From search engines to predictive texting, emerging technologies like The five key artificial intelligence trends (AI) are becoming more and more embedded in our lives – even if we don’t realise it. Deployed successfully, AI has almost limitless potential for businesses. It can free them from manual tasks and drive previously unimaginable efficiencies. All while creating new personalised services.

And yet, our recent The Future in 2021 technology survey has revealed that many leaders still don’t think AI is right for their business. Our AI expert Dr Zoe Webster sheds light on how AI is transforming data-driven organisations and the seven ways it’ll prepare your business for the digital future.

And if you want to find out more about The five key artificial intelligence trends, check out the above video. Watch as Zoe and award-winning business journalist Steph McGovern discuss what AI is, how it works and what it can do for business.
 

With the right connectivity, AI can pave the way for improved ways of working – especially for larger organisations that may have complex or outdated processes.

For example, it can help you make your business or supply chain more efficient by highlighting areas that could be optimised. This will save your business time and money.

AI also allows your employees to work with greater flexibility. And helps you prepare for any unforeseen events.

Optimisation isn’t just reserved for huge companies – SMEs can reap the rewards too. For example, Oxford-based MeVitae is a small deep tech business currently using AI to help companies make faster and less biased recruitment. They’re using AI for activities like automatically redacting features from CVs that might be picked up in cases of unconscious bias, such as gender and race.

As AI searches for patterns within large volumes of data, organisations can harness insights to predict future behaviour. By using AI-powered tools like social listening and machine learning, your company will become more aware of trends, opportunities, and customer preferences. And be able to make changes to your offering accordingly.

Having a deeper understanding of your customers will help you create more targeted messaging, and even anticipate what your customers need. For example, think about when you’re buying a book online. You’ll often see a list of suggestions pop up on your screen. Those are put together through AI, using what you’ve bought before to offer new suggestions.
 

In a similar way to using data to increase sales, companies can use AI to provide better customer service. For example, they can take the insights they get from market research and user behaviour, analyse them through AI and use them to improve current services or inspire product innovations.

Chatbots and self-service apps are another great example of what your business can do with AI. As these tools develop and analyse more data, they become faster and more accurate. They can then be used to address customer needs automatically. All while providing an overall better customer experience.
 

AI can help businesses use their people in much smarter ways. For example, by using it to improve and manage operations, organisations can spread their resources and provide better services. Ultimately allowing companies to make a big impact without heavily affecting costs.

Some people still fear that AI will take their jobs. But this is far from true. On the one hand, it’ll help companies shift focus away from manual tasks and towards more complex queries. On the other, it’ll support and elevate other jobs.

So, for example, it’ll free people from having to analyse large, complicated volumes of data. And at the same time, it’ll help them make strategic decisions based on that same data.
 

With better insights from data, companies are often inspired and equipped to innovate. But also experiment and test new products, services, and ways of working.

Healthcare is a great example. AI can support this sector in the search for new drugs and vaccines by providing insights on patients and their medical history. It can also help tackle misinformation on vaccines and streamline manufacturing operations by monitoring production and identifying potential delivery network bottlenecks.

AI is advantageous for other sectors too. Take the creative industries, which can use it to quickly process and retrieve content to support post-production – anything from music scoring to video editing and captioning. Meanwhile, the public sector can use behavioural insights to develop solutions that better serve communities.
 

It’s a common misconception that AI requires specialist employees and technology. This is sometimes true, but it’s not always the case. No-code AI is slowly becoming more popular in the workplace because staff don’t need to have special skills to use it. These platforms often use tools such as drag-and-drop and other simple processes to help everyone to use end-to-end automation. Soon staff with any level of expertise will be able to reap the benefits of AI without having to worry about training costs.
 

The future of AI looks promising. And we’ve barely scratched the surface of its capabilities. From helping law firms to analyse large legal documents to building virtual assistants that support employees and clients alike – the possibilities are endless. This technology is at the forefront of a digital revolution with no signs of slowing down.
 

 you want to start using AI, the first thing to do is identify how it can help your business. What opportunities and challenges is your business facing, and how data can help you address them? Where you see data playing a role, that’s where AI can be key.

Here are a few tips for starting off:

• Start small and simple and work up to something more sophisticated in time. 
  
  
• Make sure that your business has access to a sustainable source of data.
  
  
• Consider the role people play in your decision-making process. Get people comfortable with using it right away, so that they’re fully aware of the benefits and limitations.
  
  
• Make sure you have reliable connectivity that allows the exchange of data whenever needed, across your business.