Automated machines are getting smarter day by day. Beginning with Artificial Intelligence (AI)-which looked impossible to achieve years ago-it has been incorporated into numerous uses and applications. Who knew the same machine could be taught how to diagnose medical conditions then process automated financial transactions?
Artificial intelligence continues to grow primarily because of algorithms. These mathematical, step-by-step instructions allow Artificial Intelligence experts to program machines and computers into specific functions.
One of the most significant and useful subsets of AI is Machine Learning (ML), which has taken over different industries from manufacturing to healthcare. But did you know that Machine Learning is also helpful to businesses and entrepreneurs?
What Is Machine Learning?
Machine learning is a result of Artificial Intelligence development that allows machines to behave like humans and learn things without direct programming input as if the machine is learning on its own.
When cavemen learned about creating fire, they neither took a course nor read a book to learn it properly. Instead, they analyzed their surroundings and utilized their existing resources to spark a fire. The same goes for Machine Learning-computers use past information fed to them by finding connections and patterns to make new information.
Checkout: Machine Learning: Everything you Need to Know
Machine Learning In The Business Landscape
The way Machine Learning works seems very promising in the business landscape. By being able to catch up with the pace of technology, businesses can open more doors to growth and success.
Being one of the leading companies globally, Google took advantage of Machine Learning to curate their own AI systems. Google Translate, Google Voice Search, Google Photos, Google Cloud Vision API, and DeepDream are some of ML's notable products, which garnered massive customer bases that'll continue to support their future releases.
Ways Machine Learning Can Improve Your Business
As the world embraces smarter technology, how can you ensure that your business remains technologically competitive? By incorporating AI solutions and Machine Learning applications into your business, here are five compelling ways it can help grow your venture:
- Enhance Customer Experience Through Personalization
Customers are the center of businesses. Without clients, you won't gain any presence, recognition, and returns in your venture. To gather a substantial customer population, it's worth putting yourself in their shoes.
"What will consumers feel when they use my products and services? How can I ensure that every second of using my products or services is worth their time and money?" are some questions to ponder on when improving your clients' experiences.
Fortunately, these questions can be answered using data science and analytics. Your business can utilize ML to analyze data generated by your consumers, then create tailored user experiences that can keep customers engaged with your products, services, or solutions.
An excellent example of this is through data streaming, as demonstrated in this explanation. Data streaming powered by AI Machine Learning will allow the production of real-time data within your company's data landscape. By compiling data gathered from different sources, your data analytics can provide personalized, preferred experiences to customers.
- Schedule and Automate System Maintenance
Many companies require equipment and machinery to accomplish their tasks, particularly in the manufacturing industry. Maintenance and repair are essential aspects of maintaining machinery in tip-top shape. Instead of traditional maintenance methods, you can utilize Machine Learning to perform predictive maintenance on your business's necessary tools and equipment.
Initially, Machine Learning will observe the operations of your machinery to gauge their normal behavior, which will be the baseline for identifying critical machine conditions. Over time, your computer will search for correlations, segregate anomalies and data from normal ones, and send precautionary recommendations to you when maintenance is necessary.
By using Machine Learning for predictive maintenance, you'll reap the following benefits:
- Minimize operational costs
- Increase operational uptime and productivity
- Put maintenance workers into economic use
- Avoid costly, large-scale repairs
- Uphold quality and safety conditions within your workplace
- Recognize Existing and Potential Risks
How do you accurately find risks existing in your business? What can you do to prevent future risks? The only way to gauge and solve business risks is to have a risk assessment and approach strategy, which ML is also fully capable of. By applying Machine Learning, you'll be able to recognize, analyze, and solve these risks.
Have you ever wondered how banks and financial institutions maintain safe operations despite various internal and external threats? Machine learning plays a vital role in fraud prevention and detection amidst the era of payment digitization, which you can also apply to your own business.
If you have an online store, you can add fraud prevention on your customers' payments to ensure that online attackers can't penetrate your system, like implementing AI applications that include Verified by Visa and the Mastercard SecureCode.
- Streamline Sales Operations Efficiently
Moreover, your computer can recognize normal activities from suspicious ones using different fraud detection techniques supported by AI applications and Machine Learning integration. As attackers use more advanced fraudulent methods after being denied, Machine Learning can elegantly adapt to them because of their ability to learn.
In your day-to-day business operations, there are a few recurring tasks that consume your time more than you're aware of. For example, it can be tedious to manually reply to customer inquiries only to find out that most questions can be answered only if your client paid attention to your FAQs.
Fear no more, as you can use ML to automate chatbots on your website or social media accounts. Whenever a potential client sends a question, your chatbot will assess whether it can be answered by standard responses or if it requires a more specific answer from a human operator. Chatbots are one of the most effective artificial intelligent solutions that allow businesses to save a lot of time and other resources from accomplishing mundane tasks.
- Understand Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Consequently, your chatbot will respond to simple questions and then filter out inquiries that your employees can get back to soon. In this way, your business can focus more on tasks requiring strategy and critical thinking than scheduled or automated ones that computers can easily take care of.
You can put every piece of data in the cloud into excellent use. Companies with more attention to various information within their landscape have more potential to flourish.
Along with data streaming, another application of Machine Learning that caters to unique customer experiences is the understanding of natural language processing (NLP) and text analytics.
Text documents such as online reviews, social media comments, and survey responses are relevant to your company's improvement. Essentially, ML will enhance and automate numerous NLP features and text analytics functions, turning unstructured data from text documents into something more meaningful than your business can utilize.
Take industry competition, for example. Using Machine Learning applied to NLP tools and functionalities, you can compile updates happening inside your industry and monitor your competitors' latest moves, all without too much effort and cost.
These top 7 Machine Learning challenges will save you from a lot of trouble in the later stages. Here are the biggest Machine Learning problems and solutions you can implement.
Bottom Line
When integrated appropriately and strategically, Machine Learning can yield a plethora of benefits to businesses and organizations. Before incorporating Artificial Intelligence solutions like Machine Learning into your business, substantial research and planning on how they can be applied to your respective niche are paramount.
Most importantly, don't be discouraged in using Machine Learning if you're a small- or medium-sized business. Regardless of your business's size and current standing in the industry, you're bound to progress as long as you'll adapt to changes along the way, and you're more than ready to face challenges in Machine Learning implementation.
