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Is AI a Good Investment for Every Business?

Of all the new tech that’s disrupted the business world over the past few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has to be one of the most widely discussed. 

According to Gartner, the number of businesses implementing AI technology grew 270% between 2015 and 2019. The buzz around AI is also massive. There’s the sense in some online spaces that modern businesses have two options — adopt AI tech or get left behind.

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However, it’s not always clear what you’ll be missing out on if you skip on artificial intelligence.

What can AI do for a business? And if you want to use AI, how do you implement the tech without disrupting your team’s workflow?

Below, we’ll cover how you can know if AI is right for your business — as well as which kinds of AI SMBs can take advantage of right now.

The Basics of AI in Business and Marketing

AI is a broad term that developers use to describe just about any tech that can solve problems like a human can.

For example, many AI-powered business tools use a kind of artificial intelligence-based language parser called natural language processing (NLP). This tech lets the computer break questions or requests phrased in plain English into a form the computer can understand. 

With a tool that has NLP, you can ask a simple question, such as, “What was our best-selling product by volume last quarter?” and the tool will get you an answer, no knowledge of coding or spreadsheet management required. 

On the other hand, some tools may require a better understanding of AI and data analysis. If you want a custom-built solution that uses machine or deep learning to solve a problem your business is having, you may need to invest some serious time and resources. 

There is also a middle-ground in solutions that are less out-of-the-box. With these tools, you may have to do some significant work to get the system to solve your business’s particular problem.

For example, some small-scale manufacturers are using special, internet-connected sensors to monitor their machines. 

AI is probably a good investment for every business. Not every tool, however, will be right for your team’s skill set. In some cases, they may be more trouble than they’re worth.

Easy-To-Implement AI Tools

Some AI-powered tools are already industry standard, meaning you may already be using AI in your workflow without even realizing it.

Take, for example, Microsoft’s Power BI — a business intelligence tool that added natural language processing features in 2019. Other widely used tools are also starting to add in AI features. 

Google’s G Suite products implement some basic AI functionality. Gmail and Google Docs, for example, have an AI-powered “Smart Compose” feature that inserts recommendations as you type, suggesting possible phrases based on how a particular user communicates. The Adobe Suite comes outfitted with Adobe Sensei, the company’s proprietary design support AI.

These AI-powered tools may require zero technical buy-in if you want to adopt them. In general, the AI features are designed to be as helpful and unobtrusive as possible. 

This makes them great choices if you want to boost existing workflows with minimal disruption. These tools are also great for security tech that works in the background to keep your data and networks safe.

More Complex AI Technologies

Other AI-heavy tech may require more of an investment to begin working.

For example, predictive maintenance systems can sometimes be a challenge to implement. Facility owners may need to coordinate a system, a set of legacy machines and an array of sensors — all of which may come from various vendors.

Customer service chatbots, another popular AI implementation, also require a bit of attention to run smoothly. These bots can’t handle every problem by themselves, and you’ll likely need to build in some basic responses and chatflows to get started.

Even with these more complex solutions, there are still steps you can take to simplify AI adoption. 

All-in-one solutions exist for most AI applications. For predictive maintenance, it’s possible to buy sensors, software and even machines from the same vendor. With chatbots, some services may walk you through setup, getting you started even if you don’t have strong familiarity with chatbot or AI programming.

These pre-built solutions may not be as flexible as one you build yourself. However, they’re a good alternative for businesses that need a specific AI solution and don’t mind losing out on some control of the finished product.

Do-It-Yourself AI Solutions

Some companies go even further and build their own AI solutions from scratch. 

For example, some businesses have a lot of unstructured data — information that’s not categorized or organized in an easy-to-analyze way — from years or decades of business operations.

This data is hard to analyze with a traditional approach. AI, however, is very good at finding subtle patterns in complex datasets. With AI analytics, it may be possible to break down and unlock some value in those archives.

Others use AI to create unique research tools. Kellog’s, for example, recently teamed up with Qualcomm and Accenture to develop an eye-tracking headset that used AI to analyze how customers browse the shelves while shopping. This kind of approach, in addition to being a little eerie, was likely a serious investment and required partnership with big names in the tech world.

While it’s possible to build AI tech from scratch on your own, in many cases it may be a better idea to go with an existing solution.

Should My Businesses Invest in AI?

In short, AI tech is often a good investment — and soon, everyone may be using software with AI, whether they mean to or not. 

Right now, a huge number of products and tools use AI to make life easier. Even if you don’t need a high-powered AI tool, you can still benefit from other features that the tech makes possible. 


Eleanor is editor of Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.

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