A Beginners Guide to Getting Ahead of the Curve With AI/ML Tools
Machine Learning is all the buzz these days. And it seems like everyone wants to get a piece of the pie.
But what exactly does machine learning mean?
More precisely, what does it mean for the world of business?
And what- per say, would be the metaphorical pie that everyone wants to get their hands on?
If you’ve ever heard of the words “competitive advantage”, you might want to stick around for a bit longer because we are about to get into the details of what this competitive edge is and how you can best capitalize on it.
AI/ML Tools: Machine Learning vs Artificial Intelligence
But before we get into any of that, let’s first get a few things straight. You may have heard the words machine learning and artificial intelligence often being used together. Which is why, it comes as no surprise that the two concepts can often get confusing for any layman.
Columbia Engineering puts the difference best as follows:
“… artificial intelligence refers to the general ability of computers to emulate human thought and perform tasks in real-world environments, while machine learning refers to the technologies and algorithms that enable systems to identify patterns, make decisions, and improve themselves through experience and data.”
One thing that is clear from this distinction is that machine learning refers to the actual algorithms that come in play, whereas artificial intelligence refers to the concept as a whole.
AI/ML Tools: Important Points for Businesses to Note
Now that we have the definition out of the way, it is important for us to understand how machine learning and artificial intelligence work to benefit businesses.
These benefits can come about in multiple ways.
AI/ML Tools: Benefits for Brick-and-Mortar Stores
One way in which brick-and-mortar stores can benefit from machine learning for instance, is by incorporating computer vision-driven analytics that provide insight into how customers behave once inside a store.
A few technologies that can prove to be really useful in this regard can often be things like customer heat maps, dwell times, gender recognition, age recognition and more.
For starters, understanding these analytics can help guide decision makers in the right direction when it comes to carving out the right strategies and techniques for increasing sales.
AI/ML Tools: Benefits for Online Store Fronts
Alternatively, when it comes to e-commerce stores, maintaining fruitful communication can be especially difficult when the number of visitors on a site exceed beyond a certain threshold.
One way to overcome communication hinderances and ensure lead generation, as well as conversion is by bringing chatbots into the mix.
A simple, automated conversational chatbot can take care of a lot of initial user queries, thereby decreasing resource strain on emerging businesses.
Although highly applicable to e-commerce storefronts, however, chatbots are not limited to the online world alone and can easily be taken up by traditional stores, as well as other, offline businesses that are looking to maintain a partial online presence.
AI/ML Tools: Benefits for Other Businesses
In a similar fashion, machine learning can also be used by a lot of other business use cases. Whether you are a clothing store, looking for virtual try-ons, or a securities solution looking to improve your analytics and/or detection capabilities, the tools provided by machine learning can be quite useful for you in several ways.
AI/ML Tools: Wrapping It Up
So, when it comes to addressing our initial question, that is, just how much far ahead of the curve businesses can get by incorporating machine learning tools, the ultimate answer remains, well, quite a lot!
Which is why it only makes sense for more and more C-Suite level executives to start delving deeper into how their corporations can best make use of the tools of machine learning and artificial intelligence.
