AI is the big technology topic on nearly everybody’s lips at the moment. If we read the news, it seems as though every large business is starting to adopt it, every medical breakthrough is because of AI and every facet of our lives will see AI become integrated into it before long.
What we’re also being told is that almost every business is starting to adopt AI in one way or another. So, if you’re not, then it can feel like you’re being left behind.
However, the truth is a long way away from those outlandish suggestions.
It is true that AI appears to be a revolutionary new technology and that it will, at some point, play an important part in nearly every business. However, it is also true that there are many people who are hesitant with their adoption of AI.
So, what is the truth about AI and how can you decide whether it is a tool that would be right for your business?
AI hype: is it justified or overblown?
AI hype is everywhere right now. While some of it is justified, much of it is overblown.
AI is a new technology with a whole industry built around the hype surrounding it. In many ways, given our recent history from social media to the Internet of Things (IoT) it would be more surprising if it wasn’t hyped.
There are two main reasons for this overhyping. The first is for the valuations of the AI businesses themselves. Quite naturally, the founders of those businesses want to create as a high a valuation as possible for their business. This means that the ‘it will take over the world’ narrative is pushed more and more.
As Leigh Cockell, Cybersecurity Expert at Connectwise, said in the recent video that he recorded with us, “what has happened is that both the fear and the capability have been overhyped. And the reason it’s been overhyped is because it generates noise. It generates drama. It generates the ability for these companies to start increasing the valuation of what they’re doing.”
The second reason is basic human nature, we partly want and expect new technologies to change our world and so we react accordingly. We look for the stories of AI creating an amazing new breakthrough and ignore the more mundane, incremental increases it provides. We cherry-pick the hype and that becomes our reality.
However, even if AI is currently overhyped, that doesn’t mean that it adds no value. And in fact, if you remove the hype, it is the small, incremental improvements to business systems and processes that in the long-term will create the most value from AI.
The fear of AI (and why it’s often exaggerated)
Almost the opposite view is the fear of AI — the belief that it really is taking over the world already. For people that are inclined to that view, then a natural reaction is to resist the adoption of AI – to push back and make a point of not using it.
The reality is, however, that for any new technology the progress is always slower than the hype. There are always early adopters that run with it and are vocal about using it and the benefits, and it is that vocalness that makes it feel as if it is everywhere. However, for most technologies about 50% of the market are in the late majority or even laggard categories, meaning that adoption is almost always slower than it seems.
For AI, this means the fears are overblown. It may have a huge impact in 20–30 years’ time, but it certainly won’t get there straight away.
You’re probably already using AI without realising
Having said all of that, the reality is that you are very possibly already using AI – and if you’re not, your team probably is.
You are very possibly using it in tools that are part of your day-to-day activities as it’s becoming embedded into more and more of those tools. If you have used a note-taking app on a recent video call, or maybe a service to help check and improve your writing, or even a smart speaker at home, then have used AI in one form or another.
“From personal experience, I’ve been doing that for a while with grammar… for quite a lot of years now, I’ve been having an AI equivalent look at my grammar and go, this would be a better suggestion for writing… and that’s helped me.”
Leigh Cockell, Cybersecurity Expert at Connectwise
The reason AI is becoming part of those tools is because it helps to make them better, quicker, and easier to use. It allows the tools to make more suggestions, or respond more quickly. AI is already making small, incremental improvements to lots of the services you use without you noticing the change. But you almost certainly wouldn’t want to go back to the pre-AI version.
AI for your business, looking past the hype
If you are now considering AI for your business, the key is to look at AI beyond the hype and focus on where it can add real value today.
Firstly, we should consider where AI can add the most value to your business. The key areas that AI can help with are:
Saving time: AI can take on tasks that are dull and repetitive jobs. It won’t tire, it won’t get bored, and can repeat the task again and again and again. This can free up you and your team to focus on the more interesting, exciting and valuable work.
Making better decisions: rather than asking AI to make decisions, it can help you process information in different ways, offer multiple different views, present data charts differently – all so that you can make the decisions with more confidence.
Supporting your customers: an AI tool can quickly process customer information and requests and can help you provide faster, friendlier, and more personalised responses to your customers.
Keeping things organised: managing elements of admin, providing reminders, and helping you process your paperwork are all ideal tasks for AI, helping you to make sure that nothing slips through the cracks.
Protecting your business: AI can be an invaluable tool when it comes to cybersecurity, as discussed in our recent video with Connectwise. It can quickly process threats and act like an early warning system and spot risks or problems before they become costly.
AI beyond the hype: Practical next steps
Based on the areas of value above, the best way to introduce AI into your business is to consider where you might need support. Some areas to consider include:
Repetitive tasks: if you, or your team, have regular, repetitive, or mundane tasks that could be outsourced, then an AI tool could potentially help with them.
Data management: if your business needs to process a lot of data, if you make business decisions based on facts, figures and information, then AI could help you manage and present that data.
Free up employee time: if you have an employee that needs more time, needs to be able to focus on specific, more valuable work, then AI can support them and free up their time.
Digital assistant: a great way to think about AI is to consider it as a virtual, digital assistant. A support for your business that can pick up on the tasks that you and your team don’t want to do or don’t have the time to do.
When it comes to AI, the approach needs to be to stop worrying about “missing out” or being “taken over by robots”, but instead to focus on specific, small, ways that AI can help you to solve real business issues and problems today.