Artificial intelligence has gradually made its way into the world of software solutions. From business intelligence to ERP, intelligent applications are now an essential part of most well-performing solutions on the market. But what are the actual benefits of embedded AI in software?
What is embedded AI?
Embedded intelligence is essentially a term used to identify processes in technology where a specific program or application is given the ability to assess its own operations. When embedded in your software, the various AI technologies can work together to help improve the effectiveness of your processes. The overall idea is that by taking advantage of embedded intelligence in software, businesses will be able to make smarter and more informed decisions.
There are three basic types of AI currently available:
- Natural language processing (NLP)
- Image recognition/computer vision
- Voice and speech recognition software
How embedded AI can lead to business innovation
The development and inclusion of embedded AI technology can be incredibly impactful in business environments, and perhaps especially when linked to business innovation. Let’s take a closer look at the role of artificial intelligence in these business areas.
Customer experience
Today’s business environments are highly dependent on personalised and streamlined customer experiences. We all know that customer success, for both B2B and B2C companies alike, is all about ensuring customer satisfaction.
Recently, we have seen the rise of chatbots – which are considered embedded AI – in social media, customer service platforms, and in web development. In fact, chatbots are becoming the first line of defence for B2C companies. B2B companies, on the other hand, are taking advantage of the technology by using intelligent knowledge bases as a means for streamlining customer experiences.
Through natural language processing (NLP), AI embedded in chat software, companies can save money by using the technology to communicate with customers and provide surface-level technical support instead of paying an on-call employee to do such basic tasks. An actual representative will only be involved once the issue reaches the next level.
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Business process automation
Day-to-day processes and tasks can be repetitive, time consuming, and tedious for employees. If you’re in the market for a business process software solution, as a way to automate everyday tasks, embedded AI technology will definitely save your employees time and energy. This will also enable your employees to focus their efforts on more important tasks.
Customer relationship management is another area that has made great use of process automation with embedded AI. These software solutions are already facilitating the jobs of sales and marketing teams by giving them optimised email content and smart lead scoring.
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Big data and smart analytics
Business process solutions with embedded AI can provide decision-makers with actionable insights collected from advanced and predictive analytics. In fact, the advent of big data is one of the main catalysts for the remarkable evolution of AI technology. Without access to machine learning and embedded AI, it would be nearly impossible to find value in big data.
As machine learning and AI power through and consume big data, find patterns and discern behaviours, they provide human users with digestible insights and actionable leads. Even traditional departments that don’t normally use any form of analytics will find important functions in embedded AI in software. As an example, let’s take human resources departments. Few HR teams consider analytics as one of its primary functions. However, with this capability, HR departments can use data-driven performance assessments or monitor employee engagement based on data gathered for internal surveys. This way, they can use this data to determine workforce efficiency or to identify the right personnel to hire.
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Smart and well-informed decision making
Running a successful business requires intelligent decision making. Platforms with embedded AI can come up with recommendations for decision-makers so they can make more intelligent decisions. This means that most of the guesswork can be taken out of the initial process with advance predictive machine learning capabilities.
With the guesswork taken out, executives will know they are making decisions based on data-driven insights provided by highly advanced and highly efficient AI technology.
A good example for an embedded AI to thrive and benefit an organisation is in the field of enterprise resource planning (ERP). In ERP environments, software with embedded AI can facilitate the automation of traditionally labour-intensive manual tasks, such as inventory management, forecasting, pricing and budgeting. Through embedded AI, ERP solutions will have the ability to crunch more precise forecasting and budgeting numbers, which in turn will allow organisations to figure out manufacturing costs, come up with more optimal inventory management, and optimise product pricing.
It’s hard to predict what the future will bring, but there’s no doubt about the fact that embedded artificial intelligence and machine learning can bring a wide range of benefits to most businesses.