The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc globally, causing businesses to come at a screeching halt with prolonged lockdowns and disruption of our everyday lives. This pandemic is considered the worst global economic fallout since the Great Depression of the 1930s and has undeniably impacted everyone’s lives around the world.
Artificial Intelligence and COVID-19
With COVID-19 continuing to disrupt our “normal” way of handling businesses, business leaders have quickly realized the need for Artificial Intelligence solutions and digital transformation. AI technology has been instrumental in dealing with the Corona Virus, aiding in detecting and diagnosing the virus, tracking the spread of the infection, and much more. Artificial Intelligence is playing a massive part in discovering a vaccine for COVID-19 while also slowing down the spread of the virus through contact tracing. The automation of processes like organizing documents, prioritizing tasks, and creating notes has been made easier by adopting AI in the healthcare sector.
Adoption of Artificial Intelligence for Business Continuity
Due to the pandemic’s disruptions, the in-person business transactions are becoming null, resulting in business leaders worldwide incorporating Artificial Intelligence to enhance the customer experience. The demand for digital products and technologies has soared up to 65% during the pandemic.
According to the CEO of Xavor, Dr. Hugh, “The impact of COVID-19 around the world has been devastating, but there is a silver lining in this situation as well. We have seen a huge increase in AI adoption across enterprises. The demand for toolkits enabling seamless work from home and AI-based solutions for business continuity has soared as businesses around the world are realizing the impact of AI adoption for their enterprises”.
Chinese tech companies like Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent have given access to their AI and cloud computing solutions to researchers to accelerate the vaccine development. Similarly, medical startups and enterprises in the US are deploying AI to rapidly identify thousands of new molecules that could be turned, not potential cures. AI is also playing a part in early warning and detection of the virus. All of this serves as a reminder that AI has the potential for enhancing efficiency, growth, and productivity. AI-enabled automation is paving the way for transitions of traditional services and offline businesses to digital and online channels.
Let’s look at some of the industries where AI adoption can help automate processes, gain customer and competitive insight through data, and improve customer and employee engagement.
Healthcare Industry
Healthcare enterprises and governments worldwide have started leveraging AI-powered solutions during the COVID-19 health crisis to improve efficiency and fast-track results. Baidu, a Chine technology company, developed a no-contact infrared sensor system to single out people with fever, even in crowds. The Tampa General Hospital in Florida deployed an AI system to stop individuals with potential COVID-19 symptoms from visiting patients. Cameras installed at entrances conduct a facial thermal scan and pick up symptoms, including sweat and discoloration, to identify visitors with fever.
AI in healthcare is also being used to monitor COVID-19 symptoms, automate hospital operations, and provide decision support for CT scans. AI in the healthcare industry is making significant progress, especially during the pandemic.
Financial Sector
The finance industry has seen an increase in digital transactions with a sharp rise in mobile activity, including fund transfers, time deposits, bill payments, and foreign currency exchanges. To create a better online presence and ensure the best customer service, banking, and financial institutions implement AI.
The continuous rise in security threats to the banking industry requires stricter processes for customer identification and authentication. Facial recognition, biometric identification, iris scans all employ AI at their core to ensure accurate identification. Similarly, AI-enabled voice assistants and chatbots provide personalized recommendations and help with queries. AI is also used to quickly improve KYC (Know Your Customer) regulatory and anti-fraud checks.
E-Commerce and Retail
As everything around us continually shifts to online services, sales in shopping malls and physical stores are decreasing. The e-commerce industry is continuously on the rise, and AI can contribute a lot to this sector. Most customers abandon their online shopping experiences because products displayed are often irrelevant and unaffordable. Advanced natural language processing and image and video recognition can help narrow and refine customer searches, resulting in a higher conversion likelihood.
Similarly, digital payments and customer authentication with anti-fraud technology also help to simplify and expedite the overall customer experience. This results in offering the customer more accurate search results.
AI Adoption for your Company
The pandemic hit every company hard, and at this critical moment, every business leader should be asking the following questions to create an agenda to implement Artificial Intelligence to accelerate their company progress:
- What is our long-term business strategy?
- What does AI mean to our industry at this moment?
- What are our priorities, i.e., customer experience, innovation, etc.?
- What type of change is required, and how do I adapt our operating model?
- How do I show progress to our stakeholders?
You can start by revisiting your long-term business strategy, map out your priorities and goals, and have a clear idea of your challenges and the path forward. Only then should you start thinking about implementing AI.
If your business is looking for to implement digital transformation, reach out to us at [email protected]