Early Adopters Win by Deploying AI-Powered Search

AI-powered search is delivering results for those using it, but we’re still just at the start of benefits the technology is truly capable of delivering. What’s more, companies that adopt early have a chance to run far out ahead by transforming themselves through innovation driven by artificial intelligence. 

A quick glance at a June McKinsey report titled "How artificial intelligence can deliver real value to companies” shows huge investments happening by the major technology companies, along with strong achievements by the businesses that have already deployed AI throughout the organization.

According to the report, in 2016 the technology industry invested nearly $40 million in developing AI technologies, that’s a three-fold increase in just three years. Still, adoption remains low with just 20 percent of firms adopting AI, despite the clear advantages. 

Forrester agrees, having found that while 58 percent of business and technology executives are researching AI, only 12 percent are using such systems.

Those early adopters look to come out on top in the long run. Nowhere is this truer than in the area of AI-powered search, where forward-thinking companies are finding ways to advance their missions in areas as diverse as customer service and risk avoidance while also generally connecting people directly to the information they need. 

"Early adopters are already creating competitive advantages, and the gap with the laggards looks set to grow,” the report states. 

The reason is simple: the cognitive search that underlies AI needs the right training on unique data to achieve its full advantage. It’s not a plug-and-play technology. So the more training the system receives, the stronger it can become over time. 

In the case of customer service, AI can deliver tremendous benefits by allowing virtual agents to handle customer requests using natural language. The virtual agent can grow more competent over time as the training continues, but it must start with a strong base, which means starting early for a true competitive advantage. 

When you extend this across the enterprise in creating a unified digital workforce, the benefits just continue to increase by providing people with the information they need to make faster, better, and more informed decisions. In reality, they have the tools they need to truly innovate by creating new experiences, launching new products, developing new services and creating new business models that will help their companies to grow.