Can AI Help My Business?

Key Points

• AI is available now and can help any business automate tasks, analyze data, and improve customer engagement through practical solutions.
• Three main applications—business automation, data analytics, and customer engagement—each deliver measurable cost savings and efficiency gains.
• Before implementing AI, identify your business type, technology access level, and estimated ROI to determine which AI approach makes sense for your company.

Science fiction often makes AI, or artificial intelligence, sound like its lightyears ahead in our future. But the reality is that AI is available right now for everyday use. Businesses, average people, and advanced technology all take advantage of this sophisticated programming.

While you may think that AI technology is only for the rich and famous, there are common technologies regularly available that use AI, and it can drastically change how your business works.

What Is Artificial Intelligence and How Does It Apply to Business?

AI is smart algorithms and code designed to shift everyday tasks into automated digital tasks—with natural language processing (NLP) reading and generating text being one prominent type used in Google search and content optimization, while three main types of AI that businesses use include robotics and cognitive automation, cognitive insight, and cognitive engagement. In terms of AI for business, artificial intelligence is a type of smart algorithm and code. It has been designed to shift everyday tasks into automated, digital tasks.

One of the most prominent types of AI used online is natural language processing (NLP), which can read text and spit out text in return. NLP is used in Google’s search algorithm to better read and categorize web pages, so if you have an online presence, you are already interacting with AI. Other NLP software like text writers and optimizers use AI to simplify things like writing and SEO optimization.

According to theHarvard Business Review, these three types of AI that businesses use. These findings emerged in a study conducted of 152 project types and are referred to as robotics and cognitive automation, cognitive insight, and cognitive engagement.

How Can AI Actually Help Your Business?

AI can help your business through three main approaches: business automation (simple administrative automation handling repetitive tasks), data analytics (analyzing data to recommend actions, identify fraud, predict outcomes), and customer engagement (chatbots providing 24/7 support, AI-powered personalization).

How Does Business Automation with AI Work?

Business automation (also known as RPA) acts like a robot or code with human-like input, automating administrative tasks through setting automated bots, project management, and task handling—enabling things like automated email scheduling, auto-assignment in project management, transferring email data to call center systems, or operating HR transactions on behalf of humans.

Of course, implementing them into your company will depend on your needs. Business automation includes setting automated bots to improve workflows, project management purposes, and handle administrative tasks.

Scheduling emails through Gmail and auto-assigning tasks in a project management tool like ClickUp might be something that people commonly use. More advanced tasks include transferring email data into call center systems, automatically replacing lost credit cards or operating transactions on behalf of human resources (HR).

How Can AI Analytics Benefit Your Business?

AI analytics can recommend products based on previous purchases, identify credit fraud, analyze warranty information, automate personalized ad targeting, and provide accurate modeling—using machine learning to mimic human activity while standardizing processes and reducing errors (such as GE's AI integration with supplier data that negotiated contracts and eliminated redundancies, saving $80 million in the first year).

Think of this type of AI as having the ability to recommend, provide insight, or give examples on how a scenario will play out. Analytical AI can process more data than general data analytics and provide more details based on the scenario or outcomes. They can begin to make predictions based on the data and then improve those predictions over time!

Machine learning is used in this type of AI to mimic certain types of human activity. While this might seem like a type of technology that would put humans out of work, think again! These processes are aimed at standardizing processes that humans do but also reducing human errors. One project implemented by GE was able to integrate supplier data. In the process, it negotiated contracts and eliminated redundancies within the data, saving the company $80 million in its first year of use.

Naturally, this type of AI is harder to get your hands on and is sometimes not as relatable as business automation; however, it should not be overlooked. At Rotate, we've worked with companies that successfully leverage AI analytics to uncover competitive advantages that would have been invisible with manual analysis alone.

How Does AI-Powered Customer Engagement Work?

Chatbots and intelligent agents can offer 24/7 online customer service, handle internal support (IT, HR, help desk), and enable AI recommendations based on customer history—speeding customers to the heart of issues faster through AI questions and answers so they arrive at your team better informed.

Sometimes AI can be integrated for internal support, such as providing IT support, HR support, and connecting employees to help desk articles. You might also find that AI can be useful for your customers too. If you run a retailer app, you could use AI recommendations based on the customer’s past purchases, visited webpages, etc.

AI is also useful in the health realm, which can provide treatment plans or health care plans depending on the area of health. You can think of this automation as a type of admin replacement for customer or client-facing items. This will allow customers to either have their needs addressed without requiring in-person contact or getting to the heart of the issue faster through AI questions and answers. That way, when they come to you, they better understand your processes, language, and how your business can help.

How Do You Decide If AI Is Right for Your Business?

Integration depends on your business structure: eCommerce benefits from all three AI approaches, brick-and-mortar might add AI-bot to website, consider your technology access level (if limited, focus on business automation)—for all business types, identify estimated cost savings or improved sales, and implement if benefits outweigh downsides. Understanding how much AI integration costs and what you should expect helps you make an informed decision about which AI solutions align with your budget and goals.