Machine learning is a form of artificial intelligence that uses statistical models and algorithms to perform tasks without specifically being programmed for it. It basically analyzes the data available to predict and execute tasks accordingly. In today’s world, machine learning is a huge buzz word. Many of the people talking about it at networking events don’t know exactly what it is and how it works. Nevertheless, with my business background, I do understand the many potential advantages machine learning can generate for businesses. Hence, this article will explore the many ways your business can leverage machine learning and grow.
Machine Learning Leads to Faster and Better Decision Making
As mentioned previously, machine learning uses mass data and analyzes them to make decisions. Hence, through machine learning, businesses are able to analyze information and make informed business decisions accordingly. For example, sales teams have to go through immense amounts of data when searching for potential clients. They can go through their website traffic and statistics, social media platforms, and many other mediums in which prospects could have interacted with the company. Salespeople can be slowed down or make wrong decisions, when attempting to consider all the data. On the other hand, machine learning has specific functions designed to understand the patterns in mass amounts of data. Machine learning can be utilized to analyze large amounts of data in a short period of time for proper with accurate interpretations.
This ultimately helps it also make predictions. For example, it could predict potential sales based on last year’s sales and many other factors. It could predict the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) of all your consumers and leads. It could predict which leads have the highest potential for conversion in addition to what offers would work best. Hence, through machine learning, salespeople would be able to reach their leads more effectively and efficiently.
No Manual Entry With Machine Learning
Having worked for many companies, I have come to understand the pain of manually entering data all day. Especially in today’s world, where there is an abundance in data for corporations to analyze. For instance, I had the task of researching 90 items and entering it into Excel, taking me the whole day. This labor-intensive activity not only used much of my time but also spent a lot of the company’s resources. On the other hand, if machine learning was implemented, data would have been easily and quickly collected. This speed and ease would have saved time and money for the company. Of course, you many still need to clean up the data a little, but you would still have saved a lot of time. In fact, this would not only reduce the cost per data point but also improve the data quality. After all, it would avoid the usual errors that can occur when a human is collecting data. For instance, the algorithm would be able to identify duplicate and inaccurate data. This ultimately saves time and money for the company, while ensuring your employees are making decisions on accurate information.
Re-Routing Focus
With machine learning finding and entering data, while also analyzing it to predict potential outcomes, companies are able to divert their attention to other aspects of the business. To illustrate, salespeople could focus on approaching the potential leads instead of searching for them. Marketers could plan ahead for big-picture marketing campaigns without having to micromanage each of their ads. Operations people could focus on bringing in new strategies to improve the value chain, instead of worrying about restocking products. All in all, machine learning saves a lot of time for the company, so you can focus on growing your business.
Personalized Customer Experience
Amidst all the data and analysis done by machine learning, you can also enhance and personalize your customer’s experience. For example, machine learning could learn from the products your customers have bought and recommend them products accordingly. This makes it easier for them to find what they want, and also increases your revenue through cross-selling. It could expand loyalty programs to customers, while also performing real-time mobile personalization as customers interact with your app/website. It could learn what type of ads each customer responds to and create ads accordingly. If the customer is price sensitive, it could email them a discount when there is one. It could interact with your customers through a chatbot on your website. In fact, Business Insider has discovered that 44% of customers want chatbots instead of real people. Therefore, machine learning ultimately learns from your customers and provides infinite ways to personalize your customer’s interaction with your brand.
Efficient Supply Chains
As mentioned before in the example of the operations people, the supply chain of the company can be enhanced significantly. For example, machine learning could forecast when the stock of a product will reach a critical level, and restock it. In fact, if you add cameras, it could even identify in real-time when a product is being deplenished. Additionally, machine learning can be extra helpful with both strategies, Just-in-Case and the Just-in-Time method. This is because, with Just-in-Case, the algorithm will help you predict demand and produce the right amount of products. This minimizes your storage costs and increases the efficiency of your operations. With Just-in-Time, the algorithm would predict the demand so you can produce your products just in time. This reduces the processing time of an order, which would improve customer satisfaction and potentially lead to a competitive advantage.
All things considered, there are definitely many other aspects businesses can be enhanced with using machine learning. This is especially true with the amount of innovation in this field. There are numerous other benefits of machine learning that we did not cover in this brief article. Nevertheless, it should have given you a solid understanding of machine learning’s benefits. Hopefully with this new knowledge, you can consider implementing machine learning for your business. We wish you the best of luck!
