Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to profoundly change businesses and by extension, the lives of people. Here's why.
For decades, science fiction writers have put Artificial Intelligence (AI) in a distant horizon and more than once opposed to the welfare of human beings. But the reality is very different and AI is not only a current possibility, but a powerful tool for business and global transformation of the economy.
"Artificial Intelligence is rapidly changing businesses as it increases the efficiency of the digital marketing and sales strategies in companies, integrating all possible sources of information to suggest new business strategies," said Diego Páramo, Co-founder And VP of Global Sales & Partnerships of EPICA, the AI company that is preparing to offer innovative artificial intelligence solutions for companies and businesses in the region.
EPICA’s proposal is unique and visionary in the Latin American market: it uses AI to predict real-time audience behavior patterns through large-scale big data. This solution solves the problems that executives and marketers encounter when it comes to finding business opportunities and optimizing the use of their data, marketing efforts and increasing sales.
According to Páramo, Latin America is fertile ground for AI, since, these emerging markets can adapt more easily to the transformations activated by this new model. According to IDC, by 2018, 50% of consumers will interact with machine learning based services and by 2019, global investment in services of this type will reach 31.3 billion dollars.
According to the World Economic Outlook by the International Monetary Fund, Latin American countries that offer the dynamism and infrastructure required for this type of solution are Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile, thanks to their attractive economies, with high rates of entrepreneurship and technological development; Brazil and Argentina too, but to a lesser extent due to the slowdowns they have suffered.
Benefits and Challenges of AI in Business
Hubspot, the inbound marketing company, confirm that 70% of companies have as a priority the use of the data they have and turn it into contacts, sales and business opportunities, the dilemma appears when choosing the option to reach those audiences more effectively. For Diego Páramo, the dilemma is solved in a simple way, by applying AI to the data, patterns can be identified and opportunities of relationships can be established, even where they had not been seen.
According to Páramo, AI has immense potential for industries today, becoming the key to the treasure of every business: big data. "Many organizations collect millions of data, but very few know how to properly activate or use this information to be more efficient in the market in which they operate. Artificial Intelligence comes to give these companies greater intelligence about their data and suggest what to do with it, allowing them to better understand their customers and opening up thousands of possibilities to deliver what they need at the right time, with the right message, for the proper Channel and device”.
AI relies on automated learning to identify patterns from data, this is the engine that empowers information within organizations. “This way, the company can be more effective with its sales force, telephone attention, digital campaigns or any channel you want, and therefore, be more cost-efficient in all your commercial machinery."
Thanks to this automation, analytics is reaching its true potential and in 2017 will be one of the keys to the success of organizations. According to J. Walter Thompson’s Future 100 report, user-focused solutions, attention-based economics, multi-screen advertising and cross-platform sales will have strong IA components applied to audiences. This way growth and sales are increased, giving more power and speed to all marketing actions and new business opportunities.
Industries with potential
In the opinion of EPICA’s expert, there are many industries that win with AI. According to Páramo, those with the greatest potential are the tourism, financial and retail sectors. In tourism (airlines, hotels, OTA’s online travel agencies), its use and benefits are focused on discovering key moments in the customer experience and reducing the costs of its marketing campaigns. In the financial sector, including banks and insurance companies, the chances are in the analysis of interactions and the creation of key products for audiences. While in the retail sector the potential is given by the positive impact that can be achieved with the adoption of intelligent and automated customer service solutions, in addition to the expansion of omni-channel operations.
Páramo concludes by stating that the implementation of AI solutions in business is simpler than everybody thinks from a technical point of view, needing only a web page, analytics and a digital strategy. The most complicated part is the organizational change involved, "The only condition the willingness to change, innovate, improve and of course to be more efficient. If organizations have this implanted into their DNA, implementing an AI system will be much easier. "
About EPICA
EPICA is the IA company that gives companies unprecedented power for decision making by breaking patterns of behavior of audiences in real time, through the management of data on a large scale. It is a unique technological initiative, which integrates artificial intelligence into big data and automation to manage personalized audiences accurately and effectively for the benefit of its clients. EPICA has presence in 4 countries: United States, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, and offers intelligent solutions in the tourism, finance, retail, CPG, Tech and education industries.