The term ‘machine learning’ probably means different things to different people. For devotees of the Terminator franchise, they might worry about an evil computer system becoming self-aware and sending robots back in time to kill us. Fortunately, that’s not what it’s about, and for most of us it means awesome business improvement.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning go hand-in-hand to deliver some great business tools. Here’s just a few of the ways we’re using machine learning to make businesses better.
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Chatbots are always evolving thanks to machine learning. Some chatbots need to be programmed to understand specific terms, but others use machine learning. Chatbots with natural language processing (NLP) are built to learn and adapt to more normal conversation. This allows for a better, more helpful customer experience, and the bot can also understand when it’s time to hand off to a live operator.
Machine learning applications for customer segmentation
Companies all over the world are using machine learning to research markets and sell more products. Machine learning applications can analyse data at speeds impossible for humans. So, a business can now use programs to discover buying patterns among consumers. Such as seasonal popularity of products, items that perform better in different demographics and locations. It makes stock control and targeted marketing much more effective.
Understanding supply and demand
Another way that machine learning applications can analyse data and deliver value is by understanding supply and demand. Companies might use this to change product pricing in real-time to maximise their profits in busy periods. We see this in examples such as Uber’s surge pricing, and also airline and accommodation services.
Machine learning applications to detect fraud
Once again, due to a machine’s ability to analyse almost limitless amounts of data, applications can pick up trends very easily. This includes financial spending trends, and it can interpret what looks normal and what may raise a red flag. If you’ve ever received a message from your bank about unusual spending, it’s likely a machine has detected odd spending patterns.
Customer recommendations
A key part of successful business is improving the customer experience. Businesses use machine learning to look at a customer’s purchase history, or even their browsing history to recommend products they may be interested in. Think about systems like Netflix and Spotify that feed you recommendations because a machine is learning your preferences.
Image recognition as a machine learning application
We’re seeing image recognition more and more in everyday life. Facebook, for example, suggests who to tag in photos. But there are even more impressive machine learning applications out there to visually identify suspicious behaviour and even identify safety risks. Robots can even scan the shelves in shops to identify items that are low in stock.
All of these applications and many more are transforming the world around us. So, rather than being something to fear, machine learning is the way of the future. How will your business take advantage of technology advances and stay ahead of the competition?
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