Artificial intelligence (AI) has been changing the world in a wide variety of unnoticeable ways. Everything from Netflix's recommended shows to what comes up on a Google page depends on AI algorithms. AI has been integrated so heavily into daily life, especially online, that most people don't even realize it's there.
The effects of AI on how modern businesses are run are just as significant. AI is changing how people work - how business owners are managing their companies, and how, where they would have once had to hire a lawyer, they can now produce contracts using Legal AI - yet some business owners are still unaware of these changes. They can read o to find out about four of the most important ways that AI is altering the modern business landscape to get informed.
1. AI Is Changing How Businesses Interact With Customers
AI is playing an increasingly prevalent role in the customer service industry. It's being used to monitor customer activity, detect patterns, and help to prevent frustrating situations. While AI certainly can't replace direct human interactions with customers, it can help to streamline them. AI cannot understand nuanced social interactions or employ uniquely human skills like empathy to relate to customers, but it can help customer service representatives provide more personalized help.
From automated online customer service tools to interactive voice recognition software, today's state-of-the-art AI programs play essential roles in collecting and analyzing customer data. They can also optimize conversions by creating more intuitive AI-driven solutions for customer support. Business owners interested in jumping on board with the trend toward more automated customer service provision that allows human representatives to focus on advising customers and driving sales can get more information about leading service providers online.
2. AI Is Changing How Managers Do Their Jobs
It used to be the case that managers at all levels of an organization spent the majority of their time tackling administrative duties. They had to handle massive amounts of busy work, from drafting reports to making last-minute scheduling changes and comparing data. All those administrative duties left managers with insufficient time in their schedules for handling higher-level decision-making and problem-solving duties that used their unique skill sets.
Now, AI is making managers' lives easier and changing how they do their jobs. AI algorithms can handle even complex data collection and analysis. They can identify production errors on assembly lines. They can even track employee satisfaction to identify areas where businesses can improve their company culture to increase retention rates. The best part is, they can perform all of these tasks that would otherwise be assigned to team managers more efficiently than human beings.
The thing is, while AI is great at aggregating and analyzing data, it isn't advanced enough to replace human interactions. All the skills that make for great management personnel, including empathy, interdisciplinary rationalization, and critical thinking, are areas of shortcoming for AI. Managers provided with the tools to tackle basic, time-consuming tasks have more time to focus on these complex and inherently human issues.
3. AI Is Driving Hiring Practices
Just like AI helps to free up time among management staff, it can also streamline the hiring processes relegated to companies' human resources (HR) departments. AI software can filter job applications to highlight those candidates who will be the best fit for the job, saving HR personnel countless hours that would otherwise be spent interviewing unsuitable candidates. Instead, hiring managers can spend more of their time communicating with qualified candidates to choose the right person for the job.
To sweeten the deal further, AI can help to reduce, or possibly even eliminate, hiring discrimination. Unlike people, AI is not subject to implicit bias. It does not unintentionally allow prejudiced assumptions based on race, age, gender, or other demographic characteristics to influence its decisions. As long as the technology used in the hiring process is created by people who are committed to reducing hiring bias, it can help to ensure that all qualified candidates have access to the opportunities they deserve.
Some AI-driven hiring tools do more than just scan resumes. They improve the vetting process by presenting candidates with simulations that mimic what could come up at an average day on the job. The AI programs then analyze the applicants' actions, including their word choices and the timing of their decisions, to create a personality map. Hiring managers can then refer to the data to choose applicants for further interviews who will be a good fit for the company culture.
4. AI Is Driving a Focus on Staff Engagement
Many of today's workers express a fear that their jobs will be replaced by AI programs, even when they work in fields that could not be automated effectively. Staff anxiety about layoffs and job security does little to stimulate performance improvements, and it can even have a negative impact on employee engagement. In most cases, the anxiety is unnecessary because while AI can make some workers' jobs easier, it also creates new jobs with skill sets that are relatively easy to learn and implement.
The underlying automation anxiety, especially among Millennial workers, about certain positions being made redundant by machines, has changed how managers interact with their team members. They must combat the disengagement and dissatisfaction that often arise as a result of often irrational fears of being replaced by AI by taking a proactive approach. Managers at companies that are planning to automate parts of their business processes must communicate expected changes clearly to the workforce and ensure that everyone's concerns are addressed.
Companies planning to automate parts of their operations may also want to offer current employees additional training. Workers who are able to utilize AI programs to their full extent will have an advantage in the future as AI takes on more of the busy work that used to be relegated to people. Providing training can help to assuage many workers' fears that they will become redundant.
The Bottom Line
No matter how business owners feel about AI, it's difficult to deny that it's changing the way companies operate. It's unlikely that artificial intelligence will ever replace the need for human workers in the vast majority of industries. It can, however, act as a helpful tool to streamline workflows, ensure employee and customer satisfaction, and improve modern workplaces. It makes more sense to prepare now to maintain a competitive edge than to live in the past.
