According to a recent IBM Global AI Adoption Index report*, 54% of organisations use artificial intelligence to help them become more efficient and save money. 53% use AI to improve their IT performance and 48% say AI tools help them create better experiences for customers. But the fact is that AI can do – and already is doing – a lot more.
Here’s our ultimate list of 101 best use cases for AI in today’s workplace…
1. Process automation
Artificial intelligence tools can be used to assess existing workplace processes, eradicate unnecessary steps and simplify procedures, to free up valuable resources and increase efficiency and productivity.
2. Predictive maintenance
Using office equipment or machinery? AI-powered predictive maintenance tools track usage, anticipate future demand, and trigger maintenance alerts before issues result in breakdowns.
3. Data analytics
Businesses are collecting more data than ever before – both actively and passively. But what are you doing with this data? AI tools work to convert this raw data into valuable and actionable insights.
4. Conversational analytics
While data can easily be collected from text, it’s not always so easy to collect from speech. However, AI is being used more and more to analyse real conversations to derive insights from customers.
5. Real-time analytics
The standard process is to collect data, then analyse it. AI provides the opportunity to analyse in real time and generate predictions, empowering businesses to make smarter, more timely decisions.
6. Resource planning
When employees resign, businesses can often be left short-staffed. AI resource planning apps can help to predict periods where resignations may be higher, so businesses can plan accordingly.
7. Marketing analytics
Marketing analytics tools can be used to predict the impact and performance of specific marketing initiatives and campaigns, based on what the tool understands about the target audience.
8. Invoice automation
Invoice automation is a niche form of task automation, allowing for tools to ‘learn’ what user actions trigger the need for invoice generation, and manage customer billing without human input.
9. Marketing personalisation
Understanding more about audiences and behaviours, AI marketing tools combine a wide range of data to build likely personas. This allows businesses to develop personalised experiences that connect.
10. Inventory optimisation
Rather than making regular orders and risking over/under-stocking, smart businesses are using AI tools to predict future demand, and optimise their inventories for real-time availability.
11. Sales forecasting
By building forecasts based on real historical business sales data rather than simply predictions for future sales, AI can help organisations make more accurate calculations, and better-informed decisions.
12. Lead generation
A form of artificial intelligence known as ‘generative AI’ can be used to generate new leads using social, behavioural, and purchasing cues, helping businesses to expand their audience base.
13. Lead scoring
Once leads have been generated, AI can be used to prioritise these leads based on their potential value to the company, allowing sales reps to focus their efforts on those most likely to convert.
14. Customer service training
Chatbots can be used to train customer service agents in two ways. Firstly, by mimicking real conversations between agent and user. Secondly, by generating helpful response prompts.
15. Customer service
Many businesses are now opting to use AI-powered chatbots as their first-line customer service, using natural language processing to enable tools to ‘understand’ the nature of a conversation.
16. Image creation
No designer in-house? No problem. AI tools can create unique graphics from text-based prompts, giving businesses instant access to artwork for their website, or for marketing communications.
17. Image resizing
Unsure which parts of an image will connect most with audiences? AI tools can automatically resize pictures to ensure that the most engaging visual elements are being displayed prominently.
18. Content generation
No matter what industry you work in, content matters. Creating content can be time-consuming, but AI is able to generate ideas, create headlines, write content, and publish to the most suitable place.
19. Ad creation
Pay-per-click (PPC) ads must be highly effective to generate a good return on investment. AI tools can help your PPC ads, designed using detailed customer insights and need prediction, achieve more.
20. Customer outreach
Artificial intelligence generative tools are able to create unique, tailored email content based on real previous interactions, ensuring that outreach communications always speak the right language.
21. Brainstorming
Wondering what to write about next? Struggling with a bout of writer’s block? Let AI handle all that. AI tools analyse what’s already out there, identifying what’s hot, and where there’s opportunity.
22. Storytelling
Storytelling is the key to customer engagement. Using AI, forward-thinking businesses are transforming individual data sets into powerful stories that share messages in creative ways.
23. Logo design
A good logo is essential for brand recognition, awareness and recall. AI tools can create entire logos from scratch, or assist with palettes and more by analysing engagement with colours and patterns.
24. Social media posting
Digital advertising on social media works best when posts are made regularly. With help from AI, businesses are finding it quicker and easier to turn their content into a social-friendly format.
