You Can’t Ignore the Impact of Artificial Intelligence in any Business
There are many articles out there already on incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into various workflows and products. As M&A Advisors, we hope to provide a different angle to business owners looking to incorporate the tangible parts of AI into their businesses. We believe the most recent advancements of multi-modal LLMs, computer vision, and deep learning, coupled with advancements in hardware GPU processing represent a significant enough shift to merit a second look both at the new AI technologies emerging and more mature AI technologies of the past decade.
We caution business owners against “burying their heads” in the sand in this shift, which affects almost all businesses. Historical examples like Kodak and Blackberry, who missed the digital photography and smartphone revolutions, respectively, serve as cautionary tales. Similarly, Blockbuster’s failure to adapt to digital streaming services and Xerox’s missed opportunities in capitalizing on groundbreaking innovations coming out of its own research labs are stark reminders of the dangers of ignoring technological shifts. We think the most recent wave of AI is a similar seismic shift in technology.
Applications of AI in Every Business:
REVENUE GENERATION
Marketing and Sales
Targeted Advertising: Businesses already leveraging many of the large ad networks can benefit from better-targeted advertising features these platforms offer. Look-alike audiences, retargeting, and multi-touch attribution models promise to offer better ROAS (return on ad spend) than before. In addition, utilizing customer data platforms to better segment your best customers (and find more of them) can supercharge advertising spend.
Personalized Shopping Experiences: Utilizing data analytics, AI predicts customer preferences for more effective product recommendations and upsell opportunities. Amazon exemplifies this, using AI to offer tailored product suggestions, thus improving customer experiences and boosting sales. But we think this extends beyond e-commerce and into B2B sales as well. Capturing data along the prospective customer’s journey can better prepare sales reps to sell the right solution at the right time. In addition, emerging product-led growth solutions allow businesses to adopt a bottoms-up approach to sales - enabling businesses to quickly sell small ACV services and eventually cross-sell/upsell throughout the customer org.
Example Solutions
Customer Preference Analysis / Search Recommendations: Algolia
App Personalization: Dynamic Yield
AI-powered Sales Intelligence: Gong.io
Talent Recruiting / Training / Retention / Administration
Personalized Learning: AI-enhanced e-learning and corporate training promise tailored experiences to employees at lower cost and greater effectiveness than before. By analyzing individual learning styles and progress, AI can offer customized training modules and proactively identify content to address skill gaps, enhancing employee skills and knowledge. An example is LinkedIn Learning, which uses AI for custom course suggestions.
Project Management for Service Delivery: Project management tools are incorporating more AI to help service businesses streamline resource allocation and automate workflows. Managers have greater visibility into various product and service delivery processes, while employees get more powerful tools to create positive customer experiences.
Example Solutions
Innovative Talent Acquisition: LinkedIn talent solutions
AI-powered learning platform for personalized employee training: Absorb LMS
Sales Training LMS: Workramp
Customer Service and Experience
Enhanced Customer Service: AI transforms customer service by providing personalized support for an enhanced user experience. AI-driven chatbots and virtual assistants offer quick, context-aware responses to customer queries, improving response times and satisfaction levels while also reducing wasted time in support centers.
Predictive Customer Churn: AI helps in identifying patterns that indicate potential customer churn. By analyzing customer interactions and engagement levels, AI tools can predict which customers are likely to leave and provide insights on improving customer retention, enhancing customer loyalty, and NPS.
Example Solutions
AI-powered customer support and engagement tools: Freshdesk Intercom
AI-powered Customer Assist: Kustomer
COST AND CASH FLOW OPTIMIZATION
Procurement and Inventory
Optimized Supply Chain and Inventory Management: AI in supply chain management enables businesses to adapt swiftly to market demands, mitigating overstock or stockouts. By forecasting demand and optimizing logistics, AI can significantly enhance supply chain efficiency. These solutions coupled with tighter customer data integration upstream and downstream help create more responsive supply chains and reduce inventory costs.
Example Solutions:
AI Inventory Management: Blue Yonder
Automation in Quality Control: IBM Maximo
Legal and Compliance
Contract Review and Due Diligence: AI can help streamline legal processes. AI tools can quickly analyze legal documents and flag potential issues, saving time and reducing human error. While many of these tools are aimed at legal professionals, businesses adopting online contracts can benefit from automation of contract creation, review, and management as well.
Example Solutions:
Contract Lifecycle Management Ironclad
CLM and legal project management Link Squares
AI Contracts Lexion
Facilities / Asset Management
Optimizing Energy Consumption: AI plays a crucial role in sustainability by strategically optimizing energy consumption patterns in business facilities. This includes smart management of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and lighting systems.
Predictive Maintenance: AI-driven predictive maintenance reduces downtime and optimizes resource allocation for cost-efficiency and sustainable operations. Sensors and AI algorithms can predict when equipment is likely to fail, allowing for proactive maintenance and avoiding costly breakdowns.
Example Solutions
Predictive maintenance in asset management: Aspentech
AI-powered analytics and IoT solutions for operational improvements: Emerson Plantweb
IT Asset Management: Symphony AI
Fleet Management: Samsara
Conclusion
The integration of AI into various aspects of business operations is a strategic move towards innovation and efficiency. By adopting AI, businesses can not only enhance their current processes but also open doors to new opportunities and models of operation. As AI technology continues to evolve, its potential applications in business are bound to expand, offering exciting prospects for those who are ready to embrace this transformative force.
