5 of the Most Useful AI/Machine Learning Tools for Your Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |AI Machine Learning Tools|5 of the Most Useful AI/Machine Learning Tools for Your BusinessAt this point, pretty much everyone is familiar with artificial intelligence, or AI. Thanks to movies such as The Matrix, Terminator, and well, AI: Artificial Intelligence, most people are aware of the concept of intelligent machines. But although AI is a real and genuine technology, the potential and tangible applications of modern AI advancements are far from what Hollywood movies and novels by authors such as Philip K. Dick would have us believe.

AI is the future’s wave of adaptive learning, which involves utilizing programs to learn from data. As AI learns from the fed data, it advances and becomes more complex, reliable, accurate, and secure. Therefore, AI brings many adaptive learning benefits to education, businesses, and sectors of society. AI paves the way for more machine learning and other AI-related opportunities to drive industries to rapid digital transformation.

In fact, real AI is mostly applied to business development and science projects where data-driven derivatives and goals are the primary focus of a given strategy. In simple terms, AI applications are primarily focused on gathering, analyzing, and sorting data, much like any other computer program. However, where AI is different is in its machine learning capabilities.

What is Machine Learning?

What is machine learning? Well, machine learning is the concept of an AI developing its own repeatable output based on the data analysis from repeated input. For example, Facebook’s machine learning algorithm, DeepText, analyses posts and displays the ones that it thinks you might find interesting based upon your previous post-browsing history.

DeepText isn’t the only machine learning tool that you are exposed to on a daily basis. Netflix’s video suggestions, email spam filters, and even certain video games are all examples of machine learning that you probably use on a daily basis and don’t even realize.

Over the past few years, the power of machine learning and AI has become a viable tool in business development because of the analytical and data processing capabilities of modern hardware and accompanying software tools.

Benefits of AI and Machine Learning

Machine learning algorithms attempt to understand all data, applying learned concepts to new data sets to enhance performance and accuracy. Just imagine the functions and capabilities computer programs can do with these technologies. 

Here are the benefits of AI and machine learning:

  • Businesses can provide excellent customer service
  • Eliminate manual errors because of precision and accuracy 
  • Automation reduces manual tasks, such as data entry and computation
  • Improve decision-making with forecasting and real-time reporting
  • Reduce cybersecurity vulnerabilities and threats 
  • Improve productivity and time management

Companies utilize AI and machine learning to stay competitive. Having the right AI/ML tools in place can help a business reap the above benefits, making an edge to attain goals and objectives for long-term success. But what AI and machine learning tools do you need for your business?

Common AI and Machine Learning Tools

Large corporations such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google apply their own machine learning tools to their own business and have developed consumer-level AI suites for use by other businesses that don’t require knowledge of complicated AI programming and can be used for specific data analysis and modeling.

Some of the most useful AI suites include:

  • Google Cloud AI
  • Amazon SageMaker
  • Microsoft Azure AI
  • MonkeyLearn
  • Obviously AI

One of the most robust and technological machine learning tools available, Google AI powers the company’s own algorithms and provides multiple data-driven features while Amazon SageMaker comes as part of the extensive Web Services suite with an ability to perform custom ML datasets, and Azure AI from Microsoft is an impressive suite with many real-world applications as well as analysis.

Two AI tools that aren’t from huge corporations are MonkeyLearn and Obviously AI. MonkeyLearn is a very user-friendly text analysis MLAI and Obviously AI provides natural language analysis for forming predictions based on specific input.

Google Cloud AI

Launched in 2008, Google Cloud AI is mainly a compounding structure for integrating the useful features of cloud computing into a single, manageable platform with Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) options for secure cloud services. However, the system also provides feature-rich machine learning tools as standard that can be utilized in a variety of ways.

One of the most powerful AI and ML systems available, Google AI prides itself on being able to take under-researched problems and find solid, scientific solutions that advance the state-of-the-art in the field. Google also has a mission to make its AI system available to everyone and apply the technology to solve some of the world’s most pressing humanitarian and environmental issues.

The suite comes with many impressive AI applications that you can integrate directly into your deployment and productivity pipeline almost immediately:

  1. Contact Center AI; allows you to automate your call center interactions with customers.
  2. Documents AI: can read and extract data from your documents with algorithms that can look for fraud, data entry errors or receipt mistakes.
  3. Recommendations AI: can deliver personalized recommendations for each of your customers based on their previous interactions.

Amazon SageMaker

Part of Amazon Web Services, SageMaker provides multiple machine learning bindings for some of the most widely used and powerful programming languages available such as Python, Ruby, and Java which allows the creation of custom datasets and algorithms in addition to an impressive collection of preexisting ML systems that can also be incorporated into cloud computing.

One of the most impressive features of SageMaker is its support for other ML platforms with which it can integrate for even more productivity and increased workflow. Google Brain’s open-source platform TensorFlow is compatible with SageMaker as is Tableau. Both of these are focused on business intelligence and deep learning with traditional ML at their core.

SageMaker is one of the most powerful, scalable ML platforms available with many useful features:

  1. Clarify; reduces bias in ML that could help you find suitable employee candidates or customers.
  2. FeatureStore; allows you to select from multiple pre-existing feature groups that can be applied to your specific requirement model.
  3. Data Wrangler; this allows you to manipulate and convert data from one type to another, useful for such things as data modeling, calculation, and visualization.

Microsoft Azure AI

As the world’s leading software manufacturer, Microsoft is no stranger to complex data and advanced programming such as AI and ML. Also a cloud compounding service, Azure AI provides SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS capabilities with support for many of the best and most flexible programming languages available, along with their frameworks, with the suite’s emphasis being on software development by utilizing data sets, storage, and management features.

The business applications of Azure are impressive and the platform has been built from the ground up to accommodate business processes that accelerate development and rapid deployment in scalable, automated, and reproducible ML scenarios using specific data, models, and processes.

While most other ML platforms can be used for a broad range of applications, Azure AI is laser-focused on business development strategy:

  1. Video Analyzer; allows you to obtain real-time analytics from played and streamed videos.
  2. Azure Cognitive Search; add feature-rich data sets to your search functions such as autocomplete, geospatial filtering, and keyphrase extraction.
  3. Adaptive Machine Learning; user friendly interface with advanced features allows you to develop ML scenarios with either beginner or expert knowledge.

MonkeyLearn

One of the best Software-as-a-Service machine learning tools around, MonkeyLearn provides a feature-rich set of machine learning capabilities at a low cost that can provide useful insights for any business, but is especially popular with small to medium-sized businesses as one of its best features is that no coding is required.

Using MonkeyLearn’s user-friendly interface, you can develop topic-specific models for ML datasets such as keyword extraction, text to tag conversion and text classification features such as sentiment analysis, topic labeling and intent detection; true machine learning that can boost the productivity of any data-dependent business.

Some of the most useful features of MonkeyLearn include:

  1. Text Extraction; analyzes data so you can pick out features, keywords, or entities such as “14” screen size”, “free delivery”, or “Disney”, respectively, for example.
  2. Text Classifiers; analyses data so you can classify text according to a topic, intent, or sentiment.
  3. Integration; MonkeyLearn can further increase your ML capabilities by integrating with other popular programs such as ZenDesk, Google and MS Office, and Rapidminer.

Obviously AI

Another excellent machine learning application, Obviously AI uses natural language processing as a means of producing prediction models based upon specific input datasets. The platform requires no programming and operates via a user-friendly point and click interface in order to upload data and model a scenario for prediction with naturally written questions.

The MLAI then works to predict a specific outcome based upon the questions input and a predefined prediction column, then it can accurately model such things as revenue forecasts, lead conversions, and loan repayment probabilities in minutes, saving both time and money.

Basic on the surface, but extremely complex at the core, Obviously AI’s best features include:

  1. Complex Models; the app comes with built-in models that you can use right away for predictions.
  2. Ease of Use; the intuitive and user-friendly UI facilitates high-level machine learning with no expert knowledge of coding.
  3. Business-Boosting ROI; predictions with the app allow you to make informed decisions that can increase sales, detect fraud, or estimate paywalls and customer willingness to pay.

A Binary Decision?

It is pretty clear that machine learning and AI are driving the future of many industries, with large corporations at the wheel. Google, Amazon and Microsoft are empowering businesses of all sizes and across all sectors to advance their strategies with the inclusion of AI analytics, automation and prediction models.

The capabilities of AI and machine learning seem almost limitless and from a business perspective are able to extremely reduce the amount of man hours and, therefore, finances required to perform specific actions such as document analysis, categorizations and data extraction.

As AI and machine learning become more prevalent throughout all business sectors, one should ponder the questions; where does this leave the necessity of the human mind and what will be the human cost of such technological innovation?

Five Important Factors When Choosing A Courier Service for Your Home-Based Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Courier Service|Five Important Factors When Choosing A Courier Service for Your Home-Based BusinessOver the years, delivery services have increased amongst families and individuals as a convenient way of sending and receiving items from distant locations, saving them a trip or two. In recent years many people have left the corporate industry, or due to circumstances, they are forced to work from home. As a result of predominantly working from home, essential items need to be delivered home from various locations.

For those who run businesses from their homes, to help you operate smoothly, courier service becomes an integral part of your business. Several courier services cater to service local and nationwide deliveries depending on your home-based business delivery needs. When choosing a suitable courier to service your business, you need to consider a few critical factors.

Service Type

With different courier service companies around, they too vary in the type of services which they offer. Some courier services differ in locations covered, such as local, national, and international scope. Another differentiating factor is the type of cargo carried, whether it’s individual parcels, supply inventory, automobile spares, or perishable goods; some services are specific to the kind of items they transport.

On-Timing Performance

Time and the tracking of parcels are essential when it comes to delivery services; the speed and route location of the delivery needs to be taken into consideration. The aim is to deliver the parcels before or no later than the promised timeline to the customer. Whether it’s an urgent 24-hour request, as offered by Texas Couriers, or even two days, on-time performance is always a top priority. Choose a courier company that can share tracking and delivery status checks in real-time, via mobile app or web.

Safety and Security

When choosing a courier service, the safety and security of your goods are a massive consideration. Courier services need to prove their safety and security policy of any items or parcels carried. Whether your recipient receives damaged packages or nothing at all that speaks to your reputation as a business, especially when working from home, you can come across as unreliable. You could be transporting a parcel with confidential information, and the last thing you want if having that information leaked.


Pricing

As a business, pricing will always be a factor when outsourcing services like courier service. The cost of the service will determine your profits made from a particular sale or service rendered. Courier companies will price their services according to the parcel size, weight, and delivery location of the parcel. Making a critical comparison of pricing with different companies is essential because companies will charge you different service rates for the same service and delivery time.

Additionally, as discussed by Interchange Pros (https://www.interchangepros.com/b2b-payment-solutions/), you need to see whether the company offers any robust B2B payment solutions. After all, you can save a lot of money using such service offerings.

Customer Feedback

Customer reviews are a great way to scrutinize the reputation of a courier company before you even work with them. This will give you a picture of various customers finding the courier service delivery; you can learn about customer’s experiences with security, timings, and prices. Considering customer reviews is an essential factor when deciding on a courier company, especially if you use the delivery service for the first time.

Strategies for Taking Your Business to the Next Level

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Take your business to the next level|Strategies for Taking Your Business to the Next LevelIf you want to take your business to the next level but you don’t know how, you’re certainly not the only small business owner to feel that way. Finding that next leg up and finding a way to accelerate your progress is always going to be tough and there are never going to be any easy answers. But there are some strategies that you can make use of when it comes to leveling up and showing people your business should be taken seriously. Read on to find out about those strategies.

Push Boundaries with Your Goals

You should always be looking to push boundaries and achieve more if you feel like it’s time for your business to take that next big step up. Setting the right goals and pushing boundaries that way is a good idea because it gets your entire team on board. You can create team goals for you all to work towards collectively, ensuring everyone is pulling in the same direction and aiming higher.

Work on Increasing Your Productivity

If you want your business to be taken seriously and to take that big step up to the next level, you need to be performing efficiently and productively on a day to day basis. If you’re not performing well by those metrics, you’re always going to struggle to take that next step and show the world that your business is not just a flailing startup any longer.

Reach Customers in More Than One Way

Reaching your customers in a variety of ways is important. If you only have one strategy or one channel through which to bring in new people and to introduce them to what you have to offer, that’s always going to be something of a problem. Look for ways to diversify your approach and bring people on board in a more sustainable way.

Develop New Software Solutions

If there are particular areas in which you’re falling short and you want to create new solutions to them, finding the software that’ll make that progression possible will be key. Automating tasking and relying on solid software is certainly one of the things that’ll help your business make a step up. With the right software development methodologies and a good plan of action, you can make it happen.

Put Greater Focus on Customer Service

Customer service is always vital and something that should never be overlooked. If you want to grow, you’re going to need to keep your customers happy along the way. And that’s why good customer service is always a positive investment. You’ll keep customers on side and show everyone that you really do mean business here.

There’s no guaranteed way to find success with your business or to make that move up to the next level. It’s more about putting the things in place that’ll make such a move possible. That’s what’s most important here and it’s what you should be working towards with the help of the strategies discussed above.

The Ultimate Guide to Tech Support for Small Businesses

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Tech Support |The Ultimate Guide to Tech Support for Small BusinessesThe myriad benefits of integrating technology in everyday businesses are limitless. Technology is essential for providing quick solutions to problems your company might face, whether from clients or while you’re trying to accomplish your organization’s goals.

If you’re a budding entrepreneur thinking of starting a business in this day and age. In this scenario, you need to learn to incorporate technology into your business model.

Today’s technology consists of remote working, AI, machine learning, and applying them to your business. You certainly may need help, and luckily for you, while you’re trying to shift towards technologically driven resources, tech support companies are waiting to guide you. Tech support companies are essential for handling any troubleshoot a company might face.

Their goal is to streamline the services different organizations provide for happier and satisfied customers. The purpose of this article is to guide you on other tech support you can look at for your company. Once you know their purpose, you should have no trouble making them a part of your company. Here’s what you need to know:

1. Identify the Source of Your Trouble

You need to figure out what kind of support you need from tech support. It means you will have to find out what kind of trouble your network is facing. What difficulties is your company facing, and what results do you want once you resolve them. Suppose your company faces numerous connectivity issues. You can always contact IT support to figure out where the network error occurs and how to remedy it. They can also explain if the next time a similar issue arises, what you can do about it.

2. Choose the Right Company

Some companies are not cut out to deal with complex technical issues and may cost you a fortune to no avail. That is why before you establish cordial relations with any IT company, find out if they’re worth the money. Ask them IT-related questions and check up on their portfolio and read reviews that can help you make better decisions about them. The last thing you want to do is work with a company that only takes up your time and gives you no support.

3. Set Up Cloud Services

Your IT support should be able to find you the best cloud backup service. The cloud is a versatile platform that supports numerous virtual services. Cloud backups allow companies to virtually store information on the external cloud servers and prevent them from getting lost. It is essential since you can’t let your hard work and necessary data go to waste due to poor management as a small business. The cloud system your tech support connects you to will typically charge you every month.

4. Monitoring Services

IT support also provides you with monitoring applications. They help you keep an eye on servers, traffic, and communication needed by a company. Many small businesses look towards tech support to help them carry out this function since a business needs security no matter how small. No business wants to end up with data theft due to a flawed monitoring system.

5. Data Backup and Restoration

Tech support can provide you with more options to retrieve your data outside of cloud computing. They can use external data centers to track all your essential data and launch a backup disaster recovery if your system crashes. It is also generally good to have more than one restoration plan in mind to prevent losing data.

6. Firewall Services

Small businesses need a cybersecurity plan. That is because as you build a tech-savvy business model, you become more privy to internet attacks such as malware and viruses. Your tech support can get you the best firewall services suitable for your company’s needs. Some businesses may need to monitor their security, while others prefer an automated system manually. It would depend on you as a business to decide how you want to go about this.

7. Cybersecurity Services

Cybersecurity is a broad category. However, tech support can do all sorts of cybersecurity services. It includes network monitoring, installing firewalls, putting up anti-virus layers, and adding layered networks. Usually, the company from whom you avail these services can help you manage your network. However, you can take control of your cybersecurity if you are a giant corporation.

