tools?
• How much upskilling will you and your employees need to use AI correctly?
• How will AI affect your existing business processes?

2. AI-ready data

Once you’ve decided to implement AI, it’s important to understand that this technology requires access to high-quality, structured (accessible) and accurate data in order to function effectively, especially in the B2B sector.  When the intention is to incorporate AI, it will be necessary to first focus on data integration. The AI system “learns” from your data bases and formulates data-driven decisions and predictions accordingly. Data accuracy (or inaccuracy) directly impacts AI performance—so, if the input data is incomplete or incorrect, the system may generate flawed results, leading to errors.

Garbage in, garbage out. It is imperative that you review your company’s data quality, consistency and accessibility. AI works best with structured data, that is, data stored in a way that AI tools can easily access and utilize it. You can improve your data integration as follows:

• Check data accuracy to eliminate AI prediction errors
• Remove duplicate data to prevent AI from repeated mistakes
• Use cloud storage to give AI optimum access to real-time data
• Set data rules to ensure that your data is stored in the cloud in an accessible and useful way

3. AI training for employees (and you)

AI adoption is successful when businesses train their teams to use AI correctly. AI does not exist to replace employees, but to support them. Because AI has acquired a degree of controversy, which might cause employees to feel suspicious, if not fearful, regarding their future prospects for employment, investing in AI training, along with transparent communications about how AI will be used in the organization are crucial. By training employees (and yourself), you will improve the results of your AI integration. Training will also ensure that your employees can appropriately manage the technology, which will make them feel confident and help you to win their support and trust.

An ongoing conversation with employees that includes listening and empathy, presented with the spirit of collaboration, will be crucial to AI’s success in your organization. Once you implement AI, invite employee feedback by asking them how AI affects their work. Your goal is to foster acceptance and that entails helping employees understand the the technology and spark enthusiasm for their opportunity to work with it.

• Teach AI basics so that employees will understand how AI supports decision-making, for example, and encourage them to learn and test other AI features you’ll introduce in a judgment-free setting
• Ensure that employees have the opportunity to learn to use AI in their daily tasks, as a way to show them that AI is a helpful tool and not a threat

4. AI security and privacy issues

A major challenge in AI integration for is ensuring that AI does not create security risks. Introducing security measures from the start helps businesses avoid the embarrassment (and possible legal trouble) that result from data breaches. AI works with data, including customer information, financial records and internal business information. Establish rules for AI security, including:

1. Data protection – Store data securely to prevent breaches or hacking.
2. Access – Limit who can see and use AI-powered systems.
3. Quality control – Regularly check AI decisions to ensure they are accurate and ethical.
4. Compliance – Follow data protection laws like GDPR and CCPA.

5. Start small, monitor and measure

Although AI is without question the Next Big Thing, tech experts recommend approaching AI integration cautiously. Adoption can be risky if not done without both clear objectives regarding what you hope to achieve and an understanding of the technology’s capabilities and limitations. It’s possible for businesses to fail with AI because they overreach with implementation, deciding to use it everywhere at once. AI is complex and mistakes can be costly.

Starting small with AI and testing AI tools in limited areas of your operations, so that you might gauge what works and evaluate where and how AI adds value in your organization, is the prudent way to introduce AI. You want to avoid committing too heavily to a new technology that may not be fully aligned with your business needs. A small project will allow you to test AI in a controlled way, identify challenges and measure results before making AI a bigger part of operations.

Finally, be advised that AI tools are not a one-time setup. AI will require updates, maintenance and adjustments over time, to ensure that your AI tools continue to perform as expected. It’s important to remember that AI “learns” over time and must be updated to remain accurate; without appropriate maintenance, AI can become outdated and unreliable— subsequent technological advances will cause older AI tools to be replaced by updated ones, for example. Companies should set a schedule for reviewing and updating AI. Where staffing allows, they should also assign a team to handle AI improvements. Solopreneurs and SMBs are recommended to speak with an AI systems technology professional to monitor their AI tools.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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