Matthew Rigby-White.
The rapid pace at which AI is evolving leaves businesses at risk of falling behind. Experts in the field have updated employers at an Accelerating AI forum. Andrew Gibbs joined the audience.
………………………………….
THE SUCCESS of AI depends on humans being able to adapt quickly enough to keep up with its speed of development.
AI is already common in much of everyday life, the power behind everything from accessing home appliances via a mobile phone to driverless cars. And, said marketing specialist Matthew Rigby-White, AI is starting to affect purchasing decisions in business and on a personal level.
“In 12 months we have gone from talking about AI as not being useful to talking about its tangible use in a business plan, customer management and your business proposition.
“In marketing, a business needs to understand its audience, where they hang out, who and what they are. AI has the potential to be really powerful for us.
“All of the big SAAS applications are integrating AI technology into existing operations. Everything is AI-powered.”
Yet AI has been around for some 70 years. It was first developed in the 1950s by engineer Arthur Samuel, who designed a programme for an IBM computer that improved how it played a game of checkers.
“That was the first example if using generative AI to create something out of a whole bank of data,” said Matthew, chief executive of digital marketing agency Qoob. “Accessing home devices on our phones is going to become not just cool and trendy but something we rely on every day. That is the transition that is happening now. AI is already powering the things we use. It is the speed of change compared to our ability to adapt that is going to dictate success.”
In marketing, AI is becoming more prominent. Competition for advertising budget is increasing, as are the number of click searches. AI is now influencing purchasing decisions, Matthew told the forum.
He advised his audience to embrace AI and the benefits it can bring to the effectiveness of an organisation’s marketing. Matthew also presented some key points to drive marketing activity in the AI era.
Do the fundamentals yourself but use a marketing agency’s expertise to help. To lead a marketing campaign yourself is time-consuming and risks neglecting other aspects of the business.
“In my agency, I have 11 people who are doing marketing things every day and we sometimes struggle to keep up with the pace of change,” Matthew said. “Work with an agency that partners with you.”
Less is more in marketing today, he added. “Stop pumping out crap. Do less but make it better if you want to be effective in your marketing.”
AI can be helpful in customer relationship management and will deliver the data a business needs to build credibility, so important in a marketing campaign’s success.
“And have fun. Marketing has never been more interesting.”
………………………………….
Why quality HAS to be the foundation of all data
FOR AI to be a success and bring the benefits that organisations are seeking, the quality of the data is key.
“Garbage in, garbage out as the saying goes,” Leon Gordon, founder and chief executive of data analytics consultancy Onyx Data told the forum audience. “Data when controlled is great. When it is uncontrolled, it becomes a nuisance.”
Poor-quality data can be costly to a business, he added, in terms of loss of sales revenue, reduced efficiency, a risk to compliance requirements, missed business opportunities through poor analysis and damage to an organisation’s reputation.
“We have to ensure that quality is the foundation of data,” said Leon, who was a professional footballer with Wycombe Wanderers before embarking on his IT career.
“Ensure that data is timely, accurate, robust and can be updated in the future. Get your data into a quality manner ready for reporting, protect data and keep it safe.
“When you have that in place you can look at utilising AI. AI is the brain behind the data. We use AI to support billions of data and this is why we really need to leverage AI.”
Onyx is a partner with Microsoft and Leon is a contributor to research and advisory firm Gartner and the American business magazine Forbes. He spoke of the fear among employees that AI will take over their jobs in the future.
Surveys show that the list of sectors most fearful of AI is headed by marketing, HR, finance and accounting, management and IT. Initial willingness among staff to change with AI has reduced markedly, from 74% in 2016 to 44% last year.
“We have all heard the horror stories… AI is going to take over everything and we are all going to be out of a job. There is anxiety among employees that AI will replace them in their job role.”
Yet at executive level, the benefits of AI are being embraced. PWC’s 28th annual global survey of chief executives showed that 56% believe that AI will improve efficiency and a third anticipate enhanced revenue and profitability.
Leon urged the forum to follow suit. He explained the ‘Four As’ process in preparing to bring AI into an organisation: Assess – Align – Agree – Activate.
“It is about creating Artificial Intelligence to drive the future of your organisation, all based on architecture, people culture and investment,” he said. “When this comes together, it starts to bring together benefits that we will want using this technology.”
………………………………….
Moving analysis into a higher gear
AI IS becoming a powerful new aspect in business analysis and the automation of the more mundane tasks carried out in an organisation.
Software such as Microsoft Copilot is evolving to provide quicker and more accurate analysis of data to assess the activity of competitors and monitor performance against Key Performance Indicators. “You can do all of this in minutes,” said Lionel Naidoo, managing director of IT support specialist Dragon Information Systems.
He took the forum through an example relating to sales of chargers for electric vehicles by region around the UK. Copilot provided almost instant analysis of sales volumes and revenue in response to questions input on screen.
“You can apply this to other analysis as well,” said Lionel. “This example did not take us long to do but it is a powerful tool.”
Copilot is Microsoft’s AI system designed to underpin all of its productivity applications. It takes a language model and couples it with the data that an organisation stores within its Microsoft Graph.
“It built upon security, compliance and responsibility,” said Lionel. “It guarantees privacy and this is really important. If you store sensitive data in Graph, that information is not used to train the AI model.”
He also outlined the benefits Copilot Agent, a package that is fast being taken up as part of the automation of routine tasks such as answering everyday queries in an HR department regarding leave entitlement, pay and time off in lieu.
An organisation sets up documents to which the agent refers in compiling automated answers.
“The more information you give your agent, the more responsive it becomes,” said Lionel.
………………………………….
Enter a world with the digital agents
AI AGENTS are the next milestone in the development of Artificial Intelligence, AI and automation technology specialist Andy Paul told the forum.
Automation is en route to taking on multiple steps and the more mundane business tasks. It is already established in the form of an AI receptionist, telephone call answering, a time check, booking meetings and sending emails.
“This is the world we are getting into, a world in which we really need digital agents,” said Andy, who runs the automation technology specialist Fliweel.
The generative AI chatbot ChatGPT, developed by Open AI and launched in 2022, became the fastest such technology in history to reach one million users. It took just five days.
AI is already being used in customer support, document drafting, data input and management, HR, finance and training. However, the risks are that a business loses its personal touch and relies too much on its data. There are also potential issues around data privacy and unintentional bias in uploading the data.
“AI agents are the next milestone,” Andy said. “And we are starting to see the automation of multi-step processes.”
These revolve around aspects such as environmental interaction, lean capability and workflow optimisation. Also emerging is the use of multiple AI agents and communication between different agents.
“It sounds scary and futuristic but organisations are starting to trial this and are realising that this is the way we are going.”
AI agents are developing to create social media content, including for LinkedIn, and to monitor performance.
“This is the world we are going towards, one that feels like a human experience,” said Andy. “We have moved to a place where AI is now quite affordable.
“The obvious aspect is cost savings in terms of Tier 1 support, call efficiency and productivity that apply to really mundane tasks. We are moving to a place of increased efficiency as a result.”
……………………………….
Stay connected with Northamptonshire business through Business Times. Join our exclusive community for the latest news, insights, updates, features and thought leadership.
Stay informed – subscribe now at bit.ly/437DsSm. Unsubscribe at any time.
