Creating Value in Digital Transformation with Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

Data is the new game-changer. According to recent surveys, data-driven businesses are 20 times more likely to be profitable. Digital transformation necessitates the use of data and analytics.

Given the velocity at which data is created, analyzing it is becoming a difficult process. Organizing enormous amounts of real-time data from several sources takes time and effort. Artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are being used to reduce the amount of human work necessary and the amount of time required. Data Science is a new paradigm in which robots are taught to learn from data, evaluate it, and draw conclusions from it. It is causing a paradigm change in the IT business.

For the first time in history, almost every organization is deeply committed to utilizing digital technologies. We have experienced disaster-like challenging economic and technology crises in the past few years, which has helped us believe in the power of digital transformation, flexible working, and innovative processes.

AI can become a driver of this digital transformation with its innovative grasp on several important key factors. For example, AI aids customer service, which has drastically changed over the past decade. Due to the pandemic, customers now expect an even better response in minutes. AI is already helping businesses to dynamically adjust to the growing market demands and cater to customer needs.

According to numbers released by Statista, the global market size of AI has already reached 327 billion. The numbers also reveal that in 2019, around 79% of businesses that adopted AI experienced a growth in sales and marketing department by 5% or more than that.

These numbers are proof we are moving towards the world of AI. For this reason, in this article, we will discuss the value offered by AI in digital transformation.

Can We Use Artificial Intelligence In Digital Transformation?

While the concept of AI-first surfaced around 1956, it has been in the development and discovery stage for several decades. We are still discovering possibilities and opportunities of AI, but we are also actively implementing the capabilities of the technology. For example, the use of predictive AI in business decisions, virtual agents that help us achieve home automation, and several other implementations.

These AI implementations empower digital transformation strategy. We can serve customers better, improve operational efficiency, and enhance the security architecture of the business.

For example, we have a prominent use of AI in customer services. Around 65% of organizations and 52% of inpiduals would switch from one brand to another based on the service offered to users.

Experts feel that digital solutions like AI have boundless potential since they are still in their infancy, with plenty of opportunities to grow. In fact, by 2026, the Edge Computing industry is predicted to expand at a rate of over 29%, from over $2 billion in 2020 to almost $11 billion.

With the help of AI, we can offer personalized communications to users. When this task was achieved by humans, we experienced delays and poor judgment calls. However, AI in digital transformation helps us improve customer satisfaction and higher engagement.

How Artificial Intelligence Is Impacting Digital Transformation?

What is digital transformation?

It is the art of using technology for business departments, such that processes and workflows revolutionize, simplify, and automate. Isn’t AI a part of this process?

If we are using AI for customer service, we are digitizing the support processes of the business and improving the ease, efficiency, and value-delivery perspective.

According to IDC's new Worldwide Artificial Intelligence Spending Guide, worldwide spending for AI will double over the next four years, reaching $110 billion in 2024. "Companies will adopt AI – not because they can, but because they have to," said Ritu Jyoti, vice president of IDC's AI program. "AI is the technology that will enable organizations to be more nimble, innovative, and scalable."

Explore how AI in digital transformation drives value:

1. Revamping Customer Journey

   When we can combine rich customer information, AI chatbots, and Natural Language Processing (NLP), we receive the power to digitally transform our customer support center, without using extreme human involvement.

   NLP has dramatically improved the power of AI in customer experiences. We now have AI bots that learn and engage with customers based on past behaviors. We can reach customers in an advanced manner using natural language and still deeply analyze customer communications and interactions for further knowledge. While having a normal conversation using NLP, bots evaluate data to find patterns in customer activities.

   For example, demographics, likes, dislikes, complaints, and other things. This allows customizing interactions according to customer needs.

2. Mitigating Privacy Challenges

   AI has multiple applications in the data privacy and security domain. From detecting new threats to protecting endpoints, we can secure our data and ensure its integrity and authenticity.

   For example, AI can utilize data to understand usage and access patterns within an organization, which helps identify unusual patterns. As soon as the normal usage patterns within the company disrupt, AI quickly responds and helps prevent a cyber incident. This level of analysis and efficiency is impossible to achieve without digital technologies.

   Similarly, when bot traffic is introduced on our servers, we are unable to respond to advanced cyber incidents manually. An entire security team can drop behind in this case because of the automated bot traffic trying to steal your information. The correct course of action can be to use AI and distinguish good and bad bot traffic to eliminate threats quickly.

3. Comprehensive Customer Profiling

   One of the best applications of AI is in the customer service sector. Whether you are a company in healthcare, finance, management, or accounting, AI can digitally transform your customer service for positive outcomes.

   When we are working with human representatives, we have limited capabilities. Of course, a human support executive would better connect with the customer, but they can’t instantly judge the preferences and needs of the buyer.

   But, ML-driven AI can!

   With the help of collected consumer data, AI creates customer profiles that allow identifying unique requirements and challenges of the user. This is achieved by assessing the purchase history, customer engagement, and other trends.

   This data allows your support representatives to utilize intelligent insights and serve the customer.

   Generally, businesses use a hybrid model for customer support. An AI bot interacts with the customer, which is very similar to human interactions. The solution is often received with the data analysis and interactive behavior of the bot. However, when the bot is unable to offer a solution, such as issuing a refund, assessing a fraud, or evaluating crucial issues, a representative can be involved to handle the case. In this manner, we still have the power of strategic human relations and advanced AI analytics.

4. Improving Operational Efficiency

   Lastly, AI improves operational efficiency. You may have observed the pattern in the above content and already analyzed that AI offers us intelligent insights on user behavior, whether B2B or B2C. Consistently using AI to understand business patterns, evaluate market conditions, and analyze the efficiency of internal operations helps us improve our productivity trends.

   For example, the ability to know which KPIs are helping us improve our internal processes allows us to make data-driven and informed decisions that have high chances of revealing valuable results.

   Every business must take a multi-dimensional and comprehensive strategy to improve operational efficiency and reach the required level. Reduced costs, digitalization and automation of operations, improved security standards, and the optimization and persification of services are just a few of the essential issues that necessitate continual operational efficiency.

   It's also critical to blend innovation and old ways to generate highly effective operational procedures that boost productivity and profit margins. Together with AI and ML, Big Data Analytics has emerged as a powerful tool for developing creative business models in this era of fast improvements in quality and techniques.

Summary

Digital transformation strategy is the need of the hour for small, medium, and large businesses. The pandemic has taught us to be better prepared for future disruptions and have an active contingency plan. In most cases, using the latest technology becomes our contingency plan that allows seamless operations even during adverse situations. When we combine the power of AI with digital, we can redefine internal processes, revolutionize customer support, and enhance security structure.

AI and machine learning are required by businesses to:

• Make their infrastructure smarter to drive insights and better decisions.
• Enhance every customer experience to create more engaging, tailored goods and interactions
• Transform processes and business models to promote efficiency and productivity
• Hire, retain, and empower personnel to improve worker efficiency and engagement

Do you wish to explore more about the power of AI?

Do watch the on-demand webinar on how a Microsoft Azure IoT-enabled ecosystem combined with AI and 5G technologies can drive telehealth solutions and radically alter healthcare.