It wasn’t that long ago that the concept of Artificial Intelligence was relegated to sci-fi books and movies. Advancements in technology in the past few years have moved AI front and center to reality.

From smartphone voice assistants, smart speakers in homes, and voice apps in cars, people are interacting with AI in all sorts of ways. It’s changed the way businesses communicate as well. Machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), and predictive analysis have come together in AI to create more efficient workflows.

AI Advertising & Marketing

Algorithms are at the core of online marketing and AI is baked in. Companies using online platforms, search, and social media to market are optimizing campaigns by targeting audiences based on history and past behavior. AI can identify target customers that are more likely to engage with marketing materials and track conversions. Machine learning can use this information to optimize campaigns to adapt to real-time data.

AI Chatbots

One of the most prominent uses of AI is Chatbots. On Facebook Messenger alone, there are more than 300,000 Chatbots being used by companies.

For users, Chatbots facilitate conversations 24/7. That’s important since 50% of customers now believe businesses need to be available around the clock. Chatbots can provide immediate response and handle routine queries.

For businesses, this frees up customer support teams to focus on higher level queries and more efficiently routes customers to the right agent.

AI Call Centers

Virtual call centers are becoming more popular as well. Using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), cloud-based call centers are using AI. With access to CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools, these virtual call centers can connect teams in new ways and improve the customer experience.

You may not immediately think of IVR (Interactive Voice Response) as artificial intelligence, but it is. AI-fueled IVR lets speak naturally rather than waiting for lists of voice prompts and more efficiently directs callers.

Companies are integrating AI into call center technology for rapid analysis to aid agents. This allows for advanced technology, such as analyzing customer sentiment on live calls. AI can discern the emotional state of callers and prompt agents with tactics to improve the situation. AI can help agents provide a level of personalization and efficiency that would have been impossible just a few short years ago.

Call centers now incorporate AI into live chat and social media to optimize interactions. This is crucial in today’s omnichannel world where customers expect you to provide instant answers regardless of how they contact you. This becomes even more important as Millennials report they prefer to communicate through social, text messaging, or Chatbots. Having a unified communications platform that can handle interactions across every platform (and switch between platforms seamlessly) is a business imperative.

AI in Email

AI is also used with email. Text filtering takes advantage of NLP to surface trigger words and phrases in emails. It can eliminate common phrases associated with spam emails, and flag potential hazardous emails. Businesses are using smart auto responders that can direct users to the right information immediately. Rather than provide a generic response, it can move customers through the support system in a self-serve manner.

AI Continues to Grow

AI implementation has grown 270% over the past four years. More than $6 billion is expected to be invested in automated customer service agents this year. AI has emerged from futuristic science to today’s must-have technology.