Digital transformation seems to be the most heated discussion these days. Digitization of business processes helps increase productivity, reduces operational costs, enables data to be accurately analyzed, facilitates safer data storage in the cloud and minimizes human error. An experienced business process outsourcing company can help automate business processes, especially back-office and front-office functions. Back office outsourcing is an excellent way for all types of organizations to gain quick access to the latest technologies, manage costs, improve the balance sheet, and focus on core competencies.
Today, many companies are adopting artificial intelligence (AI) in their digital transformation processes, the technology that uses machine learning to perform various tasks in a faster, accurate, and more cost-effective manner. Research conducted by BCG and MIT Sloan Management Review shows that:
- Three-quarters of executives believe AI will allow their companies to move into new businesses.
- Nearly 85% believe AI will allow their companies to obtain or sustain a competitive advantage.
The following are some of the benefits artificial intelligence technology can provide businesses.
- Virtual agents – Virtual agents (also known as intelligent virtual agent, virtual rep or chatbot) are artificially developed characters that can understand and respond to consumer queries on a 24/7 basis. Customers can call or text any time of the day or night and they will be served appropriately. This technology reduces inconvenience and helps organizations to be a step ahead in customer engagement.
- Data protection – Companies are experiencing high security concerns when it comes to data storage. Hackers are using advanced software tools to overrun the security systems of the company where they are easily accessing and manipulating private data. Intelligence technologies have changed the trend by ensuring that the security is increased to prevent such incidents. Different intelligence technologies are being used to detect anomalies, and identify unauthorized users trying to access a business system and block them. Though still in its inception stages, artificial intelligence is expected to play an important role in data protection in the future.
- Predict customer buying behavior – Retail shopping patterns have changed drastically as many consumers, especially those in developed countries, are choosing to shop online. Artificial technologies can help determine customer buying behavior including the preferred products, price range and delivery time. This helps organizations to adjust themselves and match their services and products to be consistent with the needs of the consumer. This increases the service quality and enhances customer experience.
- Digitizing back office tasks – The Bank of America conducted a study to determine the most challenging aspect that is affecting the performance of small businesses. The respondents highlighted that back-office tasks, which are small and repetitive tasks but costly and time-consuming, could be a significant hindrance to business growth. Artificial intelligence is becoming an essential tool in automating all the back office tasks including addressing customer queries and performing the majority of the accounting tasks. Automating back-office tasks allows small business owners to focus more on strategic plans such as business expansion and financing.
- Data storage and retrieval – When organizations grow, the data created and received increases on a daily basis. This makes it difficult to store and retrieve data from the traditional filing system. Intelligence technologies have turned out to be useful to change this issue by ensuring that cloud data storage software tools such as Google BigQuery are available. These tools are vital in providing data that different internet users can efficiently access, share, and use. This in turn helps reduce the number of hardware storage facilities such as computers and external storage devices, which ultimately lowers the organizational expenses.
- Forecasting business – Business forecasting predicts how the market will change and how the business will respond to such changes. Artificial intelligence can help determine how the market will change regarding purchasing power and the products that will be in demand. By understanding the purchasing power of consumers, businesses can prepare by increasing their stock to cater to the increasing demand. Artificial intelligence technologies are also useful in forecasting financial expenses and incomes which will help in decision making.
Nowadays, businesses across the globe are using artificial intelligence to optimize their processes and reap higher revenues and profits. However, some business processes still need human intervention to produce satisfactory results. Partnering with business process outsourcing companies is highly beneficial for organizations in diverse business niches. Reliable providers help streamline business processes, reduce operation costs and in-house workload, save time, manpower and effort, and manage back-office processes efficiently.
