2016 was the year artificial intelligence came of age – before it was science fiction, now it’s becoming ubiquitous. Siri, the voice that lives in our pockets, is a product of AI; films recommended to us on Netflix are brought to our consciousness by AI; even food we order from Just Eat is delivered through a process involving AI. Now customer insights can be driven by it too.
And yet, other than a select few, how many marketers in the B2B industry can confidently say they know much about it? If you are one of those few, please bear with this brief overview.
What is AI?
At its core, AI enables machines to show human-like, intelligent behaviour. Data is its lifeblood; AI can analyse vast amounts of it across many platforms to deliver simple, contextual insights. With this information, marketing and sales teams are not just able to identify the warmest leads, but also the best channels to use to engage with them. From the customer’s point of view, this means their needs can be anticipated and experiences enhanced.
Machine learning is a branch of AI that provides computers with the ability to learn without explicit programming. In other words, it can be used to solve problems by finding patterns we cannot see ourselves. In a time when masses of data can be collected through countless and disparate interactions every day, this is an invaluable tool as it enables businesses to make sense of it all. The final layer is deep learning, a facet of machine learning concerned with algorithms inspired by the way the human brain works. Deep learning is responsible for improving speech recognition, and vision and language processing in computers – it’s the apex of this field of data science.
AI in B2B
Once again, B2C is leading the way and spoiling us as consumers. We expect smartphone keyboards to second guess us and retailers to have our orders ready before we even log in. These expectations are now being brought into the workplace: according to Salesforce’s 2016 Connected Customer report, 57% of business buyers say that, by 2020, they will switch brands if a company doesn’t actively anticipate their needs. As a means of meeting these demands, AI is becoming an increasingly accessible option.
Marc Keating, director of digital and innovation at Stein IAS, is incredibly optimistic about the doors that AI will open for B2B marketers: “Combining memory, real-time data and intelligence, AI helps marketers to clearly understand and anticipate a customer’s needs so they can identify the next best action for any given scenario to quickly meet that need.” As marketers gain this level of insight, customers will benefit from a one-to-one brand relationship – the substructure of positive customer experiences and subsequent brand loyalty.
Paul Smith, SVP and GM of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, points to how Salesforce Einstein – predictive intelligence technology that can be embedded within a full suite of CRM products – can give businesses highly accessible predictive intelligence solutions across many devices. “We can better understand what customers might do next and reach them with the most personalised, relevant message possible, whether it’s a proactive phone call to tell them about a new product or an email providing a loyalty discount. The point is that these benefits are delivered seamlessly and within context.”
Problems with AI
While that all sounds promising, the path to successful AI isn’t without barriers – this explains, in part, why many marketers are still reticent to engage with the practice. The root of most of AI’s problems can be attributed to data, because, as Marc puts it: “The success of AI depends on how you feed and nurture your AI technologies.” Cleanliness and volume are of concern here: just because data has never been more abundant, doesn’t mean marketers either have access to it or treat it as required. So if programmes are neglected and data sources are substandard, the process is redundant.
The second problem concerns usability of AI technology; a problem that Paul is convinced has been all but eradicated. “Front-line business people traditionally had to rely on data scientists who were needed to work with complex AI tools. This created two issues: one, ensuring insights were shared throughout the business in a timely way; two, making sure those insights were shared in a way that was contextual to the way people work.”
The humanitarian debate
Beyond these technical and operational challenges, many commentators voice humanitarian concerns around the effects AI will have on the workforce. Media reports of mass redundancies as a direct result of businesses streamlining processes with AI are becoming all the more common. Is something akin to a robot takeover really imminent? Paul believes not. “I really see AI as a way to empower people to do their job in a more effective, impactful way.”
“As ironic as it sounds,” says Marc, “AI tech actually helps marketing become more human like. While there’s talk of AI replacing marketers themselves, it’s actually an asset that promises to make them more insightful, effective, and smarter about how they engage with customers and deliver meaningful experiences.”
The future of AI
In fact, arguments in favour of its humanity for the marketing world are compelling. Putting aside the considerable business need for a moment, AI has the potential to redistribute time in other areas of our lives. Marc voices a view that’s inevitably shared by many: “I want to spend less time on what feels like admin and chores and more on activities that matter to me, like speaking to customers or spending time with my family.” If AI can unlock this time, few can grumble.
At the moment, marketers are held back by technology: it takes multiple platforms to perform fully integrated, channel-spanning campaigns. Paul wagers that, with AI, in five to 10 years leading MA platforms will encompass all of the above, decreasing investment and increasing conversions along the way. “However, in embracing AI the industry must strike a balance between maximum efficiency and human intuition. AI may well bring productivity and cost savings to the table, but humans will always be required to pull the levers.”
With industry giants Salesforce, Oracle, IBM and Microsoft continuing to push technological boundaries and hone its (already stunning) capabilities, B2B is on the brink of the epoch of artificial intelligence.