The AI Playbook: Where AI investment meets ROI

Businesses need new ways to manage rising costs

Alex Rutter, EMEA MD for AI at Google Cloud, explores the business areas most primed for AI transformation, and how leaders can manage costs.

AI offers a powerful tool to drive more efficient processes for businesses across industries.

The field is moving fast, with new innovations emerging constantly. These advancements enable everything from content generation to streamlined knowledge-sharing, fundamentally reshaping how businesses operate.

With the promise of increased efficiency, productivity gains and cost-savings, AI is no longer a concept for future consideration. For those who have already made the leap, the pay off is becoming apparent as 74% of global organisations report seeing ROI.

As Eurozone inflation hits new highs of 2.5%, businesses need to think on their feet to manage ongoing costs. Under these conditions, leaders must consider where they can integrate AI into their operations to maintain a competitive edge, build resilience and reap the greatest return.

A new era for creativity

In a saturated online marketplace where brands compete fiercely for consumer attention, standing out from the crowd has become increasingly challenging. With mere seconds to make an impression, brands must ensure every interaction counts.

At the same time, consumer expectations are intensifying. In a world where information is accessible at the touch of a button, consumers expect the same of brands, providing experiences that are seamless and highly personalised.

Personalisation is becoming critical to securing brand loyalty, with as many as 84% of consumers in Europe reporting that their favourite brands treat them like an individual.

To meet these demands, brands need to go beyond the basics. This is where gen-AI comes into play.

Brands are now taking advantage of advanced tools that enhance production processes, streamline workflows and help them to deliver more engaging and creative content than ever before. Of those who have adopted such tools into their production processes, 86% report an increase in revenue, with an estimated 6% growth.

Equipped with capabilities like text-to-video and text-to-image, brands can create content that aligns with the customer needs faster and more efficiently, supporting them to drive loyalty and, in turn, profitability.

Putting knowledge at employee fingertips

Businesses have long struggled with siloed knowledge-sharing across the organisation. Departments and employees often waste time in navigating multiple tools and systems to find answers. In fact, enterprise workers on average use between four and six tools just to ask and answer a single question - a real hindrance.

Employees need access to information when and where it’s needed, without having to jump through hoops.

We’re seeing more organisations adopt enterprise search and knowledge management tools to address this challenge. Through these tools, businesses can centralise their information together under a single source of truth. Employees simply input a request and AI-powered agents provide assistance, whether that’s answering complex questions, making proactive suggestions or taking actions, all based on the organisation's unique data.

At the same time, businesses can deploy custom AI agents to automate repetitive tasks, such as conducting research or drafting content like emails.

Through this support, organisations can both unlock the value of their own data and make it more accessible for employees, while enhancing productivity by alleviating staff of routine tasks and providing an assistant for complex tasks.

As many as 45% of global organisations who report improved productivity due to AI say employee productivity doubled as a result.

(Editor’s note: CIOs report great outcomes from AI systems when full and complete training is provided for employees. Simply implementing AI and expecting RoI is a route to failure)

Adapt and react in real time

As businesses operate in fast-moving landscapes, being able to respond and adapt at a moment's notice is becoming more important than ever - it can be the difference between those that remain competitive and those that don’t. This means businesses need to be able to access and share information both internally and externally as it happens.

Streaming APIs are revolutionising access to data, changing how businesses interact with both their employees and the public. By ingesting information in natural language and interacting with large language models at the edge, businesses receive insights in real-time across a range of sources.

Internally, this can provide real-time engagement with employees by giving them access to the latest business updates or providing instant updates on shared documents or project management systems to improve how they collaborate.

At the same time, employees can use live information dashboards across a range of functions. For example, for logistics teams that rely on quick decision-making, streaming APIs can provide real-time data on shipment delays, allowing them to respond efficiently.

Externally, streaming APIs are transforming the customer experience. Through analysing user data, such as customer behaviours or profiles, businesses can supply real-time information relevant to them. Whether that’s information on order status, stock availability or personalised offers, businesses can streamline the customer journey and deliver highly relevant and personalised information to customers, helping to drive brand loyalty.

Driving better customer relationships

Today’s customers expect meaningful, personalised interactions across many touch points. With the ability to interact with brands whenever, wherever, customers want to be able to engage with brands in a way that suits their needs. No two customers are alike, and businesses must move away from a one-size-fits-all approach.

Moreover, consumers want this process to be seamless and consistent - if a customer reaches out over webchat, they expect that businesses will have context if they reach out again via phone.

In the age of AI, 61% of global consumers expect more personalised experiences. Businesses have no option but to get closer to customers than ever before.

Generative AI empowers businesses to exceed these expectations. By analysing customer interactions, from voice to image to text, across multiple platforms, businesses can generate real-time customer insights for human agents, allowing them to better understand and predict customer behaviours. Through this, they can be better prepared for when a customer reaches out, proactively get in touch before the issue escalates and deliver personalised experiences.

By supercharging customer operations in this way, businesses will see better return on investment as they increase the amount of customers they serve, while improving loyalty and satisfaction.

From artificial to achieved intelligence

Businesses are discovering new and impactful uses for AI daily. Those that embrace innovation and integrate AI across their operations, from employee assistance to customer service, will unlock value in the form of increased productivity, efficiency and profitability.

AI is no longer just a tool, but a strategic imperative. By making the jump, businesses can establish a competitive edge and will begin to see true ROI as they gain the tools to act with agility, innovate and thrive in an ever-evolving business landscape.

Alex Rutter leads Google Cloud's AI business across EMEA. He has over 20 years in the global technology sector and is a member of the Google Cloud EMEA leadership team.