25. Code generation
No-code development is extending beyond drag-and-drop interfaces, with businesses now using AI code generators to create even complex lines of code to produce exactly what they need.
26. Translation
Expanding globally? Striving for maximum inclusion? AI tools are able to draw upon their ‘knowledge’ to automatically translate content into the right language, for the right audience.
27. App development
From initial ideas for software through to writing code and marketing the app, AI can make it easier for businesses to create new tools to help solve their own challenges, and grow with confidence.
28. Ecommerce site development
Shifting from brick-and-mortar sales to digital commerce? From customer support and product recommendations to landing pages and more, AI tools have a range of functions to help out.
29. Marketing strategy development
Developing a marketing strategy can be tricky. AI makes it easier by helping businesses to better understand the behaviours and expectations of their audience, for more tailored, effective planning.
30. Content strategy development
What type of content works best, in which format, at which times, and on which platforms? AI uses in-depth analysis to assess content performance and help businesses plan new posts with ease.
31. Pattern identification
Some organisations have huge amounts of data, but are failing to make full use of it. AI’s analytical features uncover hidden patterns and trends, making more accurate predictions about future operations.
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32. Task prioritisation
What needs to be done, and when? Artificial intelligence is able to ‘learn’ and understand what tasks are most important to a good workflow, ensuring staff are tackling the right tasks at the right time.
33. Workflow management
Some of the most common applications for AI in business today involve simplifying and streamlining workflows, automating tasks, boosting efficiency, and freeing up resources to carry out more work.
34. Research summarisation
Want to understand your competitors’ research without spending hours rifling through documents? AI-powered summarisation tools collate large amounts of information into short, concise snippets.
35. Report creation
Businesses are able to provide AI reporting tools with individual data sets. Many rely on the power of artificial intelligence to understand this data enough to turn it into an accurate, readable report.
36. Competitor research
Competitor research can help businesses stay one step ahead. AI is able to scan websites, social profiles, ads, and more, providing in-depth insights into the strengths and weaknesses of others.
37. Search engine optimisation
What are audiences searching for, and when? What do they want to see in the SERPs? AI uses real search data and customer behaviour insights to help businesses target the right keywords/phrases.
38. Transcription automation
AI uses a technology known as ‘natural language processing’ to understand speech and its connection to text. These tools can automatically transcribe meetings without human input.
39. Tweet generator
Need a helping hand creating your business’ next Tweet? AI examines the performance of past posts, and looks at real-time social media and news trends to write new posts with maximum impact.
40. Instagram management
AI enables businesses to automate Instagram content creation, designing, scheduling, and publishing the right content to the right audiences at the right time, for improved engagement and results.
41. Text-to-speech
Just as AI can transcribe speech to text, it can also work the other way around. AI tools can take text and turn it into speech using synthetic voices, turning documents into spoken-word videos or soundbites.
42. Voice-based text editing
While editing text documents can be time-consuming, AI makes it much quicker. The right NLP tools enable editors to amend text using their voice, with any changes applied directly to the document.
43. Video creation
At a time when video content is becoming increasingly valuable, AI can make it easier, quicker, and more affordable to embrace. Some tools can create an entire video from a simple text prompt.
44. Meeting scheduling
Trying to get everyone together to chat and collaborate? AI scheduling tools examine every participant’s calendar, predict busy periods, and make suggestions to suit everyone involved.
45. Sales chatbots
Sales chatbots are a form of AI that use machine learning to support buyers on their journey. These tools may make personalised product/service recommendations, answer buyer questions, and more.
46. Sales attribution
Where are your sales coming from? Which channels are performing best? AI can tell you. AI-powered sales attribution apps intelligently link together various consumer interactions and conversions.
47. Automated call routing
Rather than getting through to a random agent, AI can ensure that callers are directed to the agent most suited to their needs. Calls can be routed based on that caller’s individual history and behaviours.
48. Need-based call routing
AI phone systems ask callers to provide a brief description of the nature of their call before being connected. The system uses NLP to ‘understand’ the need, and direct to the relevant department.
49. Voice authentication
Voice authentication is fast becoming the go-to way to protect employees and customers from cybercrime. These AI tools use NLP to check a voice against previous, verified examples of that voice.
50. Call analytics
AI is capable of analysing both inbound and outbound calls to achieve a wide range of goals, from spot-checking agent quality to assessing caller sentiment, and identifying patterns in communications.
