MAKING AI MAINSTREAM

Many of us get the understanding of artificial intelligence from the film industry. It creates an image of smart, humanized machines that are helpful, efficient and omnipresent. It is true that AI has seen rapid advances in the past several years, to the point that it became an integral part of our everyday life.  In real life, however, AI is far away from the level portrayed in sci-fi movies. And yet there are affordable AI tools and solutions that can make a significant impact on your business.

Here are three main reasons why a company, especially if it is a B2C company, should consider integrating AI into their business process.

AI makes your sales process scalable

AI solution dealing with your prospects and customers works 24/7 without sick days, holidays and breaks. It can handle any level of traffic, incoming inquiries and conversations. It does not need to be trained. It does not have personal issues or bad days. It is always polite and uses professional jargon. It is fast.

AI creates better user experience

Some might find it surprising but this is only because they have experienced low quality AI solutions. A professional AI solution makes customer experience better primarily because it delivers the results with a minimum of fuss and maximum efficiency. A good AI eliminates bureaucracy, makes customer experience speedy and seamless, and that’s what consumers are looking for today.   

AI offers sustainability

Adding AI to your business model creates long-term sustainability for the business. It allows your business to grow while controlling, or even minimising the costs. More importantly, it ensures that the business remains competitive in providing the level of customer service consumers became accustomed to. Lastly, it creates platform for future technical improvements and integrations which, without a doubt, will be based on Artificial Intelligence components.

Going after investors? Do you know that less than 1 percent of startups actually raise VC (or angel) capital, which means that the vast majority are self-funded. Yet the main reason for it simply lies in the inability of most companies to find investors.

Bootstrapping, however, has several strategic advantages for your company's future growth. Perhaps the biggest is retaining the majority of shares and control over the strategy and direction your company is moving towards.

It also teaches financial discipline. Bootstrapping at the start helps to understand the importance of  revenue and cash flow, as opposed to unabridged product development, and keeps you connected to your company's financial reality. Only when profitability increase do you then green-light new opportunities, increased risk-taking, and growth acceleration.

In reality, the founders are expected to be flexible.  While entrepreneurs have certain intentions and philosophies when they are starting out, a hallmark trait for successful founders is the ability to adapt to changing environments and opportunities.

Sometimes, that means waiting a long time to generate the financial metrics that really matter, revenue and profit. By challenging your leadership team to focus on building the business organically and figuring out how to make the company consistently profitable on a model that can scale without VC capital, you make your company more valuable to future investors.