Artificial intelligence (AI) has embedded
itself in almost every industry–from retail to healthcare, human resources, financial services, transportation,
energy, telecommunications, media, manufacturing, marketing, education, and
even governance.
AI technologies have enabled virtual machines
to automatically learn by picking up data patterns and using these to generate
recommendations or address business concerns. These capabilities have made AI
an essential investment for businesses looking to increase their productivity,
efficiency, and profit.
See also: Recruitment Chatbots Better Engage Today’s Workforce
How AI Technologies Propel
Business Growth
In their Harvard Business Review article, Thomas
Davenport and Rajeev Ronanki pointed out three enterprise needs where AI can
play a key role: automating processes, analyzing data to generate insights, and
engaging with clients and employees.
- Process automation uses robotic process
automation (RPA) technologies to accomplish administrative and financial tasks,
including “reading” legal documents and updating client records.
- AI, particularly machine learning (ML), has enabled businesses
to analyze massive data and use
these to generate business insights.
For instance, these technologies have empowered companies to predict client
purchases, improve actuarial modeling, and identify fraud in credit and
insurance claims.
- AI technologies, especially
through natural language processing (NLP) chatbots, ML, and intelligent agents
can facilitate client and staff
engagements. These can be used for providing 24/7 customer support and
responding to human resources queries, as well as personalizing product
suggestions and health treatment recommendations.
The deployment of AI technologies has been
generating multiple benefits for companies, enabling managers and their teams
to:
- make more informed decisions
through AI-based analytics
- improve productivity and
efficiency through automation
- increase eCommerce conversion
rates through better analytics and personalized product suggestions
- leverage quantitative usability
tests and other data to refine or further customize the user experience
- enhance UX by including voice
search, consequently beefing up their SEO
proposals or strategies
- boost marketing results through
automated digital ad personalization and lead scoring; and
- strengthen data security.
As businesses of all sizes are deploying AI
solutions, you may be wondering if this is the right time for your company to
jump on the bandwagon.
But before you do, ask yourself if your company
possesses the following:
- Sufficient data and digital infrastructure. To
be able to generate useful business insights, AI technologies
require massive amounts of data. If your company does not have sufficient
updated information nor an efficient data collection strategy, AI algorithms
cannot help propel your growth.
- A specific business problem that AI can help solve. Before looking to AI tech for solutions, you need to first define the
business issues you need to address. For example, you may want to improve
employee productivity by automating repetitive tasks so they can focus on more
critical assignments. Or you may want to analyze how customers engage with your
services so you can improve customer experience and increase
retention rates.
- An innovation-driven culture. Your business
needs to be open to innovations and value the use of data for informing
strategic business decisions. Equally important, you must consider how your
company will measure AI technology’s effectiveness and its return on investment
(ROI).
Artificial Intelligence Growth
Statistics for 2020
There’s probably no industry that cannot
benefit from AI technologies. As expected, more companies are investing in AI
solutions, and here are a few statistics to show its growth.
- According to Garner’s CIO Survey,
the number of businesses leveraging AI soared 270%, jumping from 10% four years
ago to 37% in 2019.
- A 2018 global survey estimated
that AI would contribute 14.5% to North America’s gross domestic
product (GDP) by 2030.
- The 2016-2025 cumulative revenue of AI for
vehicular object detection is estimated at $9 billion, followed by image
recognition ($7.6 billion), patient data processing ($7.3 billion), and trading
strategy ($6.4 billion).
- According to Intersect360’s 2018
report, infrastructure investments for training ML models grew by more than 50% in the past two years.
- The International Data Corporation
(IDC) estimates that the global data sphere will jump from 33 zettabytes in
2018 to 175 zettabytes by 2025.
- The global AI software market is
expected to reach USD22.6 billion in 2020.
- In PwC’s 2020 AI Predictions
survey, 46% of the respondents said they have
upskilling and continual learning initiatives, which include AI.
Despite the growth in AI use, only a few
companies are planning an enterprise-wide AI deployment. According to PwC’s 2020 AI predictions report, only 4% of
executives said they would do so in 2020, significantly lower than last year’s
20%. This reduction is primarily driven by the need to zero in on fundamentals
before considering a major AI roll-out.
Still, many companies continue to use or
explore AI technologies’ potential. In fact, the survey revealed that 42% are
investigating its uses, 23% are piloting within discrete areas, 13% are eyeing
AI deployment in several areas, and 18% have already implemented AI in multiple
areas.
2020 AI Pricing Estimates
Several factors affect the cost of AI
technologies, such as the type of AI your
business needs. For instance, a custom-built chatbot may cost you at least $6,000, while a custom-built data analysis
system may require an investment of at least $35,000.
Another pricing consideration is the project type, whether it’s pre-built or
customized. Pre-built chatbots require lower investments, with some offering
free applications, and paid plans can cost you $40,000 annually. Developing and
rolling out custom AI tech, however, commands a higher price tag of $6,000 to
$300,000.
If you’re exploring developing AI/ML-based
systems, you can break down the estimated expenditures per project stage.
