A lot of modern businesses are still pretty skeptical when it comes to AI - and the reason might surprise you. While some are understandably wary of any new tech, or simply stuck in their ways, the more common reason is that they simply feel that they actually don’t need it. While the whole “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” thing might seem sensible, in a fast-moving world, this is unfortunately rarely sustainable. Most businesses have an eye on the future and on growth which means that every leap forward means more responsibility and more risks. As a result, many find themselves becoming slowly overwhelmed and, more importantly, left behind.
This should in no way be considered a failure but it can be a problem when delays start to occur due to missed patterns and information not arriving in a timely manner. All these things can lead to a lack of clarity, bad decision-making and a lack of productivity. This, in a nutshell, is the beauty of AI - it takes the strain off a number of tasks, leaving your team free to focus on more important things. This in turn breeds efficiency, consistency and an increased ability to react quickly to changes and an evolving landscape.
In this ZandaX article, we highlight some of the significant problems that are created by not understanding the benefits that AI can bring to business communication.
When Decisions Don’t Scale as the Business Grows
Like most companies, you’re probably used to making decisions
based on past experience and your unique knowledge of your own operations. This is all well and good when the business is small but as it grows and evolves, decision-making processes should too. While your own judgement is without a doubt valuable, the factors involved become more complex as your business grows; and you’ll find yourself spending an inordinate amount of time juggling input from numerous sources and checking and rechecking reports and information. Not to mention making amendments when information doesn’t align.
All of this ultimately serves to undermine your confidence in your decision-making as well as tying up valuable time which could be spent on more important tasks. Again, this is no reflection on your ability or your knowledge of the business you’ve worked so hard to build. It’s simply a matter of logistics in that you'll have more - and more complex - business information coming at you, which adds pressure ... and allows things to fall through the cracks.
By the Time You See the Problem, It’s Already Expensive
The problem that many companies face is that issues tend to creep up slowly - so much so that they’re not identified until it's too late. Minor delays, the odd inconsistency and mismatched signals are all the kinds of problems that don't seem like that big a deal on their own. These do, however, have an impact over time; particularly when using numerous systems and locations.
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Unfortunately, as we all know, it’s almost always easier and cheaper to prevent mistakes than it is to fix them. As well as a cost in time, production and money, this can lead to reputational damage when decisions are rushed.
These days, many operations have little choice but to work with lean structures and extended planning cycles, which can lead to visibility problems that introduce a whole ‘nother level of pain. This can, without a doubt, affect performance and requires extra work and resources to restore stability.
This is where companies start to look for ways to recognize signals earlier. And a regional partner is often the best option. So for example, a company in Canada could choose to work with a
Canadian AI development company to strengthen their forecasting, highlight anomalies, or make it easier to interpret complex information. The value doesn’t lie in so-called “perfect” outcomes, but in seeing changes sooner, which gives plenty of time to respond.
The Cost of Overloaded Teams
We’ll let you into an uncomfortable fact - growth doesn’t always bring with it extra staff and resources! There’s no getting around it - employees and the hiring and onboarding process are expensive and time consuming; particularly when you value experienced talent. This often means a lopsided structure where there’s more work and responsibility but the same number of staff. While this can work for a while, in most instances, employees will soon begin to feel overwhelmed and this is where the cracks start to show. With more monitoring and validation needed, corners will be cut and this will impact on production, accuracy, reputation and morale.
Without the right tools to help you manage, all of these factors will lead to a disconnect with both systems and personnel and, before long, will start to manifest as confused priorities and rising costs when it comes to keeping the wheels turning and fixing errors.
The Cost of Decisions Based on Assumptions
“
We’ve always done it this way!” Sound familiar? At ZandaX, we've seen this when speaking to businesses, and it's not a good thing! That's because the problem here is you’re making decisions and using processes that maybe haven’t evolved with your growing business - which means they're unlikely to work. When visibility is limited or clouded, there’s little point in just plodding along in the same way you have in the past, because the results delivered will slowly morph from acceptable to disastrous as opportunities and mistakes aren't spotted.
Carry on like this and, before you know it, you’re making plans and decisions on a business model that no longer exists - and so, needless to say, you’re unlikely to achieve the results that you’re hoping for. Worse, you’ll find it difficult to figure out what went wrong.
The Cost of Staying Comfortably Conservative
Don’t get us wrong - caution is often a really good thing in business as it's generally the bit that stops you from making reckless decisions and getting in hot water. Having said that, caution can also be a curse when you become afraid of change - even when it's necessary - and you end up treading water instead of moving forward. When this happens, inefficiencies are quietly ignored and your team gets used to doing things the hard way as visibility decreases. This is how companies quietly crumble in the face of a fast-moving world.
What “Using AI” Actually Looks Like in Practice
Introducing AI to your business is not about spending huge amounts of money on loads of flashy new tech. It’s the act of adding tools to your existing workflows that will help you to manage information and recognise patterns more easily. Forecasting, detection of anomalies and planning all benefit from a technology that can whizz through these things faster than any human could. For you, this means a team that is able to focus on what they do best - human-centric jobs like decision making and creative tasks.
Conclusion
If you’re one of the many business owners for whom AI is something new, scary and unnecessary, it’s time to think again. Sure, you can carry on as you are and everything will be OK for a while. Well, probably. But sooner or later, you'll start to lose efficiency and, pretty soon, this will translate into cold hard cash. Smart companies now understand that AI is a valuable tool that allows you to run your business the way you want to - and to grow it the way you want to too.
