Artificial intelligence has become the real trend in the marketing industry.
The potential offered by this technology makes it the object of desire of any brand, although there is still a long way to go and there are many doubts about how to implement it to provide companies' products and services with added value.
And when it comes to technology, which requires a significant investment, it is essential to have a strategy that serves the consumer experience rather than joining the "domino effect" in the industry.
But how can technology be used intelligently? Alfred Escala, vice president of industries and business development at IBM Spain, Portugal, Greece and Israel, has participated in the Madrid Retail Congress 2017 with the presentation “Artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. Is the fourth channel coming or is the consumer the channel?”
“Times are changing, what I call the Copernican revolution of the uganda phone number consumer has arrived,” says Escala, who explains: “The consumer is now at the centre of companies’ strategies, it is he who chooses the channel through which he reaches them and this is happening in all industries.”
Online shopping is becoming more and more common. In fact, the speaker says, 43% of users of all ages say they prefer to shop online.
Consumers, especially younger ones, are increasingly buying online and the number of users who buy online is growing exponentially every year. Also, Escala points out, the amount spent when buying online is not the same as when buying in person.
But these changes are also affecting companies through the “cognitive revolution.”
“We have been doubling our information processing capacity every year for the past 50 years. We have billions of data points that allow us to train neural networks and that has led to artificial intelligence becoming a reality,” says Escala.
In 2016, investment in cognitive computing was estimated at between $18 and $27 billion. And forecasts point to an increase in these figures in the coming years.
“Until now we had a deterministic model and although these systems will continue to be there, we will complement them with cognitive technology. No one can plan a strategic plan for two or three years without thinking about how they will take advantage of these technologies,” says the speaker.
And the truth is that many people already see the advantages of using them, with improved customer satisfaction (58%), customer retention (53%), and higher revenue (47%) as the main values derived from cognitive technologies for managers.
Thus, the value proposition of cognitive computing covers three major areas: improving relationships with customers, employees and third parties; transforming processes by improving channels and quality; and creating new business models.
“Artificial intelligence applied to marketing, planning and operations will achieve an improvement in productivity of up to 30% in the innovation industry, according to ICD,” says Escala.
He ends his speech by advising retailers to join the revolution as soon as possible that will allow us to overcome the limits of intelligence. Therefore, it is time to “think big, start small and move fast.”