Getting the maximum value out of your business’ AI investment requires tailoring your AI strategy to your specific company’s needs and existing technological ecosystem. To that end, we’ve written extensively about the importance of AI strategy.
Still, there are several opportunities that can allow virtually any business to unlock efficiency and value with the assistance of AI.
Here are a few of the top AI applications that are industry agnostic:
Forecasting
AI has an exceptional capability to manage and analyze data. By feeding your AI financial data and using well-crafted prompts to guide its analysis, you can generate forecasts covering a wide variety of potential business scenarios in very little time. In a macroeconomic environment characterized by rapid changes in trade relations and legislative policy, that can help your business adapt quickly and remain agile.
Mitigate this risk: Ensure that you are not exposing any financial data you input into your AI to other potential users by understanding your AI’s security features. In particular, know if it does or does not incorporate information automatically into its pool of training data, which may be retrievable.
Tip for working with data: Enhance your results by identifying specific parameters for the AI to use in outputting results. For example, a mature business may enter ten years of financial performance data, instruct the AI to analyze that data for year-over-year growth, and specify that the AI categorize annual performance as “poor” (years of 9% or less growth), “acceptable” (years of 10-15% growth), or “exceptional” (years of more than 15% growth).
Dashboards
By integrating technology across your enterprise, it’s possible to use AI to feed up-to-date data to a centralized hub where it will be displayed as interactive dashboards. The immediate insight this can provide helps decision makers inform their strategies and managers measure efficacy. Business leaders and analysts within your business are sure to appreciate the visibility real-time dashboards can offer.
Mitigate this risk: Work up-front to ensure that the real-time data your business is generating is accurate and uniform. That’s necessary to help information move across your software systems, intermingle with data from other sources, and seamlessly populate dashboards.
Accounting
Goldman Sachs recently announced plans to use AI to boost the efficiency of their accounting teams. Thankfully, you don’t need the resources of a leading investment bank to achieve similar results. AI enables the automation of simple, repetitive tasks that are common in administrative departments like accounting.
Tip for automating accounting: Start small with basics like data entry and reconciliation. As the technology improves and becomes more integrated its applications will expand organically.
Content Generation
For many, the most difficult part of a creative task is staring at a blank page. AI solves that problem by generating text or images using only a simple prompt. Use AI’s creative output as a jumping off point. It’s often much easier to look at a draft, identify what you do or do not like about it and build new versions based on what works or by cutting what doesn’t.
Mitigate this risk: AI today is primarily a predictive technology. That means that the material you’ll generate will be, to some extent, derivative of existing material. Make sure you’re changing details so that the final version accurately reflects your brand and business – and doesn’t infringe on IP owned by others.
Tip for generating content: Provide your AI with examples of campaigns and messaging that are in-use or have worked well previously.
Cybersecurity
One of the most promising aspects of AI is its ability to enhance the efficacy of cybersecurity measures. AI is often used to monitor systems and issue alerts when it identifies anomalous behavior. By continually monitoring your environment, AI-empowered cybersecurity tools can establish a baseline of activity and immediately highlight anything out-of-the-ordinary so your professionals can take a closer look.
Mitigate this risk: AI-enabled automation is capable of taking action beyond issuing alerts. However, because of the sensitivity of your technology systems, it’s worth considering how much autonomy to offer AI. For example, in an emergency your security team may respond to an active threat by restricting network access but you wouldn’t want an AI to be able to take potentially disruptive measures without the authorization of a professional.
Conclusion
The use-cases above just scratch the surface of AI’s current capabilities. Tailoring AI to your industry, operations, and structure allows the technology to bring even more powerful advantages to your business.
If you have any questions about employing AI to benefit your business, contact a CBIZ professional today.
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