From banking to marketing, artificial intelligence is impacting industries all across the board. It is revolutionizing our economy and helping companies cross critical business chasms. But, how exactly is it managing to achieve that?
Boosting the World of Finance
The finance industry is spearheading the AI revolution. According to McKinsley, financial services companies that have adopted AI boast profit margins that are 3% to 15% higher than the industry average.
Generally, companies use artificial intelligence to cut costs or increase revenue. In a way, AI does both when it comes to fraud prevention. Having to compensate clients for stolen funds is a big expense. Because financial institutions are not able to invest that money, fraud also indirectly results in lost revenue.
AI theft-prevention systems analyze a client’s activities, buying habits, location, etc. When an AI fraud-prevention system detects suspicious credit card activity, it will immediately flag or block the card. Since AI has the ability to learn on its own, very quickly, it can get better at identifying deviations from regular spending patterns.
Many financial institutions are leveraging AI-powered chatbots to provide personalized services to their customers and cut down operational costs. For instance, some banks are using chatbots to help customers apply for credit cards or loans.
Each customer usually has to go through a rigorous onboarding process before they get approved for a loan. They need to gather the right info and submit the necessary proof documentation. This can be very frustrating for the customer, especially in online applications.
Thanks to the power of conversational AI, chatbots can guide customers and respond to their queries with natural language—immediately. Because they can do such a great job of reducing friction, the customers are much less likely to drop everything.
They also allow customers to apply for a loan at their own pace, in their own time. They don’t have to go to the bank or wait for a contact center agent to pick up the phone. Moreover, banking bots make it possible for a customer to successfully apply for a loan in a single conversation.
Enhancing the Hiring Process
The hiring process has many flaws, even though strategic talent acquisition is central to most businesses. Most job interviews are driven by first impressions, and are rife with bias.The fact that referrals still represent more than 50% of hires is alarming.
To combat these issues, more and more companies are using AI for their hiring processes and operations. AI hiring tools have the ability to scan a large volume of resumes and pinpoint the best candidates for specific positions.
To find and correct biases and assess candidates with greater accuracy, AI recruiting tools can review call logs, job descriptions, and interview transcripts. Such tools are designed to benefit both the candidates and the employers. For instance, IBM’s Watson Candidate assistant can match job applicants with specific positions they will excel at.
Improving Employee Engagement and Retention
For a business to thrive, it needs talent. Retaining top talent is a priority for all companies in today’s competitive hiring landscape. Even though employee engagement is vital in businesses, about 85% of the employees are actively disengaged or not engaged at work.
When it comes to improving employee engagement and retention, AI offers great potential. Artificial intelligence systems can help companies confidently understand employee engagement by using biometrics, analysis technologies, and other emerging tech.
They can analyze vast amounts of data and pinpoint the factors that are driving employee behaviors. Based on the findings, such a tool can offer recommendations on how a company can reward specific behavior and effectively motivate employees.
Artificial intelligence can gauge individual performance accurately and improve on traditional performance assessments by using sentiment analysis. This can help employers uncover “toxic workers” who typically do well in such assessments.
It can also determine the specific skill sets an employee needs to work on in order to advance in their career.
AI-powered tools can gauge the effectiveness of employee collaboration by monitoring workplace social channels and social enterprise tools. To assess team performance as well as the morale of a given team, some AI tools can analyze the emojis and phrases sent among employees on Slack.
Elevating the Customer Experience (CX)
Because CX has become central in today’s business landscape, many companies are adopting a holistic approach to improving CX. Companies can create highly-personalized customer experiences by using various AI marketing tools.
Some artificial intelligence systems can determine what’s driving customer behavior by aggregating and analyzing all the various touch-points a customer has with a brand.
AI can deliver businesses remarkable insights into end-to-end CX. It can help a business anticipate the needs of its customers.
Some AI systems also have the ability to predict customer sentiment by monitoring brand perception on social media. This allows companies to predict where their target audience will spend their money on, minimizing the guesswork. So, businesses can use AI to enhance their forecasting abilities.
About the Author
Michael Deane has been working in marketing for almost a decade and has worked with a huge range of clients, which has made him knowledgeable on many different subjects. He has recently rediscovered a passion for writing and hopes to make it a daily habit. You can read more of Michael’s work at Qeedle.