- Discovery and analysis phase. This stage
covers the feasibility study, project goal setting, and research on your
company’s processes, data, and metrics. Some service providers can do this for
free.
- Prototype implementation and evaluation.
Prototypes are developed to test a system’s feasibility in a fast and
time-efficient way. This phase allows businesses to identify major issues
before fully implementing a system. This phase may cost $5,000-$25,000.
- Minimum viable product (MVP). An MVP is a real
but simplified version of the final product which clients can use. Through
MVPs, companies can modify systems at a lower cost. Equally important, they can
determine if their target technologies can generate value or meet specific
business objectives. This stage typically costs companies $35,000-$100,000.
- Product release. In this final stage, the AI
solution, with its full features and functions, is developed and released to
the market. Product release expenses are usually discussed during earlier
project phases.
If you’re a small business owner or your
company is not ready for a major technology investment, you can still benefit
from AI solutions using various budget-friendly solutions.
5 Affordable AI Technologies That
Can Help Grow Your Business
1.) ManyChat
for Facebook Messenger Chatbots
If you’re looking to improve client experience
with self-service support, and pivot your customer service team toward solving
more complex issues, consider deploying pre-built or custom chatbots.
If you want to tap Facebook Messenger for
marketing, ManyChat’s
free plan allows you to have unlimited subscribers and broadcasts. Meanwhile,
their Pro account, which costs $10 per month, enables you to collect subscriber
data, link your chatbot to Facebook ads, and include buy buttons. You can even integrate
your ManyChat bot with your other business tools, such as your CRM,
email marketing, Shopify, and payment systems.
2.) Flow XO for
Multichannel Chatbots
Another chatbot, Flow XO, can help you collect
subscriber information, quickly respond to simple queries, accept payments, and
pre-filter your leads without coding. Moreover, it can seamlessly transfer
customer conversations from the chatbot to a human agent during live chat
support. Flow
XO can also be integrated with over 100 platforms, including email
marketing tools, accounting packages, social media, CRM, project management,
payment processing apps, and eCommerce plugins.
Businesses can start with Flow XO’s free plan,
which allows up to 500 interactions, before moving to a standard plan. Priced
at $19 per month, the standard plan covers 5,000 interactions and 15 bots or
active flows. Companies can also avail of add-ons when they need more bots or
interactions.
3.) Microsoft
Power Automate to Streamline Processes
Microsoft Power Automate enables enterprises
to automate repetitive tasks and build multistep workflows across hundreds of
applications, even without coding knowledge.
Businesses can choose between a per-user or a
per-flow license. The most affordable plan costs $15 a month and allows one
user to create unlimited flows. At a slightly higher monthly fee of $40, an
individual user can also automate legacy applications via RPA and AI.
Meanwhile, companies who prefer to have
unlimited users can avail of Power Automate’s per-flow plan. The lowest monthly
plan ($500) already includes five flows. More flows can be added at
$100/flow/month.
4.) Zia, Zoho’s
Digital Assistant
If you’re a Zoho customer, you can use Zia to
create chatbots to engage with your web visitors and app users, pull out
answers from your knowledge base, and give your buyers personalized
recommendations. It can generate reports and charts, help improve your writing
and augment data on your leads.
Zoho clients do not need to pay additional
fees to be able to use Zia. However, some Zia abilities can only be used by
enterprise-level clients.
Zoho’s pricing varies per product. For
example, their CRM’s most affordable plan (if billed yearly)
is at $12/user/month, while Enterprise and Ultimate plans are priced at $35 and
$100, respectively.
5.) Intuit’s
Quickbooks to Keep Track of Company Finances
This accounting software platform utilizes AI for several functions, such as
scanning receipts to get key data and enter these into Quickbooks and
forecasting daily cash flow requirements.
Self-employed individuals can use Quickbooks
for $1/month for 12 months to track income and expenses, invoice and accept
payments, estimate taxes, and run basic reports.
Meanwhile, Quickbooks
plans for small businesses start at $8/month, which already includes
income and expense tracking, receipt capture, running reports such as profit
and loss, and 1099 contractor management. Companies who need more users and
additional features such as inventory and project profitability tracking and
employee time tracking can opt for a Plus plan ($21/month) or an Advanced plan
($45/month).
Leveraging AI Benefits while
Managing Risks
AI tools have undoubtedly changed industries,
and everyone–companies and customers alike–is reaping its benefits. This is
especially true now that AI prices are within reach of small and medium-sized
businesses.
But AI’s affordability seems to come at a
price. Experts are voicing out concerns that these technologies can be used to fuel malicious activities
and endanger digital and physical security.
As such, the PwC has named responsible AI and proactively
addressing risks as one of five AI priorities for 2020. Investments in
leveraging AI must be accompanied by strategies to safeguard company and client
data and resolve risks on models, outputs, and reports.
As you explore AI uses for your business, be
sure to discuss security risks with your team and service
providers as well. Doing so allows you to fully embrace AI’s benefits and be
ready for its challenges.
What potential AI uses are you exploring for
your business? What business problems are you hoping AI tools can help solve?