51. Data visualisation
Data doesn’t only need to be understood by stakeholders and analysts; it needs to be understood by everyone. AI can turn data into easy-to-absorb formats automatically, for simple sharing.
52. Data management
Artificial intelligence is improving the way businesses manage their data. The right tools can help to reduce the number of errors, integrate data, improve data security, and classify and catalogue data.
53. Data integration
When businesses are storing data in multiple places – and in multiple formats – AI can facilitate faster, more accurate data mapping, breaking down data silos to support better, quicker decision-making.
54. Fraud detection
AI is being used to identify potential fraud, examining discrepancies between current behaviours and past behaviours. This can help to highlight situations in which a person may not be who they claim to be.
55. Virtual assistant
At a time when many employees are reporting feeling overwhelmed at work, AI assistants are being used to ‘learn’ an individual’s processes and carry out low-level tasks to better manage workloads.
56. Product pricing
Intelligent pricing is a technique used by AI tools which allows them to analyse historical data and predict future demand. This can help to price products and services optimally for maximum business returns.
57. Personalisation
AI has the ability to analyse massive amounts of data, and to use that data to understand more about a customer and their needs. AI tools can therefore be key to building personalised experiences.
58. Cybersecurity
With cyber-attacks becoming more sophisticated and more commonplace, AI is being used to rapidly identify potential threats early and reduce false positives, leaving IT teams free for other tasks.
59. Customer sentiment analysis
What do your customers really think about you? AI practices ‘active listening’, scanning online content and social media posts to generate an accurate image of how people perceive brands.
60. Employee performance management
AI can collect and analyse performance data from across a wide range of sources, identifying strengths, highlighting where there’s room for improvement, and offering personalised feedback.
61. Candidate shortlisting & Hiring
What makes a good candidate, beyond qualifications? AI hiring tools compare candidate qualities against key workers on your team, identifying those who may be a good fit for the environment.
62. Staff retention
Why do employees leave? AI can track patterns in resignations, and find trends between day-to-day experience and likelihood of leaving, enabling business leaders to tailor their retention strategies.
63. Financial analysis
A popular application for artificial intelligence is in business finance. AI tools excel in their ability to track outgoings, manage debt, and forecast financial health for better decision-making.
64. Data extraction
When artificial intelligence understands the sort of information you’re looking for, it’s able to independently scan documents to extract and present the right data, saving you valuable time.
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65. Compliance tracking
AI is being used to monitor business activities and consider them in the context of existing regulations and legislation, immediately flagging any activities that fall short of compliance.
66. Email categorisation
With many communications shifting from phone to email, inboxes are becoming increasingly messy. AI aims to understand what emails are about, automatically organising them into the correct folder.
67. News feed personalisation
Trouble keeping up with what’s happening within your industry? AI tools can help. They scan news articles online, adding those which might interest you to a personalised, dedicated newsfeed.
68. Customer segmentation
Utilising deeper, richer insights than the average human can access, AI tools are able to segment customers more effectively, allowing marketers to target the right people, in the right way.
69. Market research
Is there demand for a particular product? AI tools can examine everything from the performance of similar products to social sentiment, in order to predict whether a product will perform well in the market.
70. Leadership development
AI provides leaders and managers with personalised feedback and data-driven insights relating to their own individual performance, highlighting areas where additional training may be required.
71. Employee scheduling
Over- and under-scheduling is frequently an issue within retail and hospitality businesses. AI is able to generate accurate predictions and forecasts for demand, enabling businesses to schedule more efficiently.
72. Appointment booking
Clients are becoming increasingly accustomed to booking appointments with businesses online. With the help of AI, businesses can ensure they’re offering appointments at the most convenient times.
73. Product/service recommendation
Using what it knows about an individual’s browsing and purchasing habits, AI is able to recommend products and/or services during ‘windows of opportunity’, when buyers are most likely to convert.
74. Supply chain optimisation
Using deep analysis and complex algorithms, AI is able to spot inefficiencies across supply chains that are often undetected by humans. This helps businesses to streamline purchasing and save money.
75. Route planning
From delivering products to visiting clients – and everything in between – AI systems are capable of ‘learning’ individual driving styles and predicting traffic to develop the most efficient route possible.
76. Personalised training
Employee needs are always different, yet staff training often tries to be a ‘one size fits all’ solution. Using the power of AI, businesses can develop tailored training plans, specifically for each individual.
