The world of remote work has given AI its first chance to truly shine. Businesses that are going digital need all of the tools they can get to automate their internal processes to ultimately increase their business productivity. AI and the automation it delivers promises to make a digital transition faster and cost-effective for the new virtual workplace.
Automation’s importance in remote work is one that businesses can’t afford to ignore. Provided that it’s executed correctly, automation’s benefits are numerous: more time saved, a faster rate of work, and better allocation of your resources are just a few worthwhile mentions. It’s not uncommon, though, for businesses that are new to digitizing some or all of their processes to feel lost when it comes to implementing AI properly.
To that end, it’s important to understand the biggest trends in AI that enterprises can take advantage of to increase their business productivity. Let’s take a quick look at how AI is impacting business areas from marketing and research to the employee experience and staff recruitment.
Prioritize resources with better consumer analysis
Countless hours and manpower is regularly wasted on outdated sales prospecting. Now more than ever before, the generation of leads that have the potential to provide repeat business is a process that businesses need to perfect.
Automated sales processing is the key to this conundrum. Innovative AI and machine learning (ML) technology make it simpler for businesses to understand their consumer data and make the right decisions to pursue potential customers. Marketing tools such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems that come with built-in analytics can eliminate time spent on sales prospecting by providing marketers with greater insight into past customers and current prospects.
Businesses that have traditionally spent long hours on consumer research as part of their sales prospecting can use AI/ML-enabled analytics to prioritize resources and reflect on what’s working with their prospecting strategy. One of the most important tips for businesses to improve their productivity when it comes to marketing is to rely on tools with analytics that can break down consumer interaction month over month in one convenient dashboard. This can then generate their insights so that businesses don’t need to dedicate resources to more research.
Better analysis into previous consumers and current prospects make the process of sales prospecting much more efficient. If your business is focusing on generating more virtual sales, it’s important to invest in a CRM that helps you fill your pipeline with AI/ML-enabled analytics. Give your marketers the right tools to pursue the right leads and ultimately make their time more productive.
Increase employee satisfaction with AI tools
Happier employees are productive employees, and automation can help increase employee satisfaction for the long term. AI tools that use automation can make it possible for more employees to spend time doing what they like by replacing unproductive tasks.
General support for your employees with AI tools can keep them happier and thus more productive. AI tools that automate mundane and repetitive tasks can improve employee satisfaction and diminish their time spent on tasks that can now be automated. Businesses that implement AI tools can enmesh them with their corporate culture to increase employee buy-in and make the day-to-day experience more enjoyable for workers.
At the end of the day, it’s the responsibility of business leaders to keep their employees’ spirits high as they navigate the post-COVID pandemic landscape. Such businesses can offer general employee support with AI tools to maintain higher employee satisfaction and improve their productivity on tasks that matter to them. When searching for the right tools, choose one that includes employee satisfaction features such as those that let you flag your employees for promotions or filter through their customer reviews to highlight their past successes.
Getting employee feedback is another great way to maintain employee morale, and the right AI tools can make it easy to ingest feedback. Use AI tools that let you filter feedback within desired time ranges to let your employees know that you’re listening. Implementing and nurturing a culture of employee feedback is essential to increasing business productivity, year-long performance management, and advancement efforts.
Reduce cybersecurity breaches with automated monitoring
In most cases, end-user responsibility, or lack thereof, is the cause of many cybersecurity breaches. According to cybersecurity expert Barbara Ericson of Cloud Defense, “In most cases, people are the weakest link when it comes to cybersecurity and we are all interacting with network endpoints daily, which is why vulnerability management is very important.” It’s therefore essential that businesses invest in vulnerability management software that uses automated real-time monitoring and endpoint data analysis to detect malicious behaviors.
It goes without saying that business as usual comes to a standstill when you experience cybersecurity risks. Businesses are sharing unprecedented amounts of data remotely every day, which is opening them up to record numbers of data breaches and compromised assets.
The vast majority of quality vulnerability management solutions are installed on designated endpoint devices and monitor network behaviors with AI/ML technology to formulate responses to potential security threats. The best vulnerability management tools are reliable and flexible networking monitoring solutions that can suit the needs of businesses operating remotely as well as in person. Features to look for include event intelligence capabilities that automate the ingestion of event logs to spot network issues and agentless monitoring that lets network administrators monitor remote devices.
The bottom line when searching for vulnerability management solutions to increase business productivity: invest in flexible tools that adjust to various network sizes and business needs. Vulnerability management solutions with features like automated monitoring in real-time can allow you to build a powerful and secure network monitoring system from the ground up that integrates all of your employees’ devices into one centralized system.
Summary
It’s no longer uncommon for businesses to use AI to increase their productivity. AI for business is increasingly prevalent in the enterprise world, and there’s little indication of it going away. It’s never been more important for businesses navigating remote work to understand trends regarding enterprise use of AI and how that technology affects so many business areas.
The first step toward increased business productivity with AI is the prioritization of resources with better consumer analysis. Make your business’s process of lead sales prospecting more efficient with consumer analysis that’s easily digestible from a single dashboard.
As you continue to implement AI into your business processes, remember to also enmesh your AI tools with your company culture to increase employee satisfaction and ensure workers are spending time on tasks that benefit most from their skills. Last but not least is a strong focus on cybersecurity with automated monitoring of your network to mitigate interruptions to business operations, even when your employees are working on a largely remote basis.
