AI Simplified: Business Applications with Intelligence Built In
Discover a faster way to bring the data-driven insights and enhanced decision-making capabilities of AI to your business. This e-book demonstrates how the next generation of business applications is simplifying the business intelligence roadmap and lowering the barriers to entry. In particular, learn how customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions with built-in intelligence reduce the cost, complexity, and skillsets required to implement AI in your business.
Bringing AI to your business
If it feels like AI is everywhere, that’s because it is—in business journals, popular culture, and public policy discussions. From sci-fi movies to algorithmic autocomplete, AI is all around us.
The potential of AI for business applications is truly exciting. And many business leaders recognise its power to boost efficiency or enhance their customers’ experiences. But for many, implementation has proven difficult. In the past, the scarcity of Specialised AI skills combined with the cost and complexity of custom solutions put AI out of reach for all but the largest and most technically adept businesses.
72% of executives believe AI will be the business advantage of the futurei
Fortunately, a new generation of business applications use AI as a core component to enhance, not replace, the capabilities of business users by bringing AI into their everyday workflows. These AI solutions make it easier to gain actionable insights, creating a feedback loop for data-driven decision making. The transformation begins with connecting all the data in your organisation—maximising the opportunity for AI and the human mind, working in tandem, to make more insightful connections. Because humans and AI work better when they work together.
Modern business challenges
The nature of work and the pace of business have changed dramatically in the last few years, and a few common problems plague businesses across industries.
Siloed data
Many organisations have disconnected systems because of legacy technology or business acquisitions, or even by design. It’s a serious issue that provides no single version of truth, no complete view of customers, no visibility between departments, and no opportunity to see the big picture accurately.
Ever-increasing expectations
Customers expect you to already know what they want. Shareholders expect ever-increasing profits. Management expects more productivity from fewer workers. And workers expect their business technology to be as easy to use and access as consumer technology. The pressure is on from all sides.
Missed opportunities
Business moves faster every day. It’s hard to keep up, and impossible to get ahead, if you’re always seeing issues and opportunities in the rearview mirror. This creates a critical lack of agility. No amount of streamlining or efficiency will put you ahead of trends if you can’t recognise them in real time.
71% believe their sector has been or will be disrupted by AI.iii
Transform on your terms
AI that fits seamlessly into your teams’ workflows and leverages their expertise helps you tackle the challenges of siloed data, high expectations, and missed opportunities. Every modern organisation needs:
Business without silos
Bring together relationships, processes, and data across applications, empowering people with increased visibility and control to do their best work.
Actionable insights
Use connected data, analytics, and guidance to make proactive decisions about how to improve customer interactions and organisational outcomes.
Solutions built to evolve
Choose a platform that’s scalable, secure, and flexible. Gain direct access to tools and capabilities you need for faster insights and responsive experiences.
What if your marketing manager could review aggregated data and identify the weakest point in the sales funnel?
That manager could provide marketing materials and sales collateral that improve the customer experience and empower the sales team with the resources they need to close more deals. When you give your people modern, intelligent technology that connects organisational, customer, and market data—accessible from anywhere—it ups everyone’s game.
What if your compliance team could receive alerts automatically when a suspicious transaction is initiated?
That team could inspect the transaction for fraud before it harms the business. When AI is built into your systems and processes, it’s always ready to find patterns, suggest actions, and automatically alert you to issues.
What if your customer service lead could script responses for virtual agents to handle an emerging issue?
That lead could proactively improve the experience for many customers at once before the issue becomes a pain point. With the right tools, business professionals can train AI models to proactively address customer needs without joining the IT backlog.
Getting started with AI
PwC research shows global GDP will be up to 14 percent higher in 2030 as a result of AI. That’s the equivalent of an additional $15.7 trillion, which makes AI a major commercial opportunity.iv Clearly, AI is worth doing, and worth doing right.
With advancements in cloud computing, it's much easier to generate breakthrough intelligence. Out-of-the-box AI solutions give you quick wins without a huge upfront investment. Follow these guidelines to get a strong start.
1. Start from a business problem.
Implement AI with a clear objective to maximise return on investment. Know which problem you want solved, how you’ll use the insights to improve your operation, and how you’ll measure the outcome.
2. Think broadly about data sources.
The more high-quality data AI has to work with, the better results it delivers. Look across business silos for data that could help solve your problem.
3. Use human intelligence.
to define AI’s role. People build businesses, and technology supports people. Use the expertise of your employees to decide where AI can provide the greatest impact. Start there, and implement at your own pace.
4. Choose tools that work the way you do.
You need AI solutions baked into familiar business tools that are scalable, secure, and flexible enough that non-IT professionals can access actionable insights in the context of their daily workflow.
Dynamics 365 AI solutions
Microsoft Dynamics 365 uses AI to enhance, not replace, the skills and experience of business users. Complementing their domain expertise with AI helps them to be more proactive and effective in their core competencies. A full breadth of business solutions is available, including several designed specifically to provide insights through AI. Plus, all Dynamics 365 solutions work together and with the familiar Office 365 tools you likely already use.
With data and business processes unified across your organisation, Dynamics 365 AI applications generate actionable insights thanks to breakthrough intelligence accessible by everyone. These solutions empower the people closest to the need to be self-starters with AI, applying their know-how to define the problem, set the parameters, and achieve outcomes.
AI in action
Create a digital feedback loop using Dynamics 365 AI solutions to continuously improve your business through insights and data-driven decision making. In fact, businesses that adopt AI expect to see their overall revenues rise at least 39 percent over a three-year period.3
With out-of-the-box insights powered by Dynamics 365 AI, your organisation can:
Adopt AI on your terms
with products and guidance usable by people with any skillset or level of expertise.
Augment your existing business workflows
with AI tools designed for how people work.
Unify your organisation’s approach to AI
by bringing problem-solving capabilities into each business group, not outsourcing to IT.
Create more relevant and personalised customer experiences
with intelligent automation powered by connected customer and market data.
Complement the expertise of your people
by giving them intelligent tools that amplify what they can accomplish.
Benefit from Microsoft AI innovations
throughout the platforms, products, and services that are core to your business.
Customer success story
Tivoli Gardens in Denmark is the world’s second-oldest amusement park, serving more than 4.5 million guests each year. The company takes great pride in its commitment to customer experience, and is continuing its long tradition of imagination and innovation using Dynamics 365 Customer Insights.
“Dynamics 365 Customer Insights will allow us to get a holistic view of our pass holders and visitors, and that 360-degree view will be the foundation for optimising how we engage across all touchpoints and their entire experience at Tivoli.”
Michala Svane
Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Tivoli Gardens
Put AI to work for your business
Equipping an experienced workforce to confidently use AI in their everyday workflow gives your business the ability to work proactively and make more informed decisions. Dynamics 365 AI gives business professionals closest to the problem the ability to solve it. It does so with a breadth of solutions that deliver out-of-the-box insights by unifying data and infusing it with advanced intelligence.
Microsoft has decades of experience building software, and we use this experience to implement and continuously improve security-awareness and threat-mitigation practices that protect your services and data. Microsoft is also committed to the responsible use of AI and has championed AI for Good to apply this technology to creating a better world for us all.