How AI Can Help Your Business Navigate the Cost of Living Crisis

Despite its headline-grabbing controversies, artificial intelligence (AI) could be the key to unlocking smarter and more efficient ways of working for many types of business.

As businesses adjust to the post-pandemic world and weather the cost of living crisis storm, now is the time to be agile and innovative, to ensure productivity is maximised and staff are fully supported.

This is where AI can have a huge impact, if used correctly. This is especially true within areas of a business that demand a lot of resource, such as customer service.

In this article we will explain what AI is, its various forms, as well the ways in which it could be a crucial tool for your business.

What exactly is Artificial Intelligence?

Simply put, Artificial intelligence (AI) is “computer technology that allows something to be done in a way that is similar to the way a human would do it” (Cambridge Dictionary). AI can be used for many different purposes, in many different industries, including healthcare, transportation, commerce, manufacturing, agriculture etc.

You have probably already encountered many technologies that employ artificial intelligence. Familiar with Alexa and Siri? Facial recognition is also a widely implemented facet of artificial intelligence. Most of us with a smartphone use this technology multiple times a day to unlock our devices.

Once a phenomenon reserved for Sci-Fi films, self-driving vehicles are now a reality, which is also due to advances in AI.

The possibilities of AI are at an extremely fruitful and exciting stage. In an article written for Information Age, Anastasios Papadopoulos, founder and chief executive officer of Integrated Management Systems (IMS), says, “By leveraging technology such as AI CRM; digital analytics; and digital marketing, you can establish tools that are cost-efficient, help protect against job losses, save time for your team to focus on more valuable business tasks, and gather insights to help you scale, adapt and innovate.”

Why is AI controversial?

Artificial intelligence has attracted a lot of media attention recently. In an open letter, 1,800 tech leaders including Apple’s co-founder, Steve Wozniak, and SpaceX and Tesla founder, Elon Musk called for a halt on all AI developments for at least six months to further understand the fascinating technology and properly regulate it.

You know it’s powerful when the man who wants to make Mars habitable finds it too progressive.

On the other hand, Martha Lane Fox, a tech pioneer, told the BBC that we should be having “sensible conversations” around AI, warning against mass hysteria.

Lane Fox, the founder of lastminute.com and board member of Twitter, Chanel, and WeTransfer, believes in a nuanced approach to AI, rather than the ‘AI is going to destroy the world’ narrative. Since AI is already here, it’s already happening and probably here to stay, she encourages users to look “carefully at what is actually happening and how we can mitigate the risks and double down on the opportunities,”

The Technology

What can AI help with?

The aim is to save time. The main way that AI can help your business work smarter and more efficiently is by outsourcing tasks to machines. This will leave your employees with more time to get into the ‘deep work’, rather than being bogged down by menial tasks.

This isn’t about replacing your human employees with robots, but rather about optimising processes, saving time, boosting productivity, maximising growth, and ending up with better bottom lines.

Content Writing

One of the most obvious uses of language tools, such as ChatGPT, is creating content. Although it’s fully able to produce legitimate copy, the effect of AI-written content on search engine rankings is still unclear.

The large media outlet, Buzzfeed have openly announced that they will be releasing AI-generated content, however one look at their articles and you’ll see that they are oddly formulaic and, well, robotic.

SMEs should stick to using human writers to create content to avoid being penalised by Google in the all-important growth stages and alienating your readers while doing so. ChatGPT is best used as an assistant as it can check logical flow, spot mistakes, repurpose content for social media, or provide a fast and accurate translation. Leave the actual conceptualisation and creation to the writers.

Grammarly is another tool powered by AI that can improve your content creation process. The tool works as a browser extension and it checks your writing in real-time for spelling errors and grammar mistakes, offering improvements to take your writing to the next level.

HR

The HR department of any operation is often busy with repetitive yet time-consuming tasks. It’s here that ChatGPT’s way with words can be put to good use. Many job applications received by larger companies are already screened by AI technology, but now writing job descriptions, responding to applicants, and writing internal communications can also be outsourced to a language tool like ChatGPT.

Since writing for these purposes is not SEO-dependent, you may as well outsource it to save your employees time and ensure you are paying them for meaningful work.

Other HR tools are Humanly, Paradox, and Fetcher, which can be used to lighten the load on recruiters through automating sourcing and outreach, the use of a chatbot to interact with applicants, and virtual interview assistants that take notes and automatically follow up. An additional time-consuming area of HR that could easily be automated via AI is payroll.

Security & Maintenance

AI technology thrives when it comes to spotting flaws in systems. For example, using an AI tool to make sure your cybersecurity network is watertight can save you from hiring an expert to take care of this time-consuming matter.

Facial recognition and smart video footage can also be a huge money-saver in industries that deal with accidents and liability. For example, many dash cams are now AI-powered to save fleet managers the headache of dealing with fraudulent insurance claims or ensuring safe driving.

CRM

Customer retention is a crucial element of any business and one that should have an optimised workflow. Salesforce is one of the biggest CRM platforms out there, now bolstered by artificial intelligence, Salesforce Einstein boasts many sophisticated features that will allow your CRM managers to breathe a sigh of relief.

Natural language processing allows the tool to analyse customer intent and automate responses. The Discover app then gives insights into customer behaviours, store performance, and campaign performance and trends.

Personal Assistant

AI is perfectly suited to act as your assistant. Maximise your time and allow a tool, such as Motion, to automate your planning. The time management and scheduling app has many skills under its belt beyond just calendar management, it also reschedules missed work, prioritises, limits meetings, and guards your time so you can focus on really important tasks.

Social Media

Here is another area that ChatGPT can be beneficial in; give it an idea, or a piece of copy and it’ll create a pretty comprehensive social media calendar. It thrives at re-formatting content, which is often the backbone of social media planning. You’ve done the legwork by coming up with the ideas, now you can leave it to AI to figure out how to split it up into bite-sized social media posts.

Flick is another tool that allows you to generate captions and create content faster – it can even help with analytics.

To caveat, ChatGPT and its work should not be used without human supervision. As it sources its information from the internet, it can be susceptible to providing you with misinformation. It’s best to use it as a personal assistant rather than as a supervisor, then you can rest assured that any generated content you use is high-quality and professional.

How much does it cost?

It depends. As we mentioned earlier, ChatGPT is free to use. So any time saved by outsourcing tasks to it comes at no extra cost. Other software will vary case by case, so it’s best to reach out to sales teams and negotiate. The overall price you will pay will be based on your company’s size and its specific needs.

What if I don’t want to replace my staff?

You don’t have to. It’s not a question of human vs. AI when considering how to optimise processes with technology. It’s more a case of streamlining workflows, sussing out where you are wasting time, and using time efficiently to get important tasks done.

There are many things that AI cannot do, such as employ ethics, be creative, or, funnily enough, draw accurate human hands. There may be a learning curve, but your employees are still necessary. Especially with ChatGPT, its output should be checked before implementing it into your business operations. AI should not replace people, but rather be used as a helpful tool to work smarter, leaving more time to hit targets and see results.

In summary

Despite the hysteria it seems to attract, artificial intelligence can be a force for good in these belt-tightening times. With such powerful technology at your disposal, you will find that you can outsource so many tasks to AI so that your existing employees can focus on the important tasks.

This may seem like a bad omen for the future of work, but it can be an exciting opportunity for continuous development and reevaluation of job descriptions as the need for human nuance and creativity is here to stay.