77. Image recognition
For businesses which rely heavily upon visual data – for marketing, retail, security, and more – the ability for AI to automatically recognise images can help improve accuracy and reduce time/costs.
78. Demand forecasting
AI tools can be used to automatically analyse available data from customer habits and wider trends. They can identify patterns and potential limitations to produce accurate predictions for future demand.
79. Document processing
Intelligent document processing is a technique in which artificial intelligence systems and machine learning technologies come together to classify and extract data from typed/written documents.
80. Customer churn prediction
Armed with extensive data about customer behaviours, AI tools are able to more accurately predict which customers are most likely to leave, and when, enabling businesses to plan accordingly.
81. Customer lifetime value prediction
Artificial intelligence can be used to compare new buyer qualities and behaviours against long-term customers to assign a CLV. This can be used to help sales reps prioritise leads and nurturing efforts.
82. Cross-sell/upsell prediction
Holding huge amounts of buyer data, AI can analyse previous purchases – and purchases made by similar customers – to recommend products/services that are statistically more likely to be bought.
83. Lead nurturing
Maintaining relationships with customers can be a time-consuming process. AI can be used to automate lead nurturing, generating and sending emails in response to specified triggers and actions.
84. Industrial robotics
AI-powered robots are increasingly being used by businesses involved in manufacturing. They help to speed up processes to meet growing demand, improve accuracy, and maintain higher levels of consistency.
85. Risk analysis
Drawing upon the insight AI holds regarding previous projects, artificial intelligence software can be used to estimate and analyse risk, allowing businesses to take a proactive approach to mitigation.
86. Innovation
AI is able to overcome the human constraints that exist in information processing, proposing new concepts and ideas that businesses can use as a foundation for new product/service development.
87. Due diligence
Due diligence processes can be undertaken with greater speed and efficiency when using AI. These tools can provide businesses with deeper insight into documents, and pinpoint potential risk.
88. Feedback analysis
You may be collecting feedback about your products, your services, your employees, or your business. But what does it all mean? AI examines trends in feedback to deliver actionable insights.
89. Business intelligence
AI has significant potential in business intelligence, working together with BI applications to make it easier for anyone – regardless of their skill level – to gain the insights they need to work productively.
90. Sales pitching
Examining previous sales pitch performance and considering this alongside customer behaviour insights, AI tools can automatically generate powerful sales pitches to increase new opportunities.
91. Customer relationship management
AI-powered CRM systems are revolutionising the way businesses and customers connect. Businesses are empowered to make data-driven decisions based on real-time analysis of customer information.
92. Reputation management
Protecting your brand’s reputation is critical. AI can help. Artificial intelligence tools are able to monitor market trends, analyse online conversations, and proactively flag potential issues.
93. Corporate knowledge organisation
It’s essential that every employee has access to the information they need to stay productive and healthy at work. AI can classify and catalogue corporate documents, keeping them accessible.
94. Material design
Expanding out from digital marketing with print-based materials like leaflets ads? AI uses the information it has about customer preferences and ad performance to create powerful designs.
95. Landing page generation
The primary purpose of landing pages is to convert. Yet unfortunately, many fail to achieve that goal. AI is capable of designing high-converting pages built upon real audience needs and expectations.
96. Task automation
Intelligent or cognitive automation tools remove the need for human input when it comes to low-level but time-consuming tasks. AI takes over, freeing up valuable resources for more profitable work.
97. Visitor interaction
How do visitors interact with your website, and what does it all mean? AI can tell you. By examining on-site interactions, AI tools can generate data-based insights for improvements in user experience.
98. Sales funnel management
How do customers move through your sales funnel? Is the journey linear? Do they jump around? AI is being used more and more to learn about the buyer journey, and create tailored experiences.
99. Diagnosis
Whether it’s medical diagnosis, or diagnosis of poorly functioning office equipment, AI can be beneficial in uncovering issues using pure data, unaffected by natural human biases and expectations.
100. Input automation
By using AI tools to input data, businesses can save time & money, and benefit from cleaner, more accurate data. This data is then better suited to AI-powered analysis and decision-making.
101. Chatbot testing
Using a chatbot for first-line customer service or support? AI is key to training these chatbots, using machine learning and natural language processing to chat with customers in your brand voice.
In conclusion, the integration of AI in business operations is no longer a luxury but a necessity for staying competitive in today’s digital age.
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*Source = IBM Global AI Adoption Index 2022
