Guide to using AI tools in business startups – The Burn-In

The concept of artificial intelligence has been around for so long it cant be considered a novel trend. But it is an emerging technology that is increasing in its implementation for our personal and business affairs.

While pop culture has been on the AI train for longer than some of us have been alive, it isnt representative of what AI looks like today. No humanoid robots are taking our jobs and policing our communities just yet (likely never). Instead, artificial intelligence is helping to augment and enhance our everyday lives.

This possibility is especially real for businesses, particularly startups. At this point, they usually do not have an abundance of resources. AIs ability to help them simplify, automate, and improve business operations is a welcome reprieve. The number of ways that startups can benefit from integrating AI for business processes is endless.

The name says it all. The ultimate idea of artificial intelligence is a solution that can mimic human cognitive function. This technology allows machines and devices to function independently outside of human help or instruction.

AI-enabled devices and machines can interact with their surroundings without an instructional medium. They are self-taught, self-correcting, and self-reasoning.

These three capabilities already exist in physical and digital devices and platforms all around us.

An example would be Facebooks image suggestion feature. The way it suggests the names of the people in an uploaded photo.

An excellent example of self-reasoning capability is in the concept of self-driving vehicles. These cars can interact with every other object in their environment. They can use the information they get to decide when to brake, speed up, change lanes, honk, or even take control of the wheel from the driver in emergencies.

Another excellent example of AI goodness is in the way your music app suggests songs for you. If you skip over a recommended song, the program understands that it is not one you like, so it wont recommend it again.

These all sound lovely, but Im sure you want to know how they will help you operate and efficiently grow your startup. Weve put together an artificial intelligence for startup list to address your concern.

These are the core benefits of integrating AI for your business startup. They will inspire you to dig up even more ways to utilize AI for business reasons.

Ordering lunch for your small staff. Scheduling a meeting and shooting SMS reminders to investors. With a properly integrated voice assistant, these scenarios can happen without ever having to touch your phonecompletely voice-activated.

You can attend to an avalanche of business tasks while driving, clicking away at your computer, or heating the grill in preparation for an office party.

Alexa, Siri, Bixby, and Cortana are examples of voice-assistance technology you can use to make your life easier at the office and everywhere else.

Humans, for all their good intentions, are prone to errors. Not to mention that the hiring process, especially for a business startup, can be very tasking.

The hiring process has so many elements before you filter down to just a few right candidates. AI-enabled applicant tracking technologies can take these cumbersome and time-consuming tasks off your hands.

These tools can evaluate candidate resumes, set and handle tests, and analyze test scores.

These AI tools can quickly acquaint themselves with the companys performance data. Then they can cross-reference with the candidates characteristics and select only the best of them.

Of course, in the end, the final decision is still down to a hiring manager. But this technology allows startups to have a faster, effective, and unbiased hiring process.

A basic CRM tool already takes a huge weight off your shoulders with the automation of your daily business tasks. But with AI-integration, the bar has gone up more than a few notches.

An AI-enabled CRM can provide intelligent marketing predictions, personalized client recommendations, fully autonomous chatbots, and more.

With a CRM like this, every business decision you make along your customers journey is hugely informed. No startup should engage with their customers without the extensive powers of an AI-enabled CRM.

Just imagine that youre having an emergency meeting with your staff at the office. During the meeting, a lot of points are raised, and a lot of suggestions put forward.

Naturally, itll be hard for your assistant to remember all that was said, much less put it in any form of coherent writing.

Thankfully, there are emerging AI solutions for this dilemma. There exists AI tech that can record your meeting, identify keywords throughout the meeting, and take notes in a way that is organized and can be easily revisited.

With these tools, you will even be able to perform a search of said keywords to highlight essential points in the meeting. And none of these are done manually. You only have to click the record button, while the AI starts to process the team minutes while taking notes.

We live in a world of Big Data. You could say that data makes the business world go round.

AI analysis tools can use this data to help you understand your customers at a deeper level. This insight involves scouring through massive amounts of raw customer data. This analysis process is impossible for humans and not as effective with non-AI tools.

Lets say, for instance, your customers give their feedback on your products/services. An AI-powered analytics tool will be able to comprehend and categorize their responses, opinions, and suggestions. It will identify any patterns and trends, as well as predict future circumstances.

Data breaches are a real threat to any business and the sensitive customer information theyre responsible for.

This responsibility makes cybersecurity measures an absolute necessity for any business startup. Depending on the size of any company, a security infraction can result in millions of dollars in losses. This reality makes it surprising that many startups and established outfits still deploy outdated methods of threat detection.

The problem for a startup, in this case, is that they may never recover from an extensive security attack. So it makes sense to be proactive.

Thankfully, AI offers a solution here that is more preventive than curative. There are many dependable AI solutions on the market today that can help you nip a potential security threat in the bud before it becomes a source of concern.

AI can identify suspicious website activity and also identify users with less than honorable intentions based on said activity and more.

Customer perception keeps changing, competition keeps growing, and security threats keep innovating. This reality makes it imperative for any startup that wants to survive to deploy every necessary AI for business tools and solutions. The earlier you do this, the better your businesss present and long-term plans will be for it.

Author Bio: Ana Mayer is a project manager with 3+ years of experience. While projects can do without her participation (which means almost never), she likes to read and create expert academic materials for the Online Writers Rating, Best Writers Online review website. Such work gives her the opportunity to write articles on the most relevant topics of today.

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Guide to using AI tools in business startups - The Burn-In