Worker optimism for artificial intelligence (AI) is on the rise. Our recent research found that more than a quarter (26%) of workers think AI will make their job easier and better, while only 15% are nervous that the technology will take their job. It’s no surprise then that CFOs predict ‘significant growth’ in AI spending according to Deloitte.
Generative AI in particular has captivated the attention of many business leaders and is increasingly becoming a priority for business investment. However, with such a broad spectrum of use cases from producing various types of content, including text, imagery, audio, and synthetic data to large language model AI technology to support customer service and sales, business leaders need to consider what AI technologies will bring tangible benefits to employees.
Overall, there are a host of ways in which AI can be utilised in businesses by employees, across a variety of industries. With optimism high among employees for using AI to support work, specifically around how the technology could free up their time, help them learn new skills, and allow them to be more creative, the time is now for businesses to consider how AI can increase operational effectiveness.
Generative AI in Sales
Generative AI is already being utilised by businesses in a variety of ways, within the sales industry to aid sales staff and enhance overall customer experience. For example, automation through integration allows a sales rep’s follow-ups and notes to be automatically loaded into their CRM following a conversation with customers, saving time for both parties.
Additionally, AI-generated interaction-level scoring and reporting helps sales managers prioritise conversations that need the most attention – meaning that employees don’t have to sift through conversations manually – thus allowing time for agents to prioritise selling.
Businesses should also consider the potential of Generative AI to assist with employee training and development. Using the sales industry as an example, sales leaders can receive AI-driven coaching tools and insights to help them better train, mentor, and drive their teams to succeed.
Conversation intelligence is an untapped wealth of information and insights, especially for sales and customer teams. Conversation intelligence solutions, underpinned by AI can analyse interactions among sales teams and their prospects to surface sentiments, key insights, and performance measures. With this information sales leads can identify trends within the team’s conversations at both an individual and overall team level to identify the training and coaching needs for individuals and the team as a whole.
AI empowering frontline workers
AI-powered solutions are also being used already in industries with a strong frontline workforce for example healthcare, retail and manufacturing. These AI solutions are allowing frontline workers to conveniently connect and communicate with the rest of their organisation, enhancing efficiency by addressing communication barriers between back office and frontline workers through features such as AI-powered video, and live transcription among others.
For healthcare workers, the functionality provided by AI is empowering organisations in the sector to reduce patient visit time, enhance staff communication, and minimise emergency response time.
These solutions also offer benefits to employees in the retail industry by aiding communication between employees and customers. AI is facilitating task assignments, optimising inventory management, and simplifies order fulfillment processes. This allows UK retailers to save time, increasing their overall productivity.
Furthermore, manufacturers are utilising AI solutions to enhance workplace safety, drive productivity, and streamline workflows within their operations. By enabling faster communication between workers across warehouses and other sites, employees in the manufacturing industry can react quickly to mechanical breakdowns and assign tasks to floor personnel for smooth dispatch operations.
AI is only going in one direction
Ultimately, there is so much that AI can support when it comes to operational efficiencies and overall workforce productivity. Business leaders are being given the green light from employees to implement AI technologies and tools that will maximise output and retain a competitive advantage against a gloomy economic forecast. The direction of travel is clear when it comes to AI, and UK employees can utilise AI in a variety of ways to the benefit of their day-to-day working lives and their company’s overall performance.
