AI has changed the dynamics of the business world, and in this competitive environment it is important to maintain a competitive spirit to stay ahead of others. Going forward, the key strategy that businesses should adapt is to align their operations with the latest AI tech. Taking this course would mean using AI for key decision-making processes and automating them, enhancing customer experience, and constantly monitoring the latest AI technology and adapting to it in the best way possible.

Having said that, a good understanding of the market is necessary to implement these strategies in the first place. It is also the foundation of the company’s vision regarding where they want to see themselves five years down the line. Therefore, a good integration of AI into the already existing processes, along with a rethinking of management strategy, becomes quintessential in navigating the AI revolution. In this article, let’s look at the steps that need to be followed to stay competitive in the market and ensure consistent growth.

Key strategies to stay competitive

Devising the correct strategies is only the beginning for businesses to flourish. The more important step is to strictly adhere to the practical steps that need to be taken to implement such strategies. Here is a brief guide.

  • Understanding AI strategy: After aligning AI-tech with the business goals, the implementation of the same must be accomplished through data collection and designing a model that could make use of such data meaningfully. Additionally, a constant optimisation of the AI-tech is required so that businesses can always stay up to date with the current market trends.
  • Leverage AI for marketing advantage: When it comes to understanding the behavioural patterns of your customer base or getting to learn a thing or two on customer satisfaction, AI is your best bet. Successful businesses now increasingly use AI for purposes of consumer engagement through promotional emails/texts. Moreover, this strategy is much more effective than those of the past, for instance, cold emails, which was less successful due to its inferior customer segmentation. With AI, businesses now have a better knowledge of customer demographics and purchasing behaviour, thus enabling them to market their products effectively for better sales.
  • Foster an AI-ready environment: Businesses must make sure its employees are on the same page with their vision. They must ensure this in all its processes, right from candidate selection to their induction into the company workforce. A learning environment must be ensured in the office so that employees can upgrade themselves while helping the company grow in an increasingly competitive market. Companies often engage employees in different pilot projects to get them acquainted with the real life situations for this purpose.
  • Staying future-ready: In an AI-driven market, trends come as they go, and companies must adapt to changes as much as possible. AI-driven market research and predictive tools must be leveraged to understand future trends and set company policies along those lines. Most importantly, there must be no room for complacency after a good run, because competitors are constantly evolving, thus opening up the market for whoever innovates and adapts the best.
  • Paying attention to daily operations: AI has made it imperative to closely monitor daily operational processes so that any glitch at a technical level can be detected at the earliest. Thus, there is a growing need for an improved operational process and an optimised supply chain to ensure smooth operation of different processes. When combined with advanced customer engagement tools like chatbots and virtual assistants, this strategy is bound to yield positive results.
  • Seamless collaboration: When we say ‘collaboration’, we mean both – internal and external collaboration. While it is important for businesses to collaborate with their in-house as well as freelance workforce optimally, it is also important that they choose the right vendors for sales-related purposes. Everything must run in tandem for the company vision to come to fruition. A continuous evaluation of AI-usage must be conducted to understand its strengths and weaknesses, which is what leading NBFCs do even when AI has been yielding returns for them.

Conclusion

To conclude, it can never be stressed enough that the online marketplace is teeming with competition. To stay clear of neck-to-neck competition, AI must be leveraged both in internal and external processes, and seamless collaboration between both accomplished. Furthermore, AI-led innovation has to be completely adopted in day-to-day operations, and since AI is a comparatively new phenomenon, a learning environment has to be fostered in the company. Thus, the growth of both, the employee and the employer, can be ensured. Lastly, AI needs to be leveraged to the utmost for framing marketing strategies, especially because of its exceptional ability to process data to identify new markets and generate information on consumer behaviour. Therefore, the scope for AI usage in claiming a larger market share is immense, and companies must use it to their advantage.