From self-driving cars to the rise of chatbots, we’re seeing a rapid acceleration in artificial intelligence and machine learning — and it’s changing the marketing world. 

Tech research firm, Gartner, predicts that by 2020, AI will be a $3.9 trillion business. Businesses need to prepare for this inevitability by taking action and capitalising on the opportunities artificial intelligence can bring to their business.

Preparing for the future

When it comes to the future of marketing, opinions are divided. Some experts believe that AI will change the way we live for the better and boost our economy. Others see it as a potential threat to humankind and we can understand why, at a cursory glance. 

Artificial intelligence is getting smarter. It’s approaching the same level of intelligence as human beings, and there’s no question that it will continue to become more relevant as we find new use cases for it in a digital world. 

As it does so, it will continue to have an impact on many aspects of our lives, including on the way we market our businesses and how we interact with brands as consumers. But in a best case scenario, this intelligence will be used to heighten human potential rather than cannibalise it. 

Why is it taking so long?

AI has been a hot topic for years, but it’s only recently become widely accessible and affordable enough to be utilised in business applications as a standard. What’s more, advancements in machine learning technologies and the rise of big data have fueled interest and sparked new research into AI’s potential for democratising access to opportunities and unifying the world with technology. Let’s get down to what it is at its core and why it’s so relevant to us as modern marketers. 

1. What is artificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence exhibited by machines. In computer science, an ideal "intelligent" machine is a flexible rational agent that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximise its chance of success at some goal.

We’re already seeing a number of applications for this in the marketing and comms world - particularly in the social listening and monitoring space. This is, in part, why marketing has changed so much over the last 5 years. 

2. Why it’s crucial to your new marketing strategy

Marketing comprises a range of activities that are typically focused around understanding consumers and their interests in a modern context. By simulating or supplementing human intelligence, we have a range of benefits available to us on both sides of the messaging fence. 

• Streamline resources. Internally, AI can support businesses in their process goals. Think of a SlackBot for example that provides useful tidbits of information or reminders to the team. Similarly, word prompts and email suggestions can take some of the mental work out of completing tasks.
  
  
• Target content to specific audiences. AI allows you to get information about individual customers and prospects so that you can then tailor marketing campaigns to them. This is a lot more effective than generic marketing campaigns. So, for example, if you want to know what your consumers are saying online or how they behave, AI can help scan trillions of data points to collate a profile for you - making quick work of building personas or targeting specific demographics.
  
  
• Interact with less manpower. Artificial intelligence can communicate with your consumers on your behalf. And, with the help of machine learning, it can change its behaviour to accommodate their interests and needs. Automated responses can be a useful tool when customers message you on social media platforms. Improved interactive voice systems also hold some efficacy when it comes to supplementing manpower.
  
  
• Delight and engage automatically. While AI technology is still relatively new to consumers, it still has the power to delight them, even in simple applications. Acknowledging their DM with an automated message, can be a powerful way to increase your response time and offer them useful resources for what to do next.
  
  
• Prepare for future advancements in technology. As technology advances, the possibilities for marketing automation become endless. Artificial intelligence can help take a lot of the manual work out of marketing and allow you to focus on the creative aspects of your work. However, there’s another important aspect at play. Brands that want to succeed beyond web 4.0 need to have the infrastructure, skill and understanding to operate in a hybrid world of virtual, artificial and physical environments. 

3.. How to use it effectively in your business

• Use it to intimately know your audiences through media monitoring and social listening
• Integrate AI into new brand activations and media campaigns
• Automate engagement through chatbots and profile growers
• Activate your brand with creative concepts that incorporate new technologies. 
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All told, AI is no longer a far-off concept that may or may not impact our realities in the near future. It’s very much here in familiar interfaces and chat applications that people encounter on a daily basis. Even companies like Google have incorporated it into their document creation, suggesting words and helpful tools when users start to write. However, as the capability and access grows, so does the scope of opportunity to use this technology in more exciting and novel ways. 
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Don’t get left behind

Speak to us about your next AI project or how you can incorporate it into your existing marketing campaigns. 

Often, a big decision when starting a new software project is whether or not to outsource development or simply do it in-house. The most common reason for this concern to pop up is that companies have heard about bad experiences from friends or colleagues, or they’ve experienced it themselves.

After all, working with third parties can come with its challenges. But as with everything in life, proper planning prevents poor performance - and this applies to outsourcing tasks as much as it does to anything else. 

