The 50th anniversary of the moon landing got us thinking about how tempting the shortest distance can seem at times.
When Apollo 11 launched, NASA didn’t point the rocket straight at the moon and bid the astronauts good luck. Instead, they calculated the best way to get to the moon using Earth’s gravity, and then they fired rockets at the right time to slingshot the craft.
The point here is that just because the easiest (or most obvious) path might seem the best way doesn’t mean that it’s the smartest. If NASA tried bee-lining it to the moon, the rocket would have required so much fuel that it wouldn’t have been able to take off in the first place.
Running a business doesn’t necessarily pose the same human-life risks as flying to the moon, but there are plenty of other applicable lessons.
Let’s say you have customers going to your website looking for a certain product–we’ll call them sprockets. The last twelve months of data reveals customers buy sprockets 50% of the time, but more interestingly, when they head over to a related product–we’ll call them widgets–they almost always buy.
So what do you do with this information?
You could link the sprockets page to the widgets page, which is clearly the easiest path. But creating a link is the equivalent of shooting a rocket straight at the moon. The problem isn’t getting customers from sprockets to widgets; the problem is why this behavior was left unearthed for so long in the first place.
What if you can’t tell that there is a problem? In our hypothetical situation, both sales of sprockets and widgets are doing well. But while you’re hitting all your sprocket sales goals, you could be selling two or three widgets for every sprocket you sell – literally leaving a world of cash on the table.
Plenty of businesses succeed without realizing that they could be achieving even more. Especially when there is no immediate or apparent issue, you might not even think to look for solutions for potential performance gains.
AI technology programs can identify nuanced trends in data and detect non-obvious customer behavior patterns faster. AI can take businesses to the next level because it doesn’t just help solve obvious problems; AI can help you solve problems that have yet to come to light.
Implementing AI is clearly going to take a lot more work than simply linking sprockets and widgets together, but it’s definitely the smartest course in the long run – otherwise you’ll keep doing manual analysis and stay on the same trajectory with little-to-no growth.
Looking introspectively at your business can be painstaking and that’s why working with an AI implementation partner is highly recommended. Bringing in an outside perspective can help better detect problems, re-evaluate current processes, and recommend the best suited AI solutions.
While you can absolutely self-perform an internal audit, getting fresh eyes on your situation can reveal details that you may not be able to see. Outside experts will also help walk you through current or emerging technologies you might not be familiar with or feel comfortable using. It’s important to take note of what technology is coming, what has arrived, and with what you can experiment.
Still not the easiest route by far, but establishing an AI architecture that can continuously monitor or unvel weak points is the smartest way to engage more potential revenue opportunities.
Pega can easily launch your business into new heights.
“Organizations have been realizing benefits from AI for some time now – Pega has known for years that firms need deep analytical capabilities in order to find insights, then deliver them to business people and customers.” Check out the Pega Customer Decision Hub® to see how the “Always-On Brain” uses new insights to effectively engage customers.
Even if you feel like all systems are go, businesses must continually seek out ways to improve and overcome problems–and not just the ones that are most apparent. With AI, your business processes will become smarter and growth will become easier.