The artificial intelligence-as-a-service (AIaaS) market is set to grow by USD 15.14 bn during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of over 48% during the predicted period, as per recent news. More and more businesses are adapting and adopting with the challenges brought by the pandemic with artificial intelligence taking the center stage.
We can clearly see the volume of chatter around AI has significantly gone up over the years, with various analyst reports citing the importance accorded to it by CXOs and boards. For AI to have a real impact on business, there will be multiple areas that will see further developments in 2021.
Customer Experience
AI will pivot from driving ad-hoc, tactical decisions to more strategic ones for the organization. This transformation will need to come through by keeping the customer at the center of these decisions and crafting end-to-end experiences. This is especially important with the blurring of lines between our physical and virtual lives and will lead organizations to strive for a Unified Customer Experience across all touch-points.
Process Automation
Robotic Process Automation has been a buzz word for many years now. It needs to transform itself to become Intelligent Process Automation by infusing right elements of AI in the various processes in a world that will see a larger proportion of distributed workplaces (lower number of large offices + greater number of WFH population) to drive greater efficiencies back to the business. This could start with simple integrations of concepts like machine learning, test & learn into the world of RPA, before going onto more advanced levels.
Embedded Systems
With the advances in AI, there will be great push towards implementing it to transform various forms of business from integrating the hardware (chips. etc.) and software (AI) for generalized tasks to push decision-making to the edge. Some already exist to a certain degree in autonomous car technologies, but there is still a long way to go on this front.
Conclusion
While AI has helped in automating processes and are data driven, consumers now expect it to be further proactive, humanistic and simple. In 2021, businesses will be pushed to re-think the way they connect with their consumers, engage with them and stay with them throughout the experience. It will be a year, with decision-making accelerating, sharpening its focus and creating total experiences.
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