Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Machine Intelligence, Cognitive Network, Neural Network, Algorithm, Big Data, Deep Learning, Chatbots, Predictive Analytics, NLP (Natural Language Processing)
With so many different words, approaches and tools how do you know which way to go? When it comes to Artificial Intelligence companies are generally pushing in many different directions, but all with the same goal. The common goal is to increase productivity by off loading tasks to systems that are more efficient or more accurate than processes currently in place. Some of these initiatives are simple ideas such as allowing a chatbot to schedule meetings while others are more ambitious like replicating the human ability to learn.
What do these intelligent initiatives mean for me and my business?
The first thing to know is that Artificial Intelligence is generally a catch-all phrase for anything related to this area of technical concentration. Subsequently the other ‘buzzwords’ listed above are disciplines, processes and components of an artificial intelligence project. Now let’s get into what this actually means for my business (law firm, e-commerce, retail, medical office, real estate, manufacturing, etc). It doesn’t matter what line of business you are in, the next five years will dramatically change the scope of how your current business operations are conducted.
Ok, I want to talk about what you can do now to give your company a competitive advantage. If you are smart this doesn’t necessarily have to take any more money or resources away from your company’s core competency. In fact, I urge you not to get distracted with all the promised bells and whistles of AI and continue to concentrate on your company’s core competencies. My simple advice is to be prepared for a disruption. What does this mean:
– it means don’t be the last guy putting metal braces on a kid when all they want is invisalign
– it means don’t keep making iPods if the only thing the user is looking for is music
– it means innovate your processes, if your customers don’t want to use a phone, start a live chat
– consider your model, if your job is connecting a buyer and a seller, are you adding enough value
– stop wasting time, are you going to the bank to deposit checks
Being prepared doesn’t need to be hard, many of you are already doing the necessary things to keep your business thriving. Let’s do a quick Machine Intelligence Business Checklist:
1) Call each software vendor that you license for your business and ask what they are doing to take advantage of AI.
– If they don’t have an answer, cancel that service and find someone that does.
2) Are all of your systems in the cloud?
– If they aren’t, write down on your checklist the reason(s) why.
3) Avaya just declared bankruptcy; if you still have an on-premise phone system move to VoIP unified communications immediately.
– Don’t replace a phone system with another phone system; make sure your solution is a unified communications platform that has a strategy for intelligent systems. You do not need any on-premise equipment and to stay prepared you should insist there isn’t any.
4) Can any of your systems transfer or share information with the other programatically (ie via Application program interface (API)) to streamline or increase visibility?
5) Be wary of systems that claim AI, but just dramatically increase your current cost(s), isn’t the point of AI to increase efficiency, why would they be more expensive? If it’s more expensive the technology is probably still not ready for business adoption.
Why now? Remember this is nothing you haven’t faced before, the difference is we are making changes at a faster pace and this will continue to increase as we utilize greater computing power with platforms that can solve problems while we sleep. Many of these disruptive AI buzzwords can be thought of as marketing terms such as when cloud computing was first coined. Navigate this next business change with Cyberco, a trusted Machine Intelligence partner that Google uses to better prepare companies for what’s next.