Imagine if you knew how many items you would sell next month or what a customer would most likely buy the next time they shopped; it would be much easier to budget and optimize resources. Imagine if you knew when a machine in production would fail and instead you could just fix it ahead of time. How much would you save? How much more could you deliver?
With Artificial Intelligence we can take the next step to a whole new level of analysis, going beyond any human analyst’s ability to process and thus predict what is going to happen.
You (and many others at companies like yours) have undoubtedly spent many hours and substantial budget on these kinds of questions and problems trying to stay one step ahead of the market – or at least not too many steps behind it. But like the weather consumer sentiment or technical failures can sometimes shift and change without notice, spoiling the best laid plans.
But as with the weather, modern technology and techniques can help us foresee more of these shifts and understand more of these complex systems and factors to better anticipate and adapt to them. With Artificial Intelligence we can take the next step to a whole new level of analysis, going beyond any human analyst’s ability to process and thus predict what is going to happen. AI can also help optimize many other business tasks such as budgeting, product development, quality assurance and logistics and warehousing functions. Everywhere, AI can help optimize processes and results.
The benefits of AI are legion, but it is easy to get sidetracked by the hype and fixate on flashy technology and buzzwords. The best approach to starting an AI journey is by clearly defining your key business goals and then finding out how you can use AI and machine learning to help achieve them.
AI can be a powerful means to achieving those ends, but like any tool it works best when integrated with the existing business processes and organization.
Focus on areas of high importance – key business goals and pain-points. Ask yourself: What do you want to be better at? Ask what processes take the most time or are the most prone to error? What are your main problems? What is the end result you are looking for? AI can be a powerful means to achieving those ends, but like any tool it works best when integrated with the existing business processes and organization.
It is also best to have a clear picture of your data assets and infrastructure. Ask yourself: What do you have the most data on? The best quality data? AI and machine learning can’t help much if the basic data resources and infrastructure aren’t in place. And if you do already have a modern, enterprise level data platform and you are not using AI and machine learning tools with it you may be leaving a lot of money on the table.
Modern AI and machine learning leverage the enormous amount of data we collect and can help discover complex patterns in things like customer behavior or machine operations that humans miss. Ultimately, our imagination is the only real limit on what AI can be used for.
What can you imagine AI doing for you?
I hope that this blog found you well, and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions. Make sure to read my other blog about how you can get started with AI : https://www.columbusglobal.com/en/blog/how-can-you-get-started-with-ai
And if you are looking for a way to get started, I recommend reading our e-book: ‘6 Steps to Be Successful With Advanced Analytics’.