AI ROI: Return On Investment of AI Tools For Business

Artificial intelligence has made itself indispensable in recent years, particularly in business settings. For businesses of any size, artificial intelligence’s ability to quickly handle routine tasks and manage workloads while streamlining operations is a massive perk. But, for small businesses that have low budgets and tight margins, AI benefits are even greater.

From being able to make better decisions thanks to an AI solution’s insights to using AI technology to get more done every day, businesses can see a real difference once AI is implemented on the job. And, those differences can be seen in your metrics, whether you’re tracking use cases such as employee retention rates, customer satisfaction, or overall cost savings.

Podium’s AI Employee can help you see the true return on investment (ROI) of investing in AI projects when you realize 30% more sales with your new AI Employee. And, keep reading to see how you can take advantage of all the benefits AI has to offer.

The Benefits of AI

Artificial intelligence holds true value for small and large businesses alike. According to research, up to 77% of companies now either use or are looking into using AI in their daily workflows. AI systems’ perks, such as smoothing business processes by handling customer service or eliminating repetitive tasks, are just the start of showing the true value of enterprise AI.

In reality, AI also has a direct impact on employee and customer satisfaction. It reduces stress and frustration, and, as generative AI, continues to learn about the needs of customers and the business.

The top benefits of artificial intelligence include:

Improving Efficiency Through Automation

Your business moves quickly, and with AI, it can blast off at warp speed. AI cuts the time it takes for you to perform repetitive tasks and frees up time for your employees to work on more pressing matters. And, it can automate simple interactions, such as answering common customer questions, to improve efficiency in client communications.

Even better, artificial intelligence can help gather, track, and manage data, delivering reports and insights directly to you on a dashboard, to your inbox, or via other means you select.

Personalizing Customer Service With AI Models

If your human team had to personalize every email or interaction with a client, it would be more than tedious. AI can take that challenge off their hands and help make your customers feel like they’re getting exactly what they need, even when you’re not personally focusing on each order or interaction yourself.

Artificial intelligence can use both consumer data and your own business’s data sets to determine what a customer needs at any one time. From figuring out popular trends to identifying when a customer is angry and needs routing to a human, AI has a lock on excellent customer service techniques.

Improving Data Collection and Monitoring With AI

Artificial intelligence has one benefit that stands out above most others: It’s always on. That means it can collect data, process it, and analyze it even when you’re not in the office. As artificial intelligence gathers this abundance of data, it has the chance to sort it and pull out key insights that you can use to make decisions about your business. The same kind of work would potentially take many hours of work for multiple human employees, so AI is truly indispensable in this context.

And, for monitoring, AI can be tied into machinery and track when maintenance is needed. Or, it can monitor cybersecurity efforts and alert you when something’s out of the norm. The use cases are vast and worth looking into.

Reducing Human Errors With AI Initiatives

The investment in AI can seem expensive at first, but when you look at all an AI model can do to cut down on human error, it could save you more than you spend. AI has its own rulesets that you define, meaning it’s much less likely to go astray from those orders than a human employee. In addition to that, AI technologies built with machine learning capabilities can learn what you want from them on top of following set standards. So, if it notices something unusual? It can raise a flag, just like a human employee would.

Improving Workforce Engagement

Another benefit of AI tools is the boost in workforce engagement these AI tools can grant when used as a normal part of your business processes. By using AI tools to get real-time feedback and monitor performance, you get insight into what is (or isn’t) working to keep your employees engaged. If problems come up, AI tools can alert you. They can even help you create a plan to get your team back on track when they’re off course.

With AI helping flag dissatisfaction or drops in productivity, you have a better chance of identifying problems in workplace culture and quickly addressing them. Addressing problems early on can help employees feel more valued and improve your company’s retention rates.

Calculating the ROI of AI

Calculating the true ROI of using AI requires you to think about several different factors. You’ll have to assess not only the cost of the AI but also its impact on your workflows, sales conversions, and other parts of the day that are less easily quantified.

Best-in-class companies have reported getting excellent ROIs on their investments into AI projects — including 30% more sales with Podium’s AI Employee. How are they calculating that there’s a benefit?

Well, it’s difficult to say exactly. ROI is hard to determine in data science, particularly because of how wide-ranging the impact of an AI model can be for a business. Still, despite that, it is possible to get a general idea of how AI has impacted your business and what kind of ROI you’re looking at.

Determining the ROI of your new AI model will start with looking at the costs such as the original investment into the AI model, any new hires you need to bring on board (such as data analysts) to work with the AI, and the education of current employees on the new technology.

After determining the true cost of the AI, you can then look at the positive impact of AI to find the overall ROI.

Start by considering the following:

The Tangible Effects of AI

One of the first ways to determine ROI is by looking at the tangible effects AI has on your revenue, costs, delivery speed, efficiency, and competitive edge.

Revenue

AI can have a meaningful impact on your revenue, and that impact is likely to be the most obvious. You’ll be able to compare your revenue in the time prior to AI’s use to your revenue after its adoption and implementation to determine if there is a boost that directly results from this change.

Costs

There are tangible costs involved in running a business. Looking at how AI impacts those costs can help you determine if you’re saving money by using it. As a part of your ROI calculation, determine if you’ve seen any cost savings by implementing an AI model in your workflows. If so, what are they, and how have they impacted your bottom line?

For example, have you been able to improve retention rates by having AI source candidates for roles after reviewing their resumes? Or, have you been able to reduce losses associated with delays because AI has been able to place orders for products based on estimated demand? Consider those elements when you determine cost savings.

Delivery Speed

Delivery speed doesn’t just lead to happier customers. Delivery speed is also important because it clears the plates of your employees, letting them take on more projects during the year. Can new projects get delivered faster because of using AI? Are you able to handle more projects than in the past? These are important questions to ask while determining the true ROI of AI.

Efficiency

Maintaining an efficient workflow helps you get more work done. Team efficiency can reflect directly back with an improved ROI. For example, if your employees can connect with two more leads and convert them each day because AI is sifting through less valuable leads first, think of how that could affect your business’s workflow. Your teams become more efficient, and you see it pay off in dividends.

The Intangible Effects of AI

In truth, an investment in AI doesn’t only produce tangible ROI. There are also intangible impacts that you should consider as a part of the package, though they are not as simple to measure.

Competitive Edge

Competition is tight in today’s markets, but AI can help make a difference. How? It helps you stand apart as a business that is investing in the future, in technology, and in better business processes.

When you think about your competitive edge and how that reflects in ROI, ask yourself how your business differs from the competition because of AI. Is it because you can do work faster? Do you have a better group of employees and experts who love working with your business because of the support of integrated AI or the data quality you collect? All of these things matter to your overall ROI.

Improved Satisfaction On the Job

Don’t forget that AI can be a huge support to your teams, meaning they’re going to be happier with their workloads and what they can get done. With a tool, such as a conversational AI tool, that can help sort through leads, manage data, write emails, or handle other kinds of tasks, human employees can feel more comfortable handling tasks that need a human touch.

Decreased strain on tech teams

IT teams can struggle with their workloads, which is why many people in this field get burnt out over time. IT teams don’t have to be inundated with data requests and help desk tickets, though. AI can handle many of the day-to-day requests, freeing up your IT team to handle bigger issues when they arise.

Meet Your New AI Employee

With natural communication, multi-channel responses, and goal-oriented processes, Podium’s AI Employee takes care of sales, scheduling, and communications (whether you’re on or off the clock) for 30% more sales and a clear ROI.

Save time, be more efficient, and get more done Podium’s AI Employee. Watch a demo today.