Amenallah Reghimi

The hype and buzz around artificial intelligence (AI) have died down, and we have entered a new phase of practical use cases. AI is no longer a futuristic concept, but a reality that is transforming the way we live and work.
The future belongs to those who can embrace AI and use it to their advantage. Those who don't may find themselves replaced by those who do.

Here are six ways to embrace AI and stay ahead of the curve:

Recognize the Benefits of AI: AI can automate repetitive tasks, freeing up time for employees to focus on creative and strategic work. It can help us make better decisions by analyzing data and providing insights that we wouldn't have discovered otherwise.

Stay Informed: AI is a rapidly evolving field, so it's essential to stay informed about the latest developments. Attend workshops, read research, and engage with other professionals to stay up-to-date.

Take Advantage of Online Learning: Online courses and certifications can help employees learn how to use AI to their advantage. These courses are often self-paced and can be completed from anywhere, making them an excellent option for busy professionals.

Collaborate with AI: Rather than viewing AI as a threat, employees should see it as a collaborator. By working alongside AI, they can achieve better results, make better decisions, and achieve their goals more efficiently.

Embrace Lifelong Learning: AI is continually evolving, so employees must embrace lifelong learning. By staying curious and open-minded, they can continue to develop their skills and stay relevant in a rapidly changing job market.

Stay Positive and Confident: Finally, it's essential to stay positive and confident as we navigate the world of AI. Remember that AI is not here to replace us – it's here to enhance our capabilities and make our jobs easier and more efficient.

The AI imperative is clear: embrace it or be replaced. By recognizing the benefits of AI, staying informed, taking advantage of online learning, collaborating with AI, embracing lifelong learning, and staying positive and confident, you can future-proof your career and succeed in a world where AI is transforming the way we work.

The hype is over, and we've entered the age of practical AI use cases. Now is the time to embrace AI and stay ahead of the curve.

PLG (Product Led Growth) naturally aligns itself with this buyer behavior shift. There’s more emphasis than ever on being transparent and being easy to work with.

PLG lets you lead with your product, showing potential buyers the value you can bring upfront.

But beyond that, there are hard benefits to PLG as well.

Product pulls you forward
A lot of times, especially in early-stage companies, it can seem like an uphill battle, constantly trying to push your product to your ICP.
In PLG, with the right product, sales, marketing, and customer success teams to support, your product will pull you forward. Your ICP will see the benefits of your solution without any unnecessary friction.

They’ll invite their team members, who want more access to features and integrations.

A lot of this can be done in a self-service model, again with an emphasis on ease-of-use - skipping the complicated IT and procurement processes that plague the sales-led, or enterprise, model.

Shorten the feedback loop
A constant struggle in marketing and sales: what channels are bringing in the most customers and what do these people care about?

Doing customer research can be a time-consuming task, but in PLG you can build in prompts to ask customers for demographic and firmographic data, in a directly attributable sign-up you can see where that demand was created, and you’ll get valuable usage data on what parts of your product your ICP cares the most about.

With PLG what could normally take a year or more could only take a few months. With more users trying your product early on, you can set up mechanisms to collect usage data, product feedback, and carefully refine your GTM strategies.

Land and expand
A phrase that nearly everyone in the B2B world has heard at least once. PLG is designed to get people in the door and expand over time. This is even more effective (and faster) because you’re often working directly with the end user not an executive, a common issue with the enterprise model.

Trying to get the attention of a C-Suite executive is harder, slower and more expensive than marketing to the end user of your product.

It’s a much easier proposition to get in the door with a highly effective but lower-cost option and then expand with higher value offerings once you’ve built trust with your customer.

Much Lower Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Similar to the above bullet, it’s just easier to market, sell and work with the end user rather than an executive who is typically stretched for time.

That means faster sales cycles and lower customer acquisition cost (CAC) thanks to more word-of-mouth advertising and a modern buyer experience which becomes viral with the rise of communities and review sites.

Whether you’re sourcing new suppliers, making purchases, or writing new contracts, managing risk is vital, especially in the current tumultuous markets. Artificial intelligence in contract creation can help minimize your potential exposure without sacrificing opportunity, simply by covering potential areas you may not have previously considered.

The biggest way that AI does this is by analyzing the language of your contracts and responding to it. This includes recommending new language or clauses based on the context of the rest of the document, as well as the history of similar contracts, performance against those contracts, and past supplier issues or delays by similar vendors in related categories. All of this information is analyzed and considered, and the system can make decisions about which clauses are necessary to protect your organization.

Importantly, an AI contracts tool that is part of a larger procure to pay suite can integrate deeply with Supplier Management to incorporate supplier history. That includes previous violations, late deliveries, failure to comply with discounts, or other complications. Integration is a clear best practice for contract management, not only because it reduces duplicate information but because it empowers AI systems with clear, reliable data.

This is where the value of better decision-making becomes a reality. The platform can digest more information about your suppliers and contracts than humans possibly could. It then provides your team with recommendations to minimize your risk more than you could on your own. This drives tangible bottom-line results, with an average of 3-18% risk reduction for those who adopt an AI-driven contract analysis tool.

Is Robotic Process Automation (RPA) the solution for any digital transformation issue? Is it the perfect solution? We may think Yes based on the market hype. The truth is that RPA is not always the quick fix for every process automation. As for every project, it’s key to plan carefully the RPA solution and focus on both process, technology and maintenance to avoid magnifying existing problems. In other words, if there are errors in the process, the bots will continue to replicate those errors indefinitely. My advice to my customers is that associating automation with a “set it and forget it” can’t be a reality. There are many chances that an RPA project fails if companies are not aware of the RPA pitfalls from the very beginning. Don’t implement RPA if your process: - is very complex and/or changes frequently - involves higher-level cognitive tasks (in the next article we will talk about the hype around Cognitive RPA) - is not optimized - is with insignificant business impact and is not cost-effective Don’t implement RPA if you don’t, - have a clear strategy - set-up KPI to measure the automation's success - have the leadership buy-in and support from the key functions - plan the maintenance's needs and cost Before starting any RPA activity, be ready to have the right checklist to define whether RPA is ideal for your operations, and where it will work best. You should start with the use cases that make sense, can optimize the existing process, increase employee and customer satisfaction. In case you are a robot reading this article, please feel free to like and share it with your other bots’ friends mining the web !

Location: Virtual    Date Available: April 16th, 2020     Fees: 1

Submission Date: April 05th, 2020     Service Type: Service Offered