Welcome to the AI Club

Do I qualify for AI Club membership? 

Business intelligence AI has been glamorized and its uses storied  enough that its applications for SMEs sometimes seem remote.  But SMEs are in fact eligible for membership and may even feel at home there.  SMEs can join the AI Club by using practical AI rather than rhinestone-studded AI.  

For most SMEs, the proverbial robotic arm is not one that performs intricate neurosurgery but one that lends a hand with customer service or creating performance metrics (KPIs).  Membership perks for SMEs can include:

Branding:  One critical area where we can see this is in the design industry where AI is already able to create branding graphics and sophisticated logos. This means that SMBs can design logos and other elements of their brand faster and cheaper. AI tools helps you to design a logo for your business in just few seconds. All you need to know is your company name, industry and slogan.

Lead Generation:  The prophecy from marketing guru Neil Patel is that AI will be a major force in revolutionizing lead generation in the near future. According to Mr. Patel, businesses that implement AI see59% better close rates for sales, 58% increased revenue, 54% more traffic and engagement, and 52% higher conversion.  AI can help with lead prospecting or lead generation and lead nurturing.  

When you combine Big Data with AI, you not only have tons of information on your customer, such as their buying patterns, purchase history etc; you also have the perfect tool to make accurate predictions and generate qualified leads.

Natural Language Processing:  While this sounds complex, some of its uses for SMEs are not.  For example, you can determine the key phrases you--or your competitors--are using in blog text.  With a sentiment analysis, you can gain insight into what reviewers of your product(s) or service(s) might really be saying.  But, while customer service is the most high-profile use of AI innovations, other areas will be affected as well.  Chatbots will provide excellent customer service and provide intelligent answers to product or service inquiries. But customer service is not the only area that will be transformed by NLP.  From boosting employee productivity to the more esoteric neural machine translation to aid in development.

KPIs:  SMEs can now choose from a wide variety of AI tools that can be used to create and maintain key performance indicators. These affordable, user-friendly options enable businesses of any size to evaluate markets, assess client information and to monitor profitability or efficiency.  

Automated KPI tools can offer some interpretation of the data--e.g., revenue trends--but at least some of the information requires human interpretation in order to use the data effectively.  Currently, most business KPI dashboards can’t analyze a KPI in terms of its relationship to other metrics--critical insights rendered from judicious consideration.  Ultimately, AI analytics may be able to derive critical insights that correlate these direct and indirect relationships.

Gartner on AI and Jobs:

AI will be used to render new insights, transform decision making and drive improved business outcomes. AI will have a positive effect on jobs with AI-related jobs seeing steady growth starting in 2020. Up through 2020, all industries will see varying levels of time and effort savings with most industries experiencing no job loss. More than replacing humans entirely, AI will augment existing jobs and improve productivity.

CRM:  AI can make SMEs’ sale processes much more efficient. AI-powered CRMs use the latest technology to give firms critical insights into their customers, eliminate manual data entry tasks, and remind employees to touch base with clients.  latform embedded with AI can take the customer relationship and integration to the next level. This approach seamlessly provides valuable insights, which can handle interactions with existing and prospect customers as well as automate marketing & lead generation. AI integrated with CRM can do a real-time analysis to offer recommendation and predictions based on the business processes and customer data of the company. For instance, it can evaluate customer sentiments in social media posts, recorded conversion, customer reviews, and emails. Furthermore, it can also adjust the lead generation and marketing activities based on the result of data analysis. 

Behavioral Biometrics, Cybersecurity and Human Resources

Behavioral Biometrics Defined:  As defined by WhatIs.com,  behavioral biometrics is the field of study related to the measure of uniquely identifying and  measurable patterns in human activities. The term contrasts with physical biometrics, which involves innate human characteristics such as fingerprints or iris patterns. 

Cybersecurity

Behavioral Biometrics and Cybersecurity:   Biometric verification methods include keystroke dynamics, gait analysis, voice ID, mouse use characteristics, signature analysis and cognitive biometrics. Behavioral biometrics are used for secure authentication in financial institutions, businesses, government facilities and retail point of sale (POS), as well as an increasing number of other environments. 

Many businesses, no matter what their size, have confronted cyber exploits that affect both the operation and reputation of the companies. That is why both large and small enterprises are using AI tools to protect their data and battle threats to ensure their data security. With AI and machine learning, companies can detect any strange behaviors, create a concentration on new threats and spot the security vulnerabilities. Just keep in mind that small enterprises are more vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks than large ones because most of them don’t have adequate security checks in place.

Behavioral Biometrics and Human Resources

The use of behavioral biometrics will likely expand to include other applications such as employee welfare in the workplace.  According to Performetric, one application can does the learning through user interaction patterns with the computer interfaces (keyboard and mouse interaction) and then has the ability to identify and alert users (in real-time) at the onset of fatigue and burnout, providing recommendations that can prevent mental fatigue, fatigue or mental health problems.