8. Email Security

Emails can be the most troublesome aspect of any company. Not only are they easy to hack, but they can also become the primary source of malware entering your network. Tech support companies ensure you have a lucrative email system that keeps all your emails encrypted. A two-factor authentication code further protects them. Your emails are also safe since they get backed up on the cloud, and so tech support companies make sure not only do you have a secure email system but a safe one.

9. Anti-Virus Protection

Anti-virus protection also falls under the banner of cybersecurity. IT services make sure that your network has a firewall and an anti-virus system in place. As a business, you must secure your company’s network as much as you can. Viruses and hackers are evolving; it is now easy for them to bypass different levels of security. Having some form of anti-virus installation perhaps gives you ample time to secure your data if you encounter a cyberattack.

10. Data Analysis

Tech support companies help you manage big data. This data is essential for your company’s success and plays a role in business intelligence. A good tech support company can provide you with the tools to extract, analyze and transform data into reports with numerical figures. As a result, you understand how well your business is doing and if there is a need for you to change the way you run your business.

11. Remote Support

Businesses now no longer follow a traditional office setup. It is easy for you to run remote services so that your employees can work from anywhere at any time. IT support services allow you to set up all remote services channels. They can help you control devices through the internet and take care of any troubleshooting your company might face. You can always ask for their help in IT assistance, software repair, or other needs about an excellent remote support system.

12. Communication Management

A good tech support company can handle all aspects of communication services, including universal communication platforms. These include messaging, chats, emails, voice calls, and video calls. They can also chart down a suitable communication system for your business that helps you filter what needs to go out to your clients and what needs to stay within the company.

Wrap Up

Tech support is lucrative for any business. Once you can narrow your needs and find out what you want, they can help you achieve those goals. You can use a tech support company to set up your cloud computing, data backup, and restoration and monitoring services.

Tech-support also indulges with firewall security, carries the banner for cybersecurity, or goes into anti-virus protection. They can even help you manage you analyze the data your company receives. They can also set up remote working channels and create a linear communication management system.

Ways Technology Can Help Grow Your Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Business technology|Ways Technology Can Help Grow Your BusinessYou will already use technology in one form or another within your business. Whether this is for cybersecurity or operating a webpage. However, there is a wide range of other ways technology can help. It won’t be able to take away from you and your employees bring the business on a day to day basis. But, when it is being used properly, technology can change your life and your business for the better.

Here are a few suggestions as to how technology can use technology to support business growth.

Use The Cloud

Gone are the days of storing data on hard drives. To provide more freedom and ease for data storage and access it is worth using the cloud. By doing this you will have the ease of being able to host data in an online storage account, with the flexibility of being able to invite peers or employees to access this with a simple invite. The benefit of this is not needing to spend a fortune on manual and bulky storage solutions, you have access to these documents anywhere in the world, as it is digital it automatically backs up your documents, you have an option for unlimited storage.

Social Media

You can harness the insight of knowing your audience. Social media is used worldwide and by such a wide and varied cross-section of society. With this, you really can learn about your target audience, know their behaviors, their motivators, and, in short, anything else that will help you market your business. In addition, social media is also another tool in your marketing arsenal where you can share the word about your business, your brand, and your network.

Analytical Tools

Where once you never knew which aspects of the business were supporting in it thriving and which areas needed focus and improvement, technology can help. From using it to find an ecommerce agency or finding digital tools to assess your business’s insights.

There are so many ways to improve your business, from understanding and improving site load speeds to assessing your SEO. With all this data available the sky is your limit as to how to utalize the information and change your business accordingly.

Marking Campaigns

By opting for digital marketing, you give yourself the potential to market specifically at a targetted group. You will be able to see immediate results. By being in a digital format there is also the likelihood of higher returns due to potentially being able to reach a larger audience than more traditional marketing and advertising forms.

Ease Of Communication

With recent technological advancements, communication is almost effortless. There are so many variations and ways to communicate to cover any and all business requirements. Not only is it now extremely easy to do, but now it is extremely fast and incredible low cost and affordable. With this, previous barriers have been removed and as a business you can now easily work with or collaborate with investors, business partners, manufacturer etcs anywhere in the world.