How does this dilemma come about?

Upgrading software is a critical task for any modern business and can improve a company’s productivity by as much as 50%. Apart from this, new systems are more adaptable and have better security, a key factor in today’s data landscape.

According to Norton, one of the most used antivirus softwares in the world, new software and upgrades can help get rid of old flaws. Hackers and cybercriminals are constantly getting better and you should too, to make sure your company’s data and systems are safe and efficient.

In the same breath, companies don’t always have the resources to allocate time and internal spend to technical projects and need support, to a greater or lesser degree.

5 Questions To Guide You

Every situation and every upgrade is different. It is vital for you to do a thorough analysis of your project, plan out your goals and timeline before deciding who’s going to be responsible for the task of upgrading - and to what extent they’re involved. Key decision-makers should ask themselves:

What is the scope of the upgrade or new development?

The most important question to find an answer to when upgrading your software is why you are doing it. The key objectives you use as a mark, serve as vital information for the development team, and can help you figure out priority and critical areas for development. This will impact the level of resources you need to continue and give you a basis for understanding when and what you can get help with.

Do you have the skillset, internally - and is it your core competency?

Sit down with your team and find out if they have the ability to develop the best possible software. 

Building software is a complex process and the benefit of having an outside company is they can have access and knowledge on the latest technology that is being used. (Maxxor Blog) However, many companies don’t have in-house development teams because of the cost or demand for that kind of work on a monthly basis. 

On the other hand, some companies do software development for other brands, as their core service offering and this presents an ethical and logistical dilemma. When a skill is your company’s core competency, outsourcing this skill makes your business vulnerable. In these cases, it’s best to enlist temporary or supporting development, rather than putting an entirely separate team on the project. 

Do you have capacity?

Does your team have the ability and capacity to do this work while continuing to service your company on a daily basis? Very few businesses can afford a software team solely for building new products. This means that they are constantly dividing their time between your upgrades and their daily tasks. 

Your team may have the skills and the experience to get this job done but do they have the capacity with everything else going on? If yes, then you could think about doing it in-house as a priority - even if the cost is higher than that of partnering with other developers. If no, then it may be more effective to look at outsourcing the work to some extent.

Is your internal infrastructure set up for partnerships?

Agility in the software world is key and can help create environments where partnering with service providers is easier. Without the right communications and data-sharing infrastructure, it will be a complex task to plug in new teams and can create a myriad of challenges when working with freelancers or other organizations.

If your internal infrastructure is not geared up for remote and collaborative working, you’re going to have a problem. In these instances, you need to factor in the costs of creating this environment, although the benefits can be two-fold for your business. If you can’t do this, starting in-house may be a more viable option. 

What is your budget?

Budget constraints play a major role when going into a new project. And while the face value of one option may be cheaper, you need to take into account the cost of mistakes, setbacks, and not reaching the goals you want to achieve. Besides that, the training and infrastructure costs internally can add up fast and need to be considered. 

It may seem cheaper to hire more staff but will you have work for them after this project is done? Further to that S&C says “Businesses cut down their development costs up to 50-60% when they turn to an outsourcing company”. 

Typically, there is a lesser risk and cost associated with outsourcing, as you are not bound to permanently employ developers and not responsible for the overheads associated with third parties, however, in cases where they are too far removed from your team, you are likely to incur quality control and time costs. 

Who can you outsource to?

There are many companies that offer software development services, but quality and competency are two important considerations. At Digital Grind, we’ve got an established team of digital experts who understand the software and user experience design landscape. 

For example, we recently worked on a project with Moro Hub where we built a platform with an A-grade standard of accessibility. In that instance, the infrastructure existed for us to work together as a team and the result was an exciting new platform that could help Moro grow their brand awareness and continue to evolve. Their feedback? "Digital Grind developed our company's website, and they have done an excellent job. They developed a website that was more than our expectation and it is AAA accessible. They were very cooperative and accommodating; their flexibility in amending changes to meet our different stakeholder's requests was exceptional."

So, there are definitely instances where partnering or outsourcing your development can be beneficial to you and your organization. However, considering the checklist above, you will need the right processes and environment to make this achievable and should be aware of your core competencies - and the impact that outsourcing can have on your brand and clients. 

When it’s not your game, it’s best to handoff to an all-star team. Speak to us 

Your secret weapon in the battle for better business

No matter the size of your organisation, achieving and maintaining a high level of operational efficiency is part of the success journey. Usually, striving for efficiency means that the organisation becomes more profitable.

The most successful organisations are always trying to improve the way they operate and finding new and innovative solutions that improve performance. They know the importance of making sure they stay ahead of the competition - at every step of the way.

Generally speaking, continuous process improvement (CPI) seeks to determine if an organisation’s business processes are meeting company goals. There are various tools that are used to achieve this fast - but getting the improvement part right is a little trickier. We’ll get into this in a minute, but first, let’s look at CPI’s application in software development.

CPI in software development - The Dark Horse

For developers, CPI is an ongoing effort to improve products, services or processes through continuous testing and optimisation. This means that attention is put on making sure a business’ products are up-to-date, bug-free and secure. This process is done on a continuous basis as part of a developer’s maintenance protocols.

Changes are implemented either incrementally or in one fell swoop (also known as breakthrough improvement). The advantage of making incremental changes is that improvements are made almost as soon as they have been discovered. 

Once these have been processed, the next step is to ensure that you constantly go back to reanalyse all processes throughout the lifecycle of the project and make additional changes. This is one of the pillars of an agile environment.

Getting it right

One of the most popular CPI models used is PDCA, which stands for Plan, Do, Check, and Act. By carefully going through these steps, the ongoing cycle of continuous improvement can be achieved as the model controls and regulates the processes. 

One can also start by using business process mapping to visualise all the business processes that require monitoring and assigning responsible individuals. Below is a breakdown of the PDCA model.

• Plan: The planning phase is the initial element in the model that sets out to identify objectives and challenges within the particular project. The problem identified would need to be solved in alignment with expected outcomes. A number of possible solutions are identified, with the most favourable solution touted first.
• Do: The selected solution or solutions are then implemented, initially starting off on a micro scale. Data is collected for analysis purposes to measure the progress of the implemented changes. The main purpose of the Do stage is to ensure that the proposed solution is fully tested before it can be rolled out fully to the entire system. 
• Check: The checking stage involves taking the data collected during the Do stage to compare if it matches expected outcomes. The purpose of this is to assess whether the solution was successful and if additional improvements are necessary. Any useful information that can be gathered is recorded and the Do and Check processes are repeated.
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• Act: This phase involves actual implementation after all the pros and cons of potential solutions are laid out, based on the information gathered in Do and Check stages. Any feedback received is also considered. If the solution is not as successful as initially expected, an alternative is then considered. 

Once a workable solution is implemented, it’s time to focus on the next identified urgent areas to improve and the same cycle repeats.

Why should you use CPI?

There are a host of benefits when it comes to using CPI for your brand. These ensure that the quality and integrity of the software is kept at a high level. Here are five key benefits:

• Quicker feedback: With continuous testing, the development team is able to receive feedback on any issues that require their attention within a short timeframe. By monitoring all stages, early feedback means fewer defects are found in deployed products.
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• Cost reduction: The cost of development can skyrocket unexpectedly if errors are not monitored and resolved timeously. As fewer defects are found within products, there will be a reduction in the back-and-forth between the client and their developers, leading to the costs of development being significantly reduced.
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• Improved quality: Using CPI is one way of ensuring that the quality of the product is improved. The quality assurance process via the back-and-forth of process improvement results in better products with fewer errors. Ultimately, user experience is more pleasant leading to greater customer satisfaction.
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• Faster deployment: One major benefit of CPI is that any updates or upgrades to products can be deployed quickly, while being able to respond to industry changes more efficiently. Automated testing helps to make sure testing is constant and meticulously done. 
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• Better compliance: With continuous testing comes increased employee engagement and collaboration. As the development team becomes aligned to the software improvement process and overall organisational goals, it creates a culture of success and improved morale leading to better compliance.

CPI is a critical element of any software developer team, creating high quality products that stand the test of time while optimising business processes and achieving its goals. Standardisation is thus necessary in terms of implementation best practices.

Each improvement process needs to be thorough to maximise output and returns on investment. At Digital Grind, it's a part of who we are, as CPI and maintenance are implemented in our development projects. 

We strive to ensure that your brand receives quality outputs that are adaptable and enhanced on an ongoing basis according to evolving needs. Start a development project with us. Our team is always ready to listen.