Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the business world, opening new avenues for growth and innovation across a variety of industries. OKAMGBA JUSTICE writes
Adopting AI can bring significant benefits such as increased operational efficiency, better customer experience, and increased revenue growth.
By leveraging AI-powered predictive analytics, businesses can make data-driven decisions. Additionally, automating routine tasks with AI frees up resources, allowing organizations to focus on strategic initiatives.
Applications of AI are diverse and include personalized customer interactions, fraud detection, and 24/7 support via chatbots, demonstrating its potential to transform business operations and drive success.
AI is set to revolutionise the global economy – the United Nations predicts a staggering $15.7 trillion contribution by 2030. Africa will reap a significant share of this spoils, with $1.2 trillion in potential gains.
As AI transforms the business landscape, companies that embrace the technology are experiencing unprecedented growth, innovation and efficiency.
By harnessing the power of AI, businesses can boost productivity, agility and customer experience, and AI leaders can outperform their peers by a remarkable 3.4x, according to McKinsey.
To harness the full potential of AI, it is critical to deploy it in high-impact areas. Below are some key sectors and examples of how businesses can leverage AI to generate revenue and transform their industries.
Finance and billing
One of the most obvious areas where AI can help drive revenue for a business is in finance and billing. Having an accurate and up-to-date overview of finances can help an organization know when to invest in growth, said Zoho Nigeria Country Director Kehinde Ogundare in a note to The punch.
He said that if a business wants a steady stream of revenue, it must send invoices, receipts and payment reminders on time.
In this regard, AI can help in several ways. For example, in the case of expense invoices, an AI tool with built-in image recognition would allow a business to scan its invoices with the system and then automatically generate the amount, location, date, time, and category of the expense, helping to save a lot of time and effort.
When it comes to invoicing, AI can greatly speed up the process of onboarding new customers by automating much of it. AI-powered tools can also extract relevant information from invoices, including customer details and product descriptions, and automatically populate billing systems, leading to greater efficiency.
Customer experience
Customer experience, more than price or product differences, has been the primary differentiating factor for businesses for some time now. Customers are willing to spend more, are more likely to remain loyal, and are more likely to recommend a company to their friends and family if they have a good experience with it.
Therefore, businesses need to put in more effort than ever to ensure their customer experience truly stands out.
“AI can be helpful. Take sentiment analysis as an example. AI can help identify the most unhappy customers, allowing customer success teams to focus on their needs and change their experience in the business,” Ogundare said.
Improved Marketing
The most effective marketing today is highly personalized and targeted. AI can make it much easier to achieve the specific level of personalization required for marketing success today. Once integrated with a company’s data, an AI marketing tool can create and refine personalized marketing content based on each customer’s CRM data.
To generate leads
Small businesses can now leverage the power of AI to boost lead generation and drive growth. AI-powered tools and software make it easier for small businesses to manage social media, automate email marketing, and generate high-quality content.
Kehinde highlighted the potential of AI in lead scoring, allowing sales teams to focus on high-quality leads that are more likely to convert.
He said that by implementing a points-based system, AI can score leads based on their caliber, helping sales teams prioritize their efforts on the most promising opportunities.
This targeted approach can lead to increased sales productivity and more meaningful conversions. AI-powered lead scoring can help businesses maximize their sales potential by identifying and pursuing the most valuable leads, ultimately driving revenue growth and improved sales performance.
Increased employee productivity
There is a direct link between employee productivity and revenue growth. Happy employees are more productive, and productive employees drive business success.
By leveraging AI to automate routine tasks, you can unleash the potential of your employees and allow them to focus on high-value work that increases revenue and profit margins.
AI-powered automation not only improves employee productivity but also elevates their overall experience, creating a virtuous cycle that drives business growth.
Olivia Wami, Global Product Manager at Bincom, in a recent webinar hosted by the company’s Development Center, said that Gen AI has the potential to revolutionize business productivity.
“SMEs are often limited by the resources available for content creation and marketing. However, they can leverage generative AI to maintain a consistent online presence. For example, you can generate social media posts or create product descriptions. This approach streamlines processes, saves time, and reduces repetitive tasks.
Embrace AI, but use the right vendors
While AI can bring immense value to organizations when it comes to generating revenue, it’s also critical for businesses to know what they’re getting into when adopting AI. That means doing thorough background research and making sure they choose tools that meet their needs and respect privacy best practices.
“To mitigate these concerns, establish ethical guidelines for the use of generative AI within your organization. Promote transparency by clearly stating when content is AI-generated,” Wami advised.