3 Key AI Trends and Affected Industries in 2021
The question of integrating artificial intelligence in our daily lives is no longer if, but when.
Businesses are increasingly taking a digital-first approach as the acceleration of technological adoption drives innovation. These advancements allow businesses to operate remotely while being able to deliver their services worldwide. This technological wave even affects physical spaces with digital upgrades to balance the advantages of both environments. To stay competitive and keep customers satisfied, companies have adopted cloud services, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI). Acceptance of digital transformation and embedding it effectively into a company’s day-to-day will impact businesses aiming for long-term survival.
More specifically, the use of AI and machine learning to streamline processes and improve efficiency is widely applied from smart search recommendations to customer service chatbots. AI, machine learning models, and deep learning technology comb through data to improve its own systems and adapt to various business needs. AI helps automate digital experiences that impact a customer’s digital brand experiences. The insights and efficiencies delivered by AI enable the crafting of highly individualized customer experiences. Businesses should embrace the breadth and depth of big data to analyze consumer behaviors and implement actionable changes.
3 Key Trends of AI in 2021
- Automation
- Custom Voice Assistants
- Personalization
Automation
Heavy investment into the development of technological advancements will impact the role automation plays in the daily life of businesses. The idea of hyper-automation, where anything that can be automated should be automated, is implemented more frequently in the digital transformation of many organizations. AI can complete a high volume of repetitive manual tasks quickly for humans. It is not meant to replace people’s job duties as human oversight is still needed to prevent errors or misinterpretations. Instead, it eliminates mundane tasks so people can work on solving more complex issues.
Custom Voice Assistants
Voice assistants have a variety of applications in nearly all industries ranging from healthcare to automobiles and easily accessible through smart devices, computers, and apps. Research into developing and refining voice technology contributes to the high growth potential of this market as people increasingly rely on voice on the go for its convenience. Predictions by industry thought leaders anticipate voice experiences to become more functional and enhance user experiences. AI voice adoption with versatile responses, especially in customer service, is the logical step in the merge of chat and voice for a more natural flow in the conversation for customers to connect with the brand. It supports the unification of the company’s services through an improved understanding of customer needs from data to create better digital experiences and seamless interactions.
The application of voice-powered interactions is limitless and timely with COVID-19 restrictions limiting in-person activities. Natural language processing, depicted by Amazon Alexa and Google Home digital assistants, shows the capabilities of machine learning in teaching computer software to understand and respond to verbal commands. The ease of use and cost-effective nature of voice assistants simulates its growth to expand into areas beyond business usage to enter homes and mobile phones.
Personalization
Everyone has experienced some type of personalization throughout their usage of digital platforms and devices. Whether it be personally relevant ads or recommended products, machine learning is becoming better at predicting user preferences with greater accuracy and relevance. AI is used to gather data to anticipate a user’s preferences to highlight products or services they are most likely to enjoy. It takes a deep dive to investigate customer psychology through their behaviors and interests to enrich customer’s connection with the brand.
Businesses are investing in personalizing interactions with customers, employees, and partners to building meaningful relationships. AI assists in the customization process by consolidating information for people to determine the next best action to take. Nowadays, it is difficult to fight through online noise to reach target audiences. As a result, there is a resurgence in physical strategies, such as gifting, to bridge this gap and strengthen important connections. Companies are finding ways to combine the efficiency of AI automation with customization to make long-lasting impressions for every relationship touchpoint. Corporate gifting platforms, like Giftpack, are disrupting the traditional gifting industry by offering personalization at scale to emphasize the importance of each individual’s unique personality.
Top 3 Industries Impacted By AI
The global pandemic accelerated the rate of digital transformation across many industries and AI continues to play a significant role in changing businesses operations.
Healthcare
The pandemic accelerated the speed of data analysis and working together of essential bodies such as healthcare entities, academic researchers, and governments to collect information. The versatile applications of AI communicated essential information and influenced decisions that helped save countless lives. For instance, big data analytics and insights identified COVID-19 hotspots and tracked potentially infected patients. Thermal cameras and apps also collected data for healthcare organizations to expedite solutions to mitigating and eliminating the virus, including predicting future outbreaks.
Cybersecurity
Working-from-home and remote work heightened awareness around data protection and information security. The rise in data collection and employees needing to access sensitive data remotely poses a big risk for companies. Thus, many are investing in cybersecurity measures to protect against security breaches. AI gives a helping hand in bolstering security measures through a variety of ways, including identifying popular patterns in tactics and traps used by criminals to hack for information. Preventing cybercrimes by eliminating suspicious activity and educating employees to be wary of foreign links are highly effective and efficient ways of mitigating vulnerabilities to cyber-attacks.
Marketing
AI’s application in marketing is hyper-personalizing customer experiences as new methods are adapted to the digital world. AI contributes to helping marketers gain a holistic understanding of who their target audiences are beyond self-volunteered information by analyzing browsing behavior, viewed content, and site activities. AI automates the collection of consumer data to support marketers in leveraging analytics to make informed decisions aimed at anticipating customer behavior. Valuable insights can be gained from AI’s analysis of vital information such as keywords, social media trends, and other online data. Trends uncovered by machine learning can also be used to guide tactics and long-term strategies.
Receiving ads seem inescapable nowadays, so businesses aim to make an impactful impression on what people see. Recommendation systems apply data to optimize suggestions and deliver targeted ads that capture consumer attention. Thus, marketers can be more intentional with their ad placements and campaign design to increase effectiveness. No more intrusive or irrelevant ads. People are connecting with brands on more than one platform, so there are more touchpoints where brands can connect with customers. For example, paid ads on Facebook and Google apply machine learning to optimize ad delivery and make smart decisions regarding placement and recommendations. Utilizing context-based and predictive personalization, brands can maximize engagement with users and send consistently targeted messages.
Overall, AI, machine learning, and deep learning all have the potential to influence the day-to-day lives of people over the next few years. This year, automation, custom voice assistants, and personalization are key trends to look at for rapid advancements and new innovations. Meanwhile, AI is changing business operations in the healthcare, cybersecurity, and marketing industries.
What AI trends do you think will make the most significant impact in 